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    Plainsong
    Plainsong
    Plainsong
    Audiobook9 hours

    Plainsong

    Written by Kent Haruf

    Narrated by Tom Stechschulte

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Kent Haruf has received prestigious awards, including a special citation from the PEN/Hemingway Foundation for his finely-tuned works. Before the opening chapter of this novel, Haruf offers a definition. Plainsong is "any simple and unadorned melody or air." Direct yet elegant, Haruf's Plainsong is a hymn to the breadth of the human spirit. A high school history teacher in a small Colorado town, Guthrie is raising his two young sons alone. Thoughtful and honest, he is guiding them through a world that is not always kind. Victoria, one of his students, is pregnant, homeless, and vulnerable to the scorn of the town. When Guthrie helps two elderly ranchers take the young woman into their home, an unlikely extended family is born. As the chapters of these people's lives alternate throughout Plainsong, loneliness and need are transformed into nourishing bonds. Narrator Tom Stechschulte captures the subtle changes that bring the men, women, and children together. His performance highlights every shading of this superb New York Times best-seller.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 13, 2012
    ISBN9781461810759
    Plainsong
    Author

    Kent Haruf

    Kent Haruf is the author of six novels (and, with the photographer Peter Brown, West of Last Chance). His honours include a Whiting Foundation Writers' Award, the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award, the Wallace Stegner Award, and a special citation from the PEN/Hemingway Foundation; he was also a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and The New Yorker Book Award. Benediction was shortlisted for the Folio Prize. He died in November 2014, at the age of seventy-one.

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    Reviews for Plainsong

    4/5

    1,635 ratings119 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book has characters that are so real. I swear I have met each one of them. The dialogue was written so well that I could hear the voices jumping off the page. The setting of Colorado was also as alive as the people in the story. I was touched many times by acts of kindness and quiet moments of generosity and love that just took my breath away. Simple, straightforward and full of heart, it’s worth it.
    • 5/5
      Fine, beautifully simple tale that intertwines the destinies of a pregnant high school girl, a pair of bachelor farmers, and a high school teacher struggling with the collapse of his marriage and the task of raising two boys on his own.
    • 5/5
      What a smooth and easy read with a great ending. What read like a series vignettes that laced at the edges the story was crisp like Steinbeck but without the hard edges. Life in the 1980's in a high plains ranching town a couple hours from Denver. Simple but certainly not plain lives of people in Holt, CO were well described by not over done. KH limited his words in many scenes. Scattered images noted gave a sense of place and feeling. Almost a 5.0.
    • 3/5
      Nice story of single people in the plains who get into a makeshift "family."
    • 5/5
      As many others have said, strong characterization, good narrative, a warm and engaging portrayal of loosely interacting lives in a rural community. This is a book simply to enjoy for its merit in taking the reader into another world, engaging him or her within that world, making us want to stay in that world a little or a lot longer. Loved it.
    • 5/5
      What a fabulous storyteller. After listening to the audiobook one feels like they know these folks.
    • 3/5
      Interesting story line, not complex, picked because of the Colorado connection. But no quote marks for the dialogue is a real problem for ease of reading.
    • 5/5
      A lovely story of family and community. We meet various residents of the town of Holt and see them through the personal crises of their lives. The dialog is written in a curious style which took a little getting used to, but I think it suits the story. It is in no way twee but will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling nonetheless. Family is about more than just blood, family is community, and with it we can achieve anything. Religion isn't mentioned at all but it reminded me of my church family in the way we care for each other cross culturally and cross generationally.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed reading the book a lot, there was a really nice rhythm in the prose. Most of the characters were almost too likeable though, and the others were too awful.
    • 4/5
      A lovely, compassionate, and deeply funny story. The main characters include a pregnant teenager, a pair of bachelor farmers, a high school teacher whose wife is leaving him, their two sons, and another teacher whose wisdom sets much of the story in motion. While the story has no overt religious themes, it's a spare and beautifully written portrait of grace.
    • 5/5
      "Plainsong - the unisonous vocal music used in the Christian church from the earliest times; any simple and unadorned melody or air"Haruf's beautifully understated prose corresponds perfectly with the title: simple, unadorned, melodic. The characters are presented perfectly, in all their imperfections. For some people life has many negatives, but in this mesmerizing novel Haruf shows that positives shine.
    • 4/5
      Set in the small rural community of Holt, Colorado, this book tells rotating stories among several residents: high school teacher his sons who are missing their mother, a pregnant seventeen-year-old, and two middle age unmarried ranchers. A second teacher serves as a connection point among the characters. Their stories start out discretely, and eventually converge. It is a quiet story about loneliness and reaching out to others for help.

      The chapters’ headings clearly indicate which story is being presented. There is no single protagonist – it is a cast of equally important characters. The antagonists bring bullying and meanness into this placid landscape, creating dramatic tension. The reader is not privy to any of the characters’ inner thoughts, so motives must be attributed. It will appeal to those that enjoy realistic, character-driven stories about life.
    • 4/5
      This is a lovely quiet novel of life in small town Holt, Colorado on the high plains. It is told in short episodic chapters focusing on several of the town's characters, including high school teacher Guthrie, who is having marital problems, and his sons Ike and Bobby, and pregnant teenager Victoria, who kicked out by her mother finds a home and family with two elderly brothers Harold and Raymond who work the family farm. The book takes place over the course of a year.A calming, satisfying read.3 1/2 stars. First line: "Here was this man Tom Guthrie in Holt standing at the back window in the kitchen of his house smoking cigarettes and looking out over the back lot where his son was just coming up."Last line: "They stood on the porch a while longer in the evening air seventeen miles out south of Holt at the very end of May."
    • 5/5
      A simple story about a teacher, his two boys, a pregnant girl, and two farming brothers in a small midwest town.
    • 4/5
      One of my favourite literary quotes is 'Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts' from To Kill A Mockingbird; Kent Haruf seemingly took that line to extremes, trimming speech marks and introspection alike from his writing. When reading comparisons with Hemingway and Faulkner in the introduction, two of my least favourite authors, I took fright but I'm glad I persevered. Yes, the prose is stripped bare and no, not many of the characters are very sympathetic, but the pace of the narrative and the timeless setting really grew on me.In Holt, Colorado, a small town surrounded by cattle ranches and farms, high school student Victoria realises she is pregnant and her mother throws her out. She turns to one of her teachers, Maggie Jones, who lives with her elderly father. Another teacher, Tom Guthrie, is raising his two young sons after his troubled wife moves out and eventually leaves town. Both Maggie and Tom find help with their problems from two old farmers, the McPherons, on their ranch miles out of town: the brothers become the unlikely guardians of Victoria and the young Guthrie boys seek solace from the harsh realities of life with the crotchety old cattle men. And that's the book - the connecting lives of a mother to be, two sets of brothers and two teachers in a rather bleak setting. I didn't like Tom Guthrie at all - or the disturbing shades of Stoner - and his sons were a bit creepy too, but all of the characters are painfully human and relatable in different ways. The McPheron brothers and their awkward affection for Victoria made my heart ache and I appreciated Maggie's common sense until she fell for Stoner, sorry Guthrie. I know Holt is a small town but come on!Holt is the kind of fictional town I would love to visit for the scenery but would hate to live in, and Haruf perfectly captures the claustrophobia of a small community in hard times. I'm still not sure exactly when that time is supposed to be, however - probably the 1980s, but Stephen King and his kink for the good old 50s would probably feel at home in Holt! There are two more books in the series, which I think I will read, but only after a vacation in a livelier, friendlier story or two!
    • 5/5
      Oh my goodness! What a wonderful way to start a new year! Kent Haruf tells a wonderful story of transformation, coming of age, and love! I was horrified, terrified, laughed out loud and cried tears of joy and sorrow. What more could one ask for? Absolutely marvelous characters? The novel has those as well. It is a must read!
    • 5/5
      Kent Haruf is a favorite author. A young high school girl, Victoria becomes pregnant and her mother kicks her out of the house. She gets help from one of her teachers. The teacher arranges for Victoria to live with two old bachelor ranchers. They come to care about Victoria and her child.
    • 3/5
      Mostly a sleepy mid-west American story about a few interesting characters in the town. And as much as it is sleepy, it also has some serious scenes (graphic and disturbing, but realistic and not sensationalized) to make this story more than just a sleepy pastoral book.
      What is this book about? A father and his two sons after his wife moves out to deal with her depression; a pregnant teen who finds herself couch surfing after her own mother kicks her out; two bachelor brothers who take in the girl; the father who tries to stand up to a school slacker and his bully family (plus a few other characters and subplots). Really, I think the book is about parenthood, the comparison of mothers (mostly bad in this book) and fathers (mostly good), and how sometimes the best parents are not the ones we expect. I'm putting it rather simplistically, but this is not a literary essay. (The book would make a good option for a gr 12 English assignment or a book club discussion, however). Decent, but I don't expect to pick up the next one anytime soon.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful story without a defined plot, but there was no need for one as the characters are enough. The writing is simple, with no quotation marks, but done so perfectly I didn't notice. The McPheron brothers, how can you not love them?
    • 4/5
      Vivid, true-to-life novel of life in a small town in Colorado in perhaps the 1980s. The story is told in chapters alternating among various inhabitants: Tom Guthrie, a high school teacher and his two young sons; Victoria, a pregnant out-of-wedlock teenager; Maggie, another teacher and the McPheron brothers, two old bachelor cattlemen. Exquisite prose, in which all through I could see people and events before my eyes. It reminded me somewhat of Saroyan's Human comedy and of Lake Wobegon, although after the first half the novel turned darker and menacing in spots. Most of the sexual situations I just skipped over, not because of any gratuitousness but they were just not to my personal taste.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      This is the first book of fiction I have read in some time after a steady diet of some pretty heady reading over the last few months. I have to say, I enjoyed reading it, enjoyed getting immersed into the plot, and enjoyed looking forward to each moment I could spend reading it.
      The book is really a simple story, but it does a wonderful job of characterizations and of describing life in a small town. Its "heroes" are not heroic, just regular people doing the right thing and its central character, a young pregnant high school girl has a strength of character combined with general innocence, reminding me of Queueq in Moby Dick.
      If I could regularly find books as interesting and well written as this, I think I would read fiction more often.
    • 4/5
      I read one of the greatest American trilogies out of order, 2,3,1. I could feel badly about it, but it turns out that the first book wasn't quite as enjoyable to me as the second and third. Haruf's spare writing is haunting and beautiful, the words seem to be just a delivery system for human emotion. The only other author he reminds me of is Steinbeck perhaps. Guthrie's behavior was a little hard for me to take, but I don't think anyone can resist falling in love with Victoria and her protectors.
    • 3/5
      Plainsong is plainly written. Haruf describes what people do, the surroundings, what is said--mostly not much. Most of the time people seem to be pondering things we are not informed of. Emotions are never mentioned.Obviously the sparse dry prose is intended to convey the essence of this sparse dry land, a metaphor for their sparse lives. I'm from the rural Midwest & can picture the old farmers rubbing their worn hands, but here we also have leaves rustling, streams sparkling, and ups and downs of the land.
    • 5/5
      I first heard of this novel on LT way back when, and I'm not sure why I waited so long to read it. I knew I would love it - in fact, I collected hardcovers of all three books in the trilogy because I knew it would be just my thing. And the first volume did not disappoint. It follows several denizens of Holt, a small town on the eastern plains of Colorado. Nothing hugely momentous happens, but the various perspectives give us a complete picture of life and struggle in a small town. Haruf treats his characters with such respect, imbuing them with dignity and worth, that one understands the inherent value of the Everyman, not the larger-than-life Doer of Great Deeds, but the average person trying to achieve nothing more than a good life. There is conflict and death and ugliness, but what stands out more are the tenderness and quiet moments that constitute the best parts of life.A lovely, gentle novel with unforgettable characters.
    • 3/5
      3.5 The size and stillness of the high plains fill this understated book. Worth it for the gift to the doctor.
    • 3/5
      This is a good book. It is well written in a solid and peaceful, beautiful way, reminding me a little of Dan O'Brien. There is a little, quiet, human humor. Haruf conveys the feeling, and the tribulations, of life in rural Colorado. I don't entirely connect with the characters, though; perhaps they are missing some quirkiness or diversity. They are a bit flat and predictable—realistic and believable, but bland.
    • 5/5
      „Victoria. Hör mir zu. Du bist jetzt hier. Du bist hier und nicht woanders.“ (Originalzitat, Maggie Jones zu Victoria)

