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Where You Once Belonged
Heavy-built Jack Burdette is quite literally too big for his boots - and too big, certainly for the small-town attitudes of Holt, Colorado. But when he fails to make the grade as a college footballer, and takes a job with the local farmers' co-operative, it seems he has finally settled into the rhythm and routine of everyday life. Outward appearances can be deceptive, however, as Jack proves: returning from a weekend conference with a new wife in tow, then leaving her behind and skipping town with a bundle of other folk's money.
Nearly a decade later, no one has forgiven or forgotten, and when Jack reappears, resentment runs high. Once again though, it is Jack whose presence - even more than his eight-year absence - proves the most devastating.
Nearly a decade later, no one has forgiven or forgotten, and when Jack reappears, resentment runs high. Once again though, it is Jack whose presence - even more than his eight-year absence - proves the most devastating.
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Kent Haruf
19 books1,827 followersKent Haruf was born in eastern Colorado. He received his Bachelors of Arts in literature from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1965 and his Masters of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1973. For two years, he taught English in Turkey with the Peace Corps and his other jobs have included a chicken farm in Colorado, a construction site in Wyoming, a rehabilitation hospital in Colorado, a hospital in Arizona, a library in Iowa, an alternative high school in Wisconsin, and universities in Nebraska and Illinois.
Haruf is the author of Plainsong, which received the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Maria Thomas Award in Fiction, and The New Yorker Book Award. Plainsong was also a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award. His novel, The Tie That Binds, received a Whiting Foundation Award and a special citation from the Pen/Hemingway Foundation. In 2006, Haruf was awarded the Dos Passos Prize for Literature.
All of his novels are set in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado. Holt is loosely based on Yuma, Colorado, an early residence of Haruf in the 1980s.
Haruf lived with his wife, Cathy, in Salida, Colorado, with their three daughters. He died of cancer on November 30, 2014.
Haruf is the author of Plainsong, which received the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Maria Thomas Award in Fiction, and The New Yorker Book Award. Plainsong was also a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award. His novel, The Tie That Binds, received a Whiting Foundation Award and a special citation from the Pen/Hemingway Foundation. In 2006, Haruf was awarded the Dos Passos Prize for Literature.
All of his novels are set in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado. Holt is loosely based on Yuma, Colorado, an early residence of Haruf in the 1980s.
Haruf lived with his wife, Cathy, in Salida, Colorado, with their three daughters. He died of cancer on November 30, 2014.
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January 28, 2018
Last week, my great-niece posted a story (on Facebook) about a family that recently became stranded in a whiteout blizzard on I-70 in eastern Colorado. They pulled off at the closest exit, which happened to be the town where I grew up. Some volunteer firefighters invited all of the stranded vehicle passengers to a local hall where they were provided blankets, cots, home-cooked meals and cookies. The citizens of this very small town pooled their own resources to provide a sanctuary for 20+ strangers. When I heard this story I was reminded of characters in many of this author’s novels…and I’ve read them all now. He so closely captured their spirit and core values that I felt like I already knew these folks.
Where You Once Belonged was first published in 1990, before this author’s award winning trilogy. I’m saddened that it’s my last Kent Haruf novel to read. For some reason, I find it harder to review his novels than books with far less personal resonance. The imaginary town of Holt is located in eastern Colorado…my old “hood” until I graduated high school. The author’s use of many colloquial expressions from the area always makes me smile in recognition.
I love, love, love this style of writing…stripped down, authentic and lyrical. Kent Haruf was such a gifted storyteller that he could pack a whole chapter’s worth of images and feelings into one sentence. This early novel is poignant, unflinching and confirms his potential as the writer he became with his later Plainsong trilogy. I will miss this author’s fine stories. Highly recommended!
Where You Once Belonged was first published in 1990, before this author’s award winning trilogy. I’m saddened that it’s my last Kent Haruf novel to read. For some reason, I find it harder to review his novels than books with far less personal resonance. The imaginary town of Holt is located in eastern Colorado…my old “hood” until I graduated high school. The author’s use of many colloquial expressions from the area always makes me smile in recognition.
