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    Our Souls at Night: A novel
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    Our Souls at Night: A novel
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    Our Souls at Night: A novel
    Audiobook3 hours

    Our Souls at Night: A novel

    Written by Kent Haruf

    Narrated by Mark Bramhall

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future.

    In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf's inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis's wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

    Their brave adventures-their pleasures and their difficulties-are hugely involving and truly resonant, making Our Souls at Night the perfect final installment to this beloved writer's enduring contribution to American literature.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 26, 2015
    ISBN9781101923467
    Unavailable
    Our Souls at Night: A novel
    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 Our Souls at Night

    4/5

    898 ratings133 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Simply glorious. I inhaled this in one sitting and you can too. Old people seeking happiness - hard to find fault with that unless you wish to deny them something you have been unable to attain. I loved this.
    • 5/5
      "And then there was the day when Addie Moore made a call on Louis Waters. (quotation page 3)

      Content:
      Addie Moore and Louis Waters are both widowed. The houses they live in are just one house apart, in Cedar Street, in the small rural town Holt. One day in May Addie asks Louis that they could maybe spend some of the hours during the long, lonely nights together.

      Theme and genre:
      This poetic, beautiful novel is about ageing, loneliness and friendship. It is also about the problems between parents and their adult children, about life and love. Another important topic are the small-mindedness of small towns and conventions.

      Characters:
      Kent Haruf definitely loves the characters he creates in his stories. Addie and Louis are both caring about each other and their families. Loveable, not perfect, just two normal persons who try to do things their way, and to not care about what people might think about them.

      Plot and writing:
      A story that will make you laugh and maybe also cry and leave you thoughtful. The positiveness between the lines will remain with you after the end of this book. The novel is writen in the known poetic, brilliant, quiet and specific style of the author.

      Conclusion:
      A beautiful, deeply human story about understanding, friendship and love, about growing old but trying to make the best of it.

