Plainsong

Book Description

Critics

• The book of common prairie

  Plainsong Kent Haruf Picador £10, pp301 Buy it at BOL According to this novel's epigraph, plainsong is 'unisonous vocal music used in the Christian church from the earliest times; any simple and unadorned melody or air'. Medieval European music and t ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

• Plainsong By Kent Haruf

  Holt, Colorado, the setting of Plainsong, is a lonesome kind of place. This small town east of Denver seems to have little to distinguish it from other rural communities of the Great Plains. But it is here that seven lonely people find themselves dra ... (read full critics)

  bookpage published on Mon, 13 Sep 2010

4 Reviews

• 

  A bit slow for my taste; at some times I'm drawn into the stories, but at other times it feels a little dull or lackluster. The story about the pregnant girl was too predictable. I liked reading the story from the two little boys' perspective though. They had a good mix of understanding and innocenc ... (continue)

  A bit slow for my taste; at some times I'm drawn into the stories, but at other times it feels a little dull or lackluster. The story about the pregnant girl was too predictable. I liked reading the story from the two little boys' perspective though. They had a good mix of understanding and innocence about life and death.

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  Snowtiger327 said on Apr 3, 2012 about the Unbound edition | Add your feedback

• 

  A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver.
  In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high school teacher is confronted with raising his two boys alone after their mother retreats first to the bedroom, then altogether. A teenage girl ... (continue)

  A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver.
  In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high school teacher is confronted with raising his two boys alone after their mother retreats first to the bedroom, then altogether. A teenage girl -- her father long since disappeared, her mother unwilling to have her in the house -- is pregnant, alone herself, with nowhere to go. And out in the country, two brothers, elderly bachelors, work the family homestead, the only world they've ever known.

  From these unsettled lives emerges a vision of life, and of the town and landscape that bind them together -- their fates somehow overcoming the powerful circumstances of place and station, their confusion, curiosity, dignity and humor intact and resonant. As the milieu widens to embrace fully four generations, Kent Haruf displays an emotional and aesthetic authority to rival the past masters of a classic American tradition.

  Utterly true to the rhythms and patterns of life, Plainsong is a novel to care about, believe in, and learn from.

  *I can't say enough about this book! I am amazed with the grace and eloquence in the writing. These are the stories you would hear in your own hometown and they writtten so beautifully! I am now a huge fan of this author.*

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  Leahrussell76 said on Oct 30, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• 

  A well written book that makes you care about the characters. I especially loved the two brothers that took the girl in. They reminded me of my grandfather.

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  Heather Landry said on Nov 17, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Plainsong

  This was a wonderful story with more than wonderful characters. The author really brings each and every character to life. I absolutely loved the McPheron brothers - two grizzled old bachelors with soft hearts, who decide to shelter a young, pregnant teenage girl when she has no one else to turn t ... (continue)

  This was a wonderful story with more than wonderful characters. The author really brings each and every character to life. I absolutely loved the McPheron brothers - two grizzled old bachelors with soft hearts, who decide to shelter a young, pregnant teenage girl when she has no one else to turn to.

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  Readingrat said on Aug 27, 2008 | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (23)
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• English Books
• Paperback 320 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0375705856
• ISBN-13: 9780375705854
• Publisher: Vintage
• Pub date: Aug 22, 2000
• Dimensions: 1290 mm x 903 mm x 129 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, School & Library Binding, Unbound and Others
• In other languages: other languages Libros en Español

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