Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Kent Haruf - Our Souls at Night



This little book is absolutely charming. It didn’t take long to sink into the austerity of the prose, which is entirely unsentimental even as it deals with themes of love and passion. Haruf’s writing is so spare as to get out of the way entirely of the story, which unfolds rapidly, largely through dialogue, and ends all too soon.
One day, in a small Colorado town, 70 year-old Addie Moore visits widower Louis Waters and asks whether he will come over sometimes and sleep next to her in the night, when she is the most lonely. Her husband, too, has died, and her adult son has moved away. Louis, though surprised by the offer, is in equal parts intrigued. A day later he packs his toothbrush and pyjamas in a paper bag and walks along the lane behind their houses to her home, where they have a drink of wine and then go up to bed to lie together and talk.
A romance blossoms, though without sex it is not what the curious townspeople believe it to be. Addie and Louis gradually tell each other the stories of their lives, and we learn about them through their late-night conversations. Addie’s daughter died when she was still young. Louis never properly loved his wife the way she would have liked.
Midway through the book Addie’s young grandson comes to stay after his parents separate. The closeness he forms with both Addie and Louis is as moving as the relationship between the two seniors, and the outings they have together, to go camping, or to an agricultural fair, are memorable and beautifully told.
Of course all good things must come to an end. Whilst I was at times surprised by some of Haruf’s narrative choices, such as his tendency to detail every ingredient in a dish Addie prepares or every item in a picnic basket, such mundanity, combined with the simple writing style, brings an element of unpretentious realness to the story. I was touched by many moments in the book and it is one I may well go back and re-read. I will also note that parts of the narrative made me very angry – but to go into that in more detail would be to open up this review to spoilers.
What I loved:
Moments of great joy peppered throughout, described without mawkishness, that lept off the page like images:
“The boy was asleep. The dog lifted her head from the pillow, looked up at Louis and lay back again. In Addie’s bedroom Louis put his hand out the window and caught the rain dripping off the eaves and came to bed and touched his wet hand on Addie’s soft cheek.”
“After dark one night they walked over to the grade school playground and Louis pushed Addie on the big chain swing and she rode up and back in the cool fresh night air of late summer with the hem of her skirt fluttering over her knees.”