Plainsong (Vintage Contemporaries)

Staff Pick

Just before Plainsong really hit big, I interviewed Kent Haruf for a now-defunct magazine called Boswell; and after speaking to Mr. Haruf for an hour, caught a glimpse of the modest spirit behind this wise novel. The story is written with deep humility, a plain and simple song, as the title suggests ? though deceptively so. I grew up in a small farming town, and can honestly say I have known every one of the characters in Plainsong, who, though they live in more simple surroundings, lead lives as complex as any other. Like Alistair Macleod, Kent Haruf has got the "decent writing" thing down, and his characters are delightful.
Recommended by Fidel, Powells.com

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les imprest, September 4, 2010 (view all comments by les imprest)
I can see why the Boston Globe, NYT, LA Times, et al gave this book such glowing reviews. As an all out insult towards "fly over" America, a series of highlights starring victimhood and ugly white people, angry white men, and a concerted effort at focussing on sex, this boring tome drones on from tragedy to minor tragedy. If Haruth ever lived in small town America, he must have had a terrible childhood, filled with anger and repressed sex. I'm glad I missed it, and wished I'd missed his Freudian nightmare of a book.
His near hero was (of course) a put-upon school teacher, everyone else is from Walmart parking lot lore, and an odd pair of elderly brothers (WASP simpletons). The sniggering from the elite who proclaim "Yes, that's America!" can be heard on most every campus, from most any professor.
Read a classic, this isn't one of them.

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bentguy1, January 1, 2010 (view all comments by bentguy1)
A work that hits on all cylinders: setting, characterization, plot development, and ending. But much more than that, it touches on the variant nature of humanity, the falls from grace, the small triumphs and understandings and the murkiness of the heart. Subtle, and closely observed—it's great!

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Jeane, April 2, 2008 (view all comments by Jeane)
This is a quietly elegant portrait of a farming community in Holt, Colorado. It focuses on half a dozen characters: a high school history teacher whose depressed wife leaves him to raise two young boys alone, a shy teenage girl who becomes pregnant and decides to run away from home, and two crusty bachelor brothers who run a farm together. Another teacher in the same school becomes the catylist for all these characters' solitary lives to become intertwined and connected. Plainsong is full of guilt and pain, quiet passion and deeply felt compassion. It is a wonderful portrayal of how people's lives touch one another- for good more than ill.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780375705854

Author:

Haruf, Kent

Publisher:

Vintage Books USA

Location:

New York :

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Fiction

Subject:

City and town life

Subject:

Family

Subject:

Colorado

Subject:

Sagas

Subject:

Family saga

Subject:

Domestic fiction

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2000

Edition Description:

Trade paper

Series:

Vintage Contemporaries (Paperback)

Series Volume:

1992

Publication Date:

20000831

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Pages:

320

Dimensions:

8.00x5.38x.70 in. .54 lbs.