kent haruf's plainsong
oh god, this book was so lovely and sweet and just all-around good. it centers on a few different characters in a small colorado town, who of course all have connections to one another. the book is mainly about a teacher and his two young sons, and a pregnant teenager who goes to stay with two gruff but soft-hearted old bachelor brothers--and i swear i'm getting a little weepy again just thinking about them. frequent exclamations of "oh my god, i love them!" and "they're so adorable!" were uttered as i read this--i'm a sucker for gruff but soft-hearted old men characters and these were some of the finest i've ever encountered. this was nominated for the national book award but i think lost to ha jin's waiting. still, it was definitely worth the nomination--it was a very, very pleasing book.
ps, unrelated: i met mr. whig hill today when he stopped by the music library on his way upstairs. my building is definitely the coolest place for research at unc! aw yeah!
ps, marginally related: i was checking the list of national book award winners on amazon to see which book beat out plainsong, and i have to say--they have really picked some lame books for that award in the past few years. compare this list to the list of man booker prize nominees and winners. i'm not sure if this is a matter of my own taste or not, but the booker awards definitely seem to have waaaay more books i've loved--as opposed to books i've hated (from the list of nba awards, i especially disliked the great fire, and although i did love three junes, some of those other choices are pretty mediocre). so there is my commentary of the day. i am not trying to say british-affiliated authors are better, just that the nba selection committee sucks eggs.
4 comments:
I'm really looking forward to reading Plainsong and its follow-up, Eventide, this year. I've heard from so many people how great it is. Haruf did a nice reading from Eventide at Prairie Lights on July 7 last year. It focused on the same two bachelor farmers; he sounds a lot like I imagine they would sound.
eventide is its sequel? YAYYYYYYY!!!!! i am so happy that i can see what happens to these characters next. :)
I read this book a few years back, and I really liked it a lot as well. A blurb on the cover says that it is "foursquare" and I remember thinking what the fuck is that? But then I got to the end of the book, and thought to myself, "Wow, that book was so.....foursquare."
mine has that blurb too! that is such a neat description.
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