Plainsong definition: A simple and unadorned melody; Gregorian chant.
“From simple elements, Haruf achieves a novel of wisdom and grace – a narrative that builds in strength and feeling until, as in a choral chant, the voices in the book surround, transport, and lift the reader off the ground.” National Book Award Citation 1999
Kent Haruf’s novel Plainsong takes place in small town America, in Holt, Colorado, in a time described by one reviewer as “between then and now”. The story chronicles the life of 8 characters and how their lives intersect over the course of a year, creating community and family, and filling the void in their life brought on by death, abandonment, emotional withdrawal and absence.
The main character, Victoria, is a 17 year old girl that finds herself pregnant after a summer of fun with a young man from another community. When she tells her Mom of her predicament, her mother kicks her out of the house and tells her not to come back. Victoria turns to Maggie, a teacher at her school that she knows she can trust to help her through this situation. While Maggie initially takes her in, she soon finds another home for Victoria with the McPheron brothers, two aging brothers that have lived an isolated life for decades on their ranch 17 miles outside of town. Maggie convinces the brothers to take Victoria in, to find a purpose in life beyond their own needs. “You’re going to die some day without ever having had enough trouble in your life. Not the right kind anyway. This is your chance”.
And so the story begins, the building of trust and eventually family, between the McPherons and Victoria, as well as a surrounding cast of characters that all intersect to create a community that takes care of one another. There is a beautiful rhythm to the story, a simple cadence that evokes a simpler time of life, yet also full of the sorrow and anguish that permeate all human relationships.
The group on a whole loved the book due to its simplicity and the memories it evoked. Plainsong takes you back to a simpler time of life, although no less complicated, and holds you there so as to fully be a part of the story.
Ratings: 4.5 – 3; “Loved the community and the sweetness of the book”. “Took me back to my younger days in a small town”.
4.25 – 1,
4.75 – 1,
3.0 – 1 “I kept expecting tragedy to happen”.
