Plainsong by Kent Haruf (fiction review)

Posted by Ray Schaufeld on Thu, 05 Feb 2015

I've given this a try and I can't get into it. It's a story set in smalltown USA about a single Dad with two sons who takes in a schoolgirl Mum. It's OK, I suppose it simply gives me nothing new and hasn't any laughs unless I've skipped them. I liked George Eliot's Silas Marner a lot when I read it, so I've nowt against single Dad tales per se but GE's had more to it; the broken-hearted barmaid mother dying of an OD, the story of Silas' loneliness and dadhood becoming his salvation and local acceptance etc.

I tried reading this because of rave reviews, the plainness of the author's 'hardscrabble' style won praise. But I've skipped to the hardass bit of the action where the Dad drives up after the birth and tries to pull the young mum away with her and her host family fight him off and I can't be bothered to backtrack.

I'm sure I have missed a lot. Please put me right, someone, and I might maybe try again. Maybe.

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

there is no law that says 'thou shalt finish this book'. A good book, one in which we enjoy, resonates within us. This is clearly not the case. Dump it.  

 

Submitted by Canonette on

I absolutely loved it, but we don't all have the same tastes.  I also really enjoy Cormac McCarthy's work, which has a similar pared down style.

 

Submitted by VeraClark on

I found it painfully dull although it is well written. Toss it aside and dive into a fresh new one.

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Interesting that the book seems to 'split the vote'. Cannonette, you could be right about 'pared down' working well for some readers but not everyone and the same is probably true of what a story is 'about'. I am willing to read anything in any style at all from start to finish provided it is short ie a poem or a very short story but perhaps less so with a full-length work of fiction.

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Empathised with what you said about 'Silas Marner'. I remember being surprised how I got on with it in school, having just had to move areas, so new school and all lessons were so different, and came back to it much older. Rhiannon