    • 5/5
      This is another book I would probably not have heard about without GoodReads. It was discussed last year by the 21st Century Literature group there before it was readily available in the UK. The glowing recommendations from friends in the group stayed with me, and I was a little apprehensive that it would not match my raised expectations. Such concerns were needless.The novel is a perfectly judged, beautiful, poignant study of two widowed old people in a small town in the mid-West, who are brought together by loneliness and find a renewed sense of purpose together, until being thwarted by family pressures. The prose is simple but luminous, and the characters are memorable, and my only regrets were that the book is so short, and that it was Haruf's last work. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      This is a short and simple story, written in Haruf's characteristic spare prose. He makes his points through the actions of his characters, rather than dwelling on their thoughts and feelings, but the emotions involved are clear. He writes here about an unusual situation - a relationship between a man & a woman in their 70s, initiated by the woman. She wants someone to be with her at night when her loneliness evidently becomes too much. The fact that this unusual but essentially benign relationship provokes such a strong response from the small town community and from the woman's son is one of the main points of the novel. It seems to me that the characterization of a (largely) good, older man is another of Haruf's main objectives. He wrote this as he approached his own death and I wonder whether he was reflecting on what can reasonably be expected from a man during his life. The main character is by no means perfect, but he does set a pretty good example - worth thinking about.
    • 5/5
      Another, and unfortunately the last, pitch-perfect work by Kent Haruf. Apparently he knew he was dying when he wrote it. Perhaps that's why he allowed himself to pull back the curtain a tiny bit and offer an Oz-like glimpse of his creation: the town of Holt, Colorado. No spoilers. you'll know it when you come to it.
    • 3/5
      This was a 4 star book until the last 30 pages. It's a wonderfully crafted, simple story about two older people. It reminded me of Anne Tylers' books that take something everyday and turn it into an enjoyable story.
    • 3/5
      A gentle, simply written book about two elderly people seeking companionship. I enjoyed this sweet story but was disappointed with the ending.
    • 3/5
      Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf was a short and pleasant read; the characters were likeable, the plot was sweet, and the ending was satisfying. I found the story was well written, though simple, and the storyline had no holes in it that I could see. I liked how the book was written without quotation marks and the he said/she said part of dialogue. It made it very conversational to read. I can't think of anything to complain about, but the same time, there's nothing about the book that really sticks out for me, except that I did enjoy the way it ended. I wouldn't read it again and I can't think of who I would give it to next.It's funny, I first heard about Our Souls at Night on the podcast All The Books. It's the third book I have read at their recommendation, the first being The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend followed by Weather, both of which I enjoyed about as much. It's becoming clear that my tastes and theirs aren't a perfect match!I'd say if you like a nice sweet story to read before bed, you might enjoy this book. I give it three stars.
    • 4/5
      A gentle book, challenging societal expectations of the older generation, Addie and Louis talk in the night.The ending left me feeling that it wasn't true to the characters and I felt let down, other than that, a beautiful sparse tale of love and family.
    • 5/5
      This is the best Haruf read for me so far, and sadly, the last book of his to be published, that I am aware of anyways. While time seems to stand still in Holt, Colorado – the fictional town Haruf’s stories are set in – Haruf gives us enough subtle clues (like Addie’s 6 year old grandson Jamie having his own cell phone) to place this story squarely in Haruf’s time when he wrote it. This time the main characters are two neighbours, both widowed and in their twilight years. Their platonic nights spent together at Addie’s house give Louis and Addie a new lease on happiness, even if their attempts to keep their nights together unobtrusive fail as the town gossips start to make comments about what “they think” is going on. As with his other books, this story is multi-generational, with a focus on family and community, but it is not all sweetness and light. In this story, Haruf continues his theme that some of the most destructive elements can be found within one’s own family, and that “family” as a positive support is not necessary determined by blood relation. Some opinions and actions in this story are harsh. It is always shocking to me how people who do not approve of someone else’s behaviour (even when it has nothing to do with them) still feel they have a right to dictate change: “I don’t like what you are doing, so YOU have to change”, with no regard for the thoughts or feelings of the other person. That kind of attitude makes me see red, so my emotions while reading this one went through the whole spectrum of happiness, sadness, anger, grief and laughter. Haruf knows how to emotionally draw me into a story and it was a delightful surprise to discover Haruf delving into a bit of meta-fiction fun at one point with Louis and Addie engaging in a conversation about fictional books about Holt (Plainsong is easily recognizable in their conversation!) and how much they would not want to be the subject of another fictional Holt book.Beautifully written, this story will hopefully renew your belief in happiness, even if it is never secure and there can be unexpected risks and bumps along the way.
    • 4/5
      I spent most of this book on the verge of tears...happy tears and sad tears. Such a sweet, slow little book. I adore Addie and Louis, but Gene makes me borderline homicidal. The end nearly killed me.
    • 4/5
      This was really a sweet book, although I was disappointed with its ending. I was surprised that I liked the book as much as I did because the subject made me somewhat uncomfortable (also surprising). I decided to see where it went and ended up finding it a quite pleasant read. The author has a lovely, simple way of writing that is satisfying. His writing reminds me of the simple style of the author of the Boxcar Children series (her name escapes me). His themes are not simple, but his way of approaching them is and I liked that.
    • 5/5
      I knew about this book before the movie came to Netflix, but I wanted to read the book before I watched the movie. I didn't expect to like the book much, but wow. Was I shocked to find that I loved it! Simple, quiet, and heartbreaking in a way that gets under your skin. Beautiful book.
