Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Title: Our Souls at Night
Author: Kent Haruf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Blurb: 

In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf’s fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

Review:

              Thought provoking. Honest. Raw. Beautiful.

I’ve been meaning to read this book for quite some time now. And I finally decided to pick it up. This is me trying to be a diverse reader, to try and read something I don’t normally read. Haha.

Our souls at night took me by surprise. At the first few pages I really expected myself to pull away from this book and read something else. On the contrary I continued reading page after page unable to peel away myself.

I love how honest and raw this book is. It was one of the things that hooked to this book. Though the book is simply written there was a deep profound feeling to the story that tugged my heart to listen to Louis and Addie, to feel what they feel.

It took me awhile to get used to the writing style but once I did, it was an easy read. I also love the pacing of the story. There was never a dull moment.

I can’t believe how the quotation marks on the dialogue contributes to the intensity of how the lines were spoken that without it, I feel the conversations were muted somehow. And it was not a bad thing. It added to the beauty of the book.

Their story means being free. Free of what people thought of you and free from yourself to do what you really want to do.

Years from now, where will you be? Happily married? Or alone at night reading yourself to sleep? Wishing you have someone to hold your hand at night?

I say read this.


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