I love, love, love this style of writing…stripped down, authentic and lyrical. Kent Haruf was such a gifted storyteller that he could pack a whole chapter’s worth of images and feelings into one sentence. This early novel is poignant, unflinching and confirms his potential as the writer he became with his later Plainsong trilogy. I will miss this author’s fine stories. Highly recommended!
December 29, 2020
A OVEST DELL’ULTIMA POSSIBILITÀ
Colorado Great Plains.
Sembra uno di quei film che comincia con una scena ambientata al presente, tipo questa:
Alla fine Jack Burdette tornò a Holt. Nessuno di noi se l’aspettava più. Erano otto anni che se n’era andato e per tutto quel tempo nessuno aveva saputo niente di lui. Persino la polizia aveva smesso di cercarlo. Avevano ricostruito i suoi movimenti fino in California, ma dopo il suo arrivo a Los Angeles se l’erano perso e a un certo punto avevano rinunciato. Quindi nell’autunno del 1985, per quanto se ne sapeva, Burdette era ancora là. Era ancora in California, e noi ci eravamo quasi dimenticati di lui. Poi un sabato di inizio novembre, nel pomeriggio, ricomparve a Holt. Era al volante di una Cadillac rossa. Non era nuova; l’aveva comprata poco dopo essersene andato, quando ancora aveva soldi da spendere. Rimaneva sempre un’automobile pacchiana, di quelle su cui ci si aspetterebbe di vedere un pappone di Denver o un nuovo ricco di Casper, Wyoming, che ha fatto i soldi con il petrolio.
La voce fuori campo del narratore introduce, e inizia a raccontare: e siamo subito proiettati indietro nel tempo, probabilmente all’infanzia, o comunque molto tempo prima.
Proprio come succede qui, dove il racconto di Pat Arbuckle, proprietario ed editore del giornale locale, avvia la storia di Jack Burdette, ci porta ai suoi primi anni vita, i genitori, l’ambiente familiare, la scuola. E via via il racconto s’ispessisce e si riavvicina al tempo presente.
Ma prendendo il suo tempo, senza fretta, senza trascurare apparentemente nulla: tranne quegli episodi che lo stesso narratore (Pat Arbuckle) - che nel frattempo ovviamente insieme alla storia di Jack Burdette sta raccontando anche la sua personale - quegli episodi che ritiene meglio tacere per rispetto della privacy degli assenti, per decenza.
Immagine sulla copertina. Questa come le altre che ho scelto sono fotografie di Peter Brown prese da “West of Last Chance”, libro a quattro mani, Brown e Kent Haruf.
Per rafforzare la sensazione di essere come in uno di quei film, ecco che Haruf – questa volta ben più loquace e brioso che nella trilogia – ci ragguaglia:
Era come quell’attimo di un film in cui tutto –la musica, i movimenti e le sensazioni – si blocca per qualche secondo e le figure sullo schermo sono temporaneamente immobili, silenziosamente sospese.
Figure che si incontrano, cercano e legano a prescindere dai legami di sangue: la famiglia, gli obblighi parentali escono sconfitti dalle pagine di Haruf, chi vince sono le unioni per sentimento, per attrazione, per amore.
Ben più loquace, e brioso, dicevo: se nella trilogia si parla di lingua scarnificata, portata all’osso, qua, nove anni prima del magnifico Plainsong –Canto della pianura Haruf è meno essenziale e secco, si concede qualche accenno di ornamento, ma forse solo di ripetizione, qui si percepisce più ‘chiacchierino’, come se la vena di racconto fosse meno trattenuta, meno lavorata, meno asciugata, plasmata, filtrata.
Ma anche qui, invece, ovvio, grande il lavoro di cesello, di ‘pulizia’, per mirare a un risultato che mi ha lasciato senza parole (lo so, non sembra proprio) per il piacere e la sorpresa.