    • 5/5
      Simple, straightforward, and heartbreaking. Haruf paints the ordinary details of everyday life so well. I read a lot of quiet novels like this, always wanting to love them but often feeling like something is missing. I'm placing this one next to Hannah Coulter on my mental shelf of poignant stories that hit the mark.
    • 4/5
      Kent Haruf excels at creating characters with big hearts dealing with other characters with damaged souls. In this novel a widow and widower have got to a point in life where they want to stop giving a sh*t about what other people think and to concentrate on living and happiness. Amen to that.It's a short novel, but one that pulls you quickly in. If you enjoy plot-driven books, forget it - this novel is all about life and relationships.I'm glad I read it and zipped through it in a couple of sittings, but Haruf set the bar high with the Plainsong trilogy (or at least with Plainsong 1 - I still need to get hold of copies of the next two), and I felt that this novel was just a teeny bit lacking by comparison.3.5 stars - a good read, but I feel I'll forget it in as quick a time as it took me to read it.
    • 4/5
      I have read a lot of books after seeing the movie and vice versa. Usually I end up liking the book better, but in this case it was the movie that was better. I probably should have read the book first. I thought that Fonda and Redford were excellent in the roles of Addie and Louis. They made the characters come alive, and it was hard for me to feel the same emotion reading the book. I found the endings for both, but particularly the book, to be a little unsettling.
    • 3/5
      So, so sad.
    • 4/5
      A lovely simple story of two elderly people who decide to share their lives to relieve their loneliness.
    • 4/5
      Addie Moore, a 70 year old widow, has a proposition for her neighbor, widower, Louis Waters. Both are lonely and scarred and their children have lives of their own, so what could be the harm in a little nontraditional companionship? Simply getting together to talk has the small town's tongues wagging but Addie and Louis know how to take care of that and going public is liberating and affords them the flexibility to enjoy the outdoors, the town's establishments and events. Addie's son, Gene, puts a cabash on everything. An unhappy man himself, he doesn't seem to relish in the happiness his mother has found in her life. Haruf has written a lovely story. The dynamic protagonists, Addie and Louis are a smart and thoughtful couple. The author seems to send a message for others to respect and admire the older generation. They are wise and life doesn't need to end before a coroner says it has.
    • 3/5
      A touching story of love, life, and aging.
    • 4/5
      This book just makes me sad. I loved how it was simply written.
    • 4/5
      Well, this was a strange experience. Kent Haruf's final novel/novella was a fairly quick read. What I did then was watch the Netflix film of it immediately afterwords. The film makes some changes - not huge changes, but they are very noticeable coming right after a fresh read. There were a few things in the book that I wasn't happy with and the film sometimes is a little worse, sometimes a little better and sometimes just different. I liked the book better than the film. But now honestly the two are so wedded in my brain I can't parse out the strengths and weaknesses properly. Suffice to say I wasn't overly happy with how either the book or the film ended. The film has a few real continuity glitches in it if one has read the book, I'll say that. Or maybe even if one hasn't. Anyway, going to bed last night after the book and film, I was pretty melancholy. For fans of Haruf, this is worth the read. ETA: I reread the last third or so of the book and it strengthened my feeling that I did not care for some of the changes to the story in the film - it also reminded me that until about the last 15 pages of the book the best parts of the book were there. I suppose that sudden reversal that ends the book is made all the more poignant because of that. Well I don't like the ending of either the film or the book - but the book is definitively better as a whole.
    • 4/5
      very sad book to me, but I really loved it!!! two elderly and widowed neighbors fall in love and make a difference in a little boy's life and there's a dog involved!!!! :)
    • 5/5
      One of the most wonderful novels I've ever read--but I am the right age to read it. I gave it to my sisters and stepmother for Christmas and one sister recently called my stepmother to say she had a fabulous book that she was sending her. Turned out to be Our Souls At Night. It is the story of two elderly people who think they are content in their loneliness and who find each other. It sounds cheesy and sentimental but isn't at all. Beautifully written. Now I want to read Kent Haruf's Plainsong! This book along with Szabo's The Door are my recent favorites.
    • 3/5
      Great simple story. Lots of 'feel good' to it. A good dose of not so 'feel good'. I enjoyed the somewhat stream of consciousness writing style. Not a lot of attention to sentence structure (not a negative). Most of the effort was spent on relating the thoughts and feeling contained within. Great job right out of the gate getting me into a pace that really helped me to connect with main character.
    • 4/5
      When I heard that Netflix is making a movie of this, I decided it was time to read it. (I've been meaning to for awhile.) So I went to the bookstore, bought it, and read the whole thing in essentially one sitting. The writing is superb. The characters are deftly and seemingly effortlessly drawn. I was deeply in love with the book until the end, which I *hate*. It feels abrupt and slightly out of sync with the rest of the book (this is forgivable given that Haruf was dying when he wrote it), but the events of the end also make me unpleased. *grump* Recommended though, because such amazing writing, such lovely characters who are so real so quickly.
    • 4/5
      didnt move me
    • 5/5
      Heartbreaking.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully and simply written, Our Souls at Night is about a widow (Maddie Moore) and a widower (Louis Waters), both in their 70s, who decide to spend their nights together for companionship. They live in a small town in Colorado and people begin to notice and gossip. Neither one of them cares what the rest of town thinks because their comradery has given them a second lease on life. Ultimately they separate when Maddie's son refuses to let her have any contact with her grandson unless she stops sleeping with Louis.
    • 3/5
      I got this book from my mom and a friend of hers said it was her "book of the year" and I didn't quite agree. I don't say this often but I just wasn't old enough for this book. The entire book is about a senior relationship and while the writing was very good, it just didn't grab me like I hoped.