      Victoria, 17 Jahre alt, wohnt bei ihrer Mutter. Der Vater hatte die Familie längst verlassen und dementsprechend verbittert reagiert die Mutter, als Victoria von einer Sommerliebe schwanger ist. Sie wirft Victoria aus dem Haus. Ihre Lehrerin Maggie nimmt sie vorübergehend auf, aber ihr alter, verwirrter Vater reagiert verstört auf Fremde im Haus. In Holt lebt auch ein altes Brüderpaar, die McPherons, die nie geheiratet haben und seit früher Kindheit gemeinsam ihre Rinderfarm bewirtschaften. Victoria kann bei ihnen wohnen. Doch werden die raubeinigen alten Herren und das eigenwillige junge Mädchen den Alltag meistern können? Und was ist mit Ella los, Mutter der beiden Jungs Ike und Bobby, die großteils von ihrem Vater Tom Guthrie versorgt werden, der an der Highschool Amerikanische Geschichte unterrichtet? …

      Kent Haruf lässt uns in seinem Roman am Leben einiger Bewohner der fiktiven Kleinstadt Holt irgendwo in der endlosen, flachen Weite (Plains) von Colorado teilhaben. Allerdings erkennt man rasch, dass es dem Schriftsteller mehr um die Schilderung des kleinteiligen Alltagslebens in Holt ging und weniger um die Einzelschicksale.

