Our Souls at Night in Reading with Style

Dec 16, 2015 Jayme Pendergraft rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015, src-winter-2015-2016

As soon as I finished my first reaction was what a sad book. Having given myself a few hours distance, I'm so glad the two connected and formed such a deep bond. Haruf did an amazing job with character development in such a short time. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 25, 2015 Juniper rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-books, quiet-novels

this is a quiet, lovely novel. as in life, there are a few sharp-edged moments. how one handles these moments says a lot about a person's character. i feel like haruf was of good character. and he always gives us fictional characters with heart and depth, and stories that are wonderfully contemplative.

i was initially sceptical of the premise - feeling it such a forced setup. but then i began thinking about my own grandmother and how, once she was widowed (she had never lived on her own, ever, un this is a quiet, lovely novel. as in life, there are a few sharp-edged moments. how one handles these moments says a lot about a person's character. i feel like haruf was of good character. and he always gives us fictional characters with heart and depth, and stories that are wonderfully contemplative.

i was initially sceptical of the premise - feeling it such a forced setup. but then i began thinking about my own grandmother and how, once she was widowed (she had never lived on her own, ever, until she was 78yo), she would talk about the loss of physical touch and companionship in her life, and how the nights were the hardest. (the 'touch' wasn't a sexual thing, and she wasn't interested in having or caring for a husband - she'd had 2 of them.) so i got past my own 'yeah... but' moment (and it truly was just a moment), and really enjoyed this read. save for the very ending which i didn't quite love as much as getting to that point.

i also had some odd 'what the heck?' moments concerning the townspeople's reactions (or inferred reactions) to addie and louis' friendship (i've lived in a small town), and the reactions of addie and louis's kids. addie's son, gene, was a sad piece of work (gene probably could have had an entire novel around his own life... but that's a digression on my part). holly, louis' daughter, was eventually softened and better about it. given the story is approximately set in 2010.... it felt like dated responses not in keeping with today. i had trouble thinking anyone could begrudge a couple in their 70s finding happiness. (but this is a minor quibble.)

one of the highlights for me in this book was haruf going meta on himself in referencing two of his previous holt-set stories. i found this moment in the narrative so fun and enjoyed it a lot. and it made me want to go back and reread Plainsong and Eventide. i held off reading OSaN, knowing it was haruf's last. i didn't want to be at the end of his stories. but now here i am - certainly better for reading haruf, but sad all over again about his absence from our world. thank you, kent haruf. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 02, 2015 Sam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: borrowed-books, books-of-2015

What a beautiful little novel! I'm so happy to have stumbled across it through my Goodreads friends. I had heard of Haruf's Plainsong novels, but never more than just in passing. As such, this was my first experience with his writing, and it absolutely blew me away.

Addie approaches her neighbor Louis with the proposition of occasionally sharing her bed and talking into the night. Both of them have lived alone for many years after the deaths of their spouses, and she feels it would be good for t ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2018 Rachel N. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: family, relationships, colorado, read-in-2018, aging

Addie is a widow in her 70's who gets lonely especially at night. She invites her widowed neighbor Louis to spend the nights with her. This bittersweet tale soon also involves Addie's grandson Jamie. There isn't a lot that happens in this book, it's just a beautifully written book of two people and their lives. I wish Haruf had been able to write more books. I've read Plainsong which I also loved and am looking forward to reading the two other books he wrote. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 21, 2017 Krista rated it it was amazing

Shelves: time-2010-2019, fiction, audio-book-cd, literary-fiction, family-interactions, setting-usa-co, 2017-books-read, cari-2016

Once again Kent Haruf gets to the heart of the human condition with quiet truths and a unique pathos. I'm so sorry that this is the last book that we will have from Haruf, but so glad that it is another small masterpiece.

I was pulled into the story, and it didn't let me go until the final page. Addie bravely reaches out to Louis for simple human contact that gradually blossoms into something more. The pain and forgiveness evinced in the sharing of their life stories with each other unfolded in ...more

Like · see review

May 27, 2015 Joanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, 2015-read, rws-2015-fall

I loved this quiet book. The narrator did an excellent job telling this story of two older people meeting and sharing their reflections on their lives. I was reminded of the romance my grandfather had in his later years. After his wife of 36 years died, he had another relationship with a woman whose husband had also died. Like the characters in this story, the two of them had known each other from living in a small town, but became companions during her last years, until the woman also died. As ...more

Like · see review