Ah, che gusto questi sui dialoghi, sì, certo, mutuati da Cormac McCarthy per sua stessa ammissione (e Chandler, ha aggiunto Haruf, un Chandler che non ho presente), via le virgolette, tutto compatto e pulito, piacevole anche alla vista (scelta puramente estetica, disse Haruf), descrizione e dialoghi scorrono l’uno dentro l’altro in un flusso levigato che è una delizia dell’occhio e dell’orecchio.
E qui si chiude il viaggio a Holt per noi lettori italiani (e forse non esiste altro luogo altrettanto mefitico ma così attraente): non è rimasto altro da tradurre e pubblicare. E che magnifico commiato Kent! Sono fortunato: non sono rimasto appeso al tuo incerto Le nostre anime di notte, mezzo passo falso, e neppure all’Eventyde – Crepuscolo, per me il punto meno alto della trilogia. No, invece, ci salutiamo nel modo migliore, con questa ricca umanità più ‘normale’ e meno straziata che rende le pagine di Where You Once Belonged – La strada di casa degne di cinque meritatissime splendide stelle.
Ancora oggi non so bene perché. Penso che la maggior parte di noi non sarebbe rimasta nemmeno una settimana, se avesse ritenuto di avere un’alternativa qualsiasi. Ma forse era proprio quello il punto: lei era convinta di non avere un altro posto dove andare.
Colorado Great Plains.
Sembra uno di quei film che comincia con una scena ambientata al presente, tipo questa:
Alla fine Jack Burdette tornò a Holt. Nessuno di noi se l’aspettava più. Erano otto anni che se n’era andato e per tutto quel tempo nessuno aveva saputo niente di lui. Persino la polizia aveva smesso di cercarlo. Avevano ricostruito i suoi movimenti fino in California, ma dopo il suo arrivo a Los Angeles se l’erano perso e a un certo punto avevano rinunciato. Quindi nell’autunno del 1985, per quanto se ne sapeva, Burdette era ancora là. Era ancora in California, e noi ci eravamo quasi dimenticati di lui. Poi un sabato di inizio novembre, nel pomeriggio, ricomparve a Holt. Era al volante di una Cadillac rossa. Non era nuova; l’aveva comprata poco dopo essersene andato, quando ancora aveva soldi da spendere. Rimaneva sempre un’automobile pacchiana, di quelle su cui ci si aspetterebbe di vedere un pappone di Denver o un nuovo ricco di Casper, Wyoming, che ha fatto i soldi con il petrolio.
La voce fuori campo del narratore introduce, e inizia a raccontare: e siamo subito proiettati indietro nel tempo, probabilmente all’infanzia, o comunque molto tempo prima.
Proprio come succede qui, dove il racconto di Pat Arbuckle, proprietario ed editore del giornale locale, avvia la storia di Jack Burdette, ci porta ai suoi primi anni vita, i genitori, l’ambiente familiare, la scuola. E via via il racconto s’ispessisce e si riavvicina al tempo presente.
Ma prendendo il suo tempo, senza fretta, senza trascurare apparentemente nulla: tranne quegli episodi che lo stesso narratore (Pat Arbuckle) - che nel frattempo ovviamente insieme alla storia di Jack Burdette sta raccontando anche la sua personale - quegli episodi che ritiene meglio tacere per rispetto della privacy degli assenti, per decenza.
Immagine sulla copertina. Questa come le altre che ho scelto sono fotografie di Peter Brown prese da “West of Last Chance”, libro a quattro mani, Brown e Kent Haruf.
Per rafforzare la sensazione di essere come in uno di quei film, ecco che Haruf – questa volta ben più loquace e brioso che nella trilogia – ci ragguaglia:
Era come quell’attimo di un film in cui tutto –la musica, i movimenti e le sensazioni – si blocca per qualche secondo e le figure sullo schermo sono temporaneamente immobili, silenziosamente sospese.
Figure che si incontrano, cercano e legano a prescindere dai legami di sangue: la famiglia, gli obblighi parentali escono sconfitti dalle pagine di Haruf, chi vince sono le unioni per sentimento, per attrazione, per amore.