      Er wählt die neutrale Erzählperspektive und stellt dem Leser insgesamt sieben Bewohner von Holt genauer vor, die er in kurzen Kapiteln abwechselnd in den Vordergrund treten lässt, wo er eine Situation oder ein Ereignis im Tagesablauf der jeweiligen Person schildert. So lernen wir Victoria Roubideaux kennen, die mit 17 ein Baby erwartet und die Brüder Harold und Raymond McPheron, zwei alte Junggesellen, Farmer, die Victoria bei sich aufnehmen. Wir erhalten auch Einblick in das Leben von Ike und Bobby Guthrie, 10 und 9 Jahre alt, und das ihres Vaters Tom, der an der Highschool unterrichtet, so wie auch seine Kollegin Maggie Jones. Weitere Bewohner von Holt ergänzen die Ereignisse rund um die Hauptpersonen jeweils als Beteiligte. Dadurch ergeben sich mehrere parallele Spannungsbögen, jede der sieben Personen hat eine eigene Problematik, die sich im eigenen Rhythmus zuspitzt und erst am Ende der Geschichte mit den anderen verbindet.

      Der Autor lässt seine Protagonisten in knappen, kurzen Sätzen sprechen. Geht es jedoch um die Landschaft, die Natur in einzelnen Tagesabschnitten und Jahreszeiten, wechselt er in sprachgewaltige, bildhafte Beschreibungen, in die er die Stimmung der Personen einbettet. Gezielt setzt er auch manchmal Metapher ein, so verwendet der Autor die Ulmen im Zusammenhang mit alten Brüdern McPheron und verstärkt durch diese Schilderung der Bäume auch das Bild in den Gedanken des Lesers: zwei Männer, alt, wortkarg, "knorrig", aber unter der rauen Schale gute, freundliche Menschen, vom harten Leben vielleicht gebeugt, aber immer noch fest verwurzelt, wie die alten Bäume auf ihrem Anwesen.

      „Dann sahen sie in ihre dicken, schwieligen Hände, die sie flach ausgebreitet vor sich auf den Tisch gelegt hatten, und schließlich schauten sie aus dem Fenster zu den kahlen, verkrüppelten Ulmen hinüber.“ (Zitat 140).

      Dieser Roman hat mich sehr beeindruckt, weniger die einzelnen Personen, sondern hier ist es das Gesamtbild aus dieser weiten, aber einsamen Landschaft mit der typisch amerikanischen Kleinstadt und ihren Einwohnern. Dazu die kraftvolle und dennoch fließende Sprache, die für mich beinahe pures Lesevergnügen war – mit einer persönlichen Einschränkung: einige Szenen mit Tieren sind sehr realistisch und detailgetreu beschrieben. Ich konnte keinen Zusammenhang mit der Geschichte erkennen, es diente weder dem Handlungsablauf, noch der Erklärung für ein Verhalten eines Protagonisten und mir ist nicht klar, was der Autor damit aussagen wollte.

      Fazit: ein Buch für Leser, welche die sprachliche Qualität eines Schriftstellers zu schätzen wissen und eine Geschichte in ihrer Gesamtheit sehen können, denen es aber nicht so wichtig ist, jedes Detail aus dem Leben der einzelnen Protagonisten zu kennen.


    • 5/5
      Small towns anywhere, in this case Colorado, all have characters, each with their own hum. Put them all together, and the Gregorian Chant begins to emerge. The two young brothers morph into the two elderly brothers. Will the young teenage mother morph into her own mother with broken dreams?This is book 1 of a trilogy. I hesitate to read the second because of my fear of disappointment. Eventually I will. Stechschulte does a good job with multiple voices.
    • 5/5
      Plainsong. Kent Haruf. 1999. Oh, my goodness! What a book! And to think it has been sitting on my-to-be-read shelf for several years. What a waste. Haruf slowly unveils the soul of a small Colorado town as he relates the inter-related stories of some its inhabitants: two lonely brother bachelors who take it a lonely pregnant girl; the depressed mother of two little boys; the boys’ father; a bully and his ignorant parents; and the pregnant girl. The prose is sparse, but perfect, and we are drawn into the characters lives as if we knew them, and we do know them by the end of the novel. I hated for it to end.
    • 2/5
      This story takes place in a very rural community in Colorado. It was difficult to care about the characters in this book, especially since the pov didn't allow the reader to know what anyone was thinking, and their actions often didn't make any sense to me, even given what I knew about the characters. I could never place them in time either, but there was a reference to Nancy Reagan, so if I had to guess between her movie star days vs First Lady, I'd guess it was earlier. No one seemed to respond much to their situation; they just went about their dull-witted ways. Maybe that was true to the culture of the people depicted.

      This is the first book I've read by this author. If the others are also third person limited, yet without any internal motives shared, I would probably give it a miss. It won awards in the literary world but it didn't really score any points with me.