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Kent Haruf writes about loneliness and abandonment, about people struggling to live simple lives without despairing, and about the trials and disappointments everyone is handed. But, he also writes about rescue, salvation, redemption and the love that can spring up in the most unlikely of places.

I have seldom seen an author reveal so much about his characters with so little said. We have the coming of age story of the Guthrie boys, Ike and Bobby; the intricate relationship between Victoria and the McPhersons; and the searching of Tom for some self-fulfilment in the face of his disintegrating marriage and his efforts to raise his boys. It is a rough world, and the characters are not always shielded from its cruel and hard side, but there always seems to be something good beneath the surface that makes the effort to find the softer side worthwhile.

This was not my first Haruf. I had read Our Souls at Night several years ago. I think a hallmark of his writing is that his characters are simple, ordinary people caught up in familiar conflicts and troubles. We can relate to them. We know their pain, because it is much like our own, and we can feel their loneliness and understand their reluctance to reach out and touch a person that might pull away.

I hope to read the next two volumes of stories about Holt, CO. I think Mr. Haruf is someone I could spend a lot more time with, and be better for the experience.