Ben più loquace, e brioso, dicevo: se nella trilogia si parla di lingua scarnificata, portata all’osso, qua, nove anni prima del magnifico Plainsong –Canto della pianura Haruf è meno essenziale e secco, si concede qualche accenno di ornamento, ma forse solo di ripetizione, qui si percepisce più ‘chiacchierino’, come se la vena di racconto fosse meno trattenuta, meno lavorata, meno asciugata, plasmata, filtrata.
Ma anche qui, invece, ovvio, grande il lavoro di cesello, di ‘pulizia’, per mirare a un risultato che mi ha lasciato senza parole (lo so, non sembra proprio) per il piacere e la sorpresa.
Ah, che gusto questi sui dialoghi, sì, certo, mutuati da Cormac McCarthy per sua stessa ammissione (e Chandler, ha aggiunto Haruf, un Chandler che non ho presente), via le virgolette, tutto compatto e pulito, piacevole anche alla vista (scelta puramente estetica, disse Haruf), descrizione e dialoghi scorrono l’uno dentro l’altro in un flusso levigato che è una delizia dell’occhio e dell’orecchio.
E qui si chiude il viaggio a Holt per noi lettori italiani (e forse non esiste altro luogo altrettanto mefitico ma così attraente): non è rimasto altro da tradurre e pubblicare. E che magnifico commiato Kent! Sono fortunato: non sono rimasto appeso al tuo incerto Le nostre anime di notte, mezzo passo falso, e neppure all’Eventyde – Crepuscolo, per me il punto meno alto della trilogia. No, invece, ci salutiamo nel modo migliore, con questa ricca umanità più ‘normale’ e meno straziata che rende le pagine di Where You Once Belonged – La strada di casa degne di cinque meritatissime splendide stelle.
Ancora oggi non so bene perché. Penso che la maggior parte di noi non sarebbe rimasta nemmeno una settimana, se avesse ritenuto di avere un’alternativa qualsiasi. Ma forse era proprio quello il punto: lei era convinta di non avere un altro posto dove andare.
July 5, 2016
4.5 Stars No.No.No.No.No.No.No.......Not the ending I was expecting!
I was totally absorbed in Kent Haruf's WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED from start to finish. Holy crap, could this man write a story! Just a plain and simple read (you think) set in small town USA, and with so few characters. Ha!
Pat Arbuckle, newspaper owner/reporter for Holt County narrates the life of BIG Jack Burdette that, at first, I found somewhat amusing, but those feelings did not last long. What surprised me the most, I think, besides the ending, was the totally irresponsible shocking behavior, descriptive tragedies and heartache that surfaced from other characters along the way in such a condensed read.
And, the ending, definitely surprising, and not to my liking, but oh dear........You gotta believe!
October 30, 2018
Kent Haruf created the fictional town of Holt, a town I have dearly loved to visit, and now that I have read all of his books from this place there’s a part of me that felt somewhat bereft. And then I remembered that it is easier to visit Holt than to fly across the planet to this imagined place that sits on the windswept Colorado Plains.
Published in 1990, this was his first book to follow his debut, The Tie That Binds and before his Plainsong trilogy. This is how it begins:
”In the end Jack Burdette came back to Holt after all. None of us expected it anymore. He had been gone for either years and no one in Holt had heard anything about him in that time. The police themselves had stopped looking for him. They had traced his movements to California, but after he had entered Los Angeles they had lost him and finally they had given it up. Thus in the fall of 1985, so far as anyone in Holt knew, Burdette was still there. He was still in California and we had almost forgotten him.
“Then late on a Saturday afternoon at the beginning of November he appeared in Holt once more.
“He was driving a red Cadillac now.”
I have held off reading this one, taking comfort that there was one more book of his that I hadn’t read yet, that I could look forward to, in the same way that the anticipation of what gifts are waiting for you on Christmas morning or your birthday felt when you were a child.
On the 30th of November in 2014, Kent Haruf died from interstitial lung disease, in his home in Colorado. Six days before, on the 24th of November that year he was interviewed at his home, saying
”Right now, I don’t feel like death is right around the corner, but if it is, it’s a bigger corner than I thought it was.”
The interview is well worth reading. In it he speaks about his writing style, not the words, per se, but that he tapped away at an older manual typewriter, with his eyes closed, “allowing his imagination to help him create quiet, moving stories of the rural townspeople of Holt…” While I can’t speak to his successes in other ways of life, he certainly was a master of creating quiet and moving stories.
(http://www.moorejohn.com/portfolio/ke...)
In discussing his writing, he spoke of his reading:
“…Faulkner and Hemingway and, particularly, Chekhov. I never get tired of reading them. Every morning before I write, I read something from one of those writers, just to remind myself of what a sentence can be. I read every day. If I don’t, I feel it’s been an unsatisfactory day. I just don’t have time to read something that is not of the highest quality.”
”And as a writer, I want to be thought of as somebody who had a very small talent but worked as best he could at using that talent. I want to think that I have written as close to the bone as I could. By that I mean that I was trying to get down to the fundamental, irreducible structure of life, and of our lives with one another.”
In another writer’s hands, the town of Holt and the people therein would not have held the magical essence that kept me, us, coming back for more. And while there is little of his that I haven’t read, I managed to find at least one other article worth checking out:
( https://granta.com/the-making-of-a-wr... )
Another group of writers, the brothers Andy, Maurice and Robin Gibb wrote:
”It’s only words, and words are all I have
To take your heart away.”
A skill that very few writers actually have, but that Haruf had, and even though there will be no new ones, his words live on.
Published in 1990, this was his first book to follow his debut, The Tie That Binds and before his Plainsong trilogy. This is how it begins:
”In the end Jack Burdette came back to Holt after all. None of us expected it anymore. He had been gone for either years and no one in Holt had heard anything about him in that time. The police themselves had stopped looking for him. They had traced his movements to California, but after he had entered Los Angeles they had lost him and finally they had given it up. Thus in the fall of 1985, so far as anyone in Holt knew, Burdette was still there. He was still in California and we had almost forgotten him.
“Then late on a Saturday afternoon at the beginning of November he appeared in Holt once more.
“He was driving a red Cadillac now.”
I have held off reading this one, taking comfort that there was one more book of his that I hadn’t read yet, that I could look forward to, in the same way that the anticipation of what gifts are waiting for you on Christmas morning or your birthday felt when you were a child.
On the 30th of November in 2014, Kent Haruf died from interstitial lung disease, in his home in Colorado. Six days before, on the 24th of November that year he was interviewed at his home, saying
”Right now, I don’t feel like death is right around the corner, but if it is, it’s a bigger corner than I thought it was.”
The interview is well worth reading. In it he speaks about his writing style, not the words, per se, but that he tapped away at an older manual typewriter, with his eyes closed, “allowing his imagination to help him create quiet, moving stories of the rural townspeople of Holt…” While I can’t speak to his successes in other ways of life, he certainly was a master of creating quiet and moving stories.
(http://www.moorejohn.com/portfolio/ke...)
In discussing his writing, he spoke of his reading:
“…Faulkner and Hemingway and, particularly, Chekhov. I never get tired of reading them. Every morning before I write, I read something from one of those writers, just to remind myself of what a sentence can be. I read every day. If I don’t, I feel it’s been an unsatisfactory day. I just don’t have time to read something that is not of the highest quality.”
”And as a writer, I want to be thought of as somebody who had a very small talent but worked as best he could at using that talent. I want to think that I have written as close to the bone as I could. By that I mean that I was trying to get down to the fundamental, irreducible structure of life, and of our lives with one another.”
In another writer’s hands, the town of Holt and the people therein would not have held the magical essence that kept me, us, coming back for more. And while there is little of his that I haven’t read, I managed to find at least one other article worth checking out:
( https://granta.com/the-making-of-a-wr... )
Another group of writers, the brothers Andy, Maurