Summary and Reviews of Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Media Reviews

Joan Silber, The New York Times Book Review His great subject was the struggle of decency against small-mindedness, and his rare gift was to make sheer decency a moving subject. . . . [This] novel runs on the dogged insistence that simple elements carry depths, and readers will find much to be grateful for.

John Freeman, The Boston Globe Lateness—and second chances—have always been a theme for Haruf. But here, in a book about love and the aftermath of grief, in his final hours, he has produced his most intense expression of that yet... Packed into less than 200 pages are all the issues late life provokes.

Kurt Rabin, The Fredericksburg Freelance-Star A marvelous addition to his oeuvre... spare but eloquent, bittersweet yet hopeful.

Lynn Rosen, The Philadelphia Enquirer A fitting close to a storied career, a beautiful rumination on aging, accommodation, and our need to connect... As a meditation on life and forthcoming death, Haruf couldn’t have done any better. He has given us a powerful, pared-down story of two characters who refuse to go gentle into that good night

Ron Charles, The Washington Post “Utterly charming [and] distilled to elemental purity... such a tender, carefully polished work that it seems like a blessing we had no right to expect.

The New Yorker A delicate, sneakily devastating evocation of place and character... Haruf’s story accumulates resonance through carefully chosen details; the novel is quiet but never complacent.

William J. Cobb, The Dallas Morning News Elegiac, mournful and compassionate... a triumphant end to an inspiring literary career [and] a reminder of a loss on the American cultural landscape, as well as a parting gift from a master storyteller.

Catherine Holmes, The Charleston Post and Courier More Winesburg that Mayberry, Holt and its residents are shaped by physical solitude and emotional reticence... Haruf’s fiction ratifies ordinary, nonflashy decency, but he also knows that even the most placid lives are more complicated than they appear from the outside... The novel is a plainspoken, vernacular farewell.

Francesca Wade, Financial Times Haruf is never sentimental, and the ending—multiple twists packed into the last twenty pages—is gritty, painful and utterly human. . . . His novels are imbued with an affection and understanding that transform the most mundane details into poetry. Like the friendly light shining from Addie’s window, Haruf’s final novel is a beacon of hope; he is sorely missed.