Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: May 04, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 836172
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
With Victoria Roubideaux now at college, the McPheron brothers are alone on their farm once again, yet struggling to settle back into old ways and routines; Tom Guthrie and Maggie Jones, meanwhile, are finding their future together more assured, even while they're still finding their feet as a couple. Alongside these familiar faces and places, however, are new characters and their stories: Betty and Luther, who are struggling to keep their heads above water and their children Joy Rae and Richie out of care; eleven-year-old DJ who has spent much of his supposedly carefree childhood caring for his cantankerous grandfather Walter; DJ's friend Dena, her mother and sister, all of whom are trying to adjust to life and a home without the girls' father. Eloquent and evocative, Eventide paints a convincing, compelling picture of small-town life in Holt County, Colorado.
Amazon.com Review:
Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong, one of the most beloved novels in recent years, has wisely continued the franchise in Eventide, another foray into the prairie town of Holt, Colorado. We meet some of the same people--the McPheron brothers, Tom Guthrie and Maggie Jones, Victoria and her daughter Katie, and are introduced to new ones. Once again, the quirky bachelors Harold and Raymond McPheron, short on conversation and long on heart, form the sweet center of the book. The constants here are the brothers, the landscape--by turns hostile, demanding and renewing--and a few of the locals, whom we meet in varying degrees of their travails and redemption.
Victoria, the young pregnant woman the brothers took in in Plainsong, has gone off to college at Fort Collins, leaving the brothers standing at the kitchen counter, 'drinking coffee and talking about how Victoria Roubideaux was doing a hundred and twenty-five miles away from home ... while they themselves were living as usual in the country in Holt County ... with so much less to account for now that she was gone, and a wind rising up and starting to whine outside the house.' Much as Seinfeld was called the TV show about nothing, Haruf's books are so low-key and straightforward that a careless reader might miss the fact that they are about everything that life has to offer: love, sorrow, malice, understanding, and the connections that make and keep us human, to name a few.
DJ is an 11-year-old living alone with his grandfather, when he befriends two young girls whose father left for Alaska and decided not to return. Their mother is mired in grief and the three children, abandoned by the adults in their lives, find refuge in an old shed they make habitable. 'So for a while the two sisters and the boy lay on the floor under the blankets, reading books in the dim candlelight, with the sun falling down outside in the alley, the three of them talking a little softly, drinking coffee from a thermos, and what was happening in the houses they’d come from, seemed, for that short time, of little importance.' One of Haruf's particular gifts is in showing us people who give and take solace wherever it may be found.
An unfortunate disabled couple, parents of two young children, are trying to make their way in a world they cannot fathom. They are assisted by Rose Tyler, their caseworker, who is a friend of Maggie Jones. aggie, who drew Tom Guthrie out of his depression in Plainsong, is once again a catalyst for change when she introduces Rose to Raymond. There is no doubt more to come, as life in Holt, Colorado, continues to evolve and Kent Haruf keeps us informed. --Valerie Ryan
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
This story gets back to the basics of family and what people will do for one another. A good wholesome story that brings out the best of human nature despite unfortunate circumstances. A story of hope and goodness in often unpleasant situations. A most relaxing and enjoyable read that will leave you waiting for the subsequent one Haruf writes. Eventide
Rated by buyers -
Read this book slowly; settle into the steady rhythms of the storytelling, and savor the characters and their intersecting short stories. That's what this book is--a series of interrupted but interwoven short stories. They are sweet, sorrowful, hopeful, and plainspoken. Plainsong stayed with me long after I finished the book, and these characters and their environments embedded themselves even more complexly with Eventide. Lovely, lovely writing.
Rated by buyers -
I read this book because the discusion group to which I belong had read Plainsong and voted to read Eventide also. I found it very disconcerting that the author did not use quotation marks and that he gave his readers so few clues as to when Plainsong took place.
At some place in Eventide I was able to put aside my irritation with the author for not using quotation marks and for not telling his readers when the story takes place.
I did find a few clues about the time period including cordless phones (since Betty took the phone to the couch, and another character took a phone to the bedroom). Page 6 tells us the McPherons were gassing up both the truck and the car so the Gas and Go must have been self-serve. The same page mentioned food stamps and pop in cans.
Didn't the author tell us the parents of the McPheron brothers had died in an auto accident when the brothers were young? So there were automobiles at that time.
I picture Tom Guthrie's old faded Dodge pickup truck as a 1953 model and wonder how long it will keep running.
The author still does not allow the characters to use microwaves, dishwashers, cell phones, Google, e-mail, etc. That makes me think the story took place quite a while ago - or Holt, Colorado doesn't allow such modern conveniences.
I did enjoy the character development and found most of the characters quite likeable with the exception, of course, of the abusive Hoyt Raines.
In light of today's litigious society, it seems hard to believe that Rose would go out of her way to provide as much help as she did to her clients.
While reading this book, I watched for specially colored leaves that had freshly fallen from my maple trees. I was drawn to those with the same colors as the cover of Eventide. They are still resting peacefully in my book.
Rated by buyers -
I ordered Eventide before I finished reading Plainsong. I couldn't wait to see what the characters were doing next. I enjoy reading books about western small town life. I am always looking for new authors and Mark Spragg turned me on to Kent Haruf. They both remind me of Ivan Doig, my favorite. It is a real talent when the authors can bring laughter and tears in the same paragraph.
Rated by buyers -
This was one of my very favorite books. I like to read books that are relaxing that dont have hundreds of characters. This book doesnt have alot of dreary descriptions of characters, but the author develops his characters by their conversations, and believe me, you get to know the characters well! Its almost as if you know them personally. I LOVED it.
Find other books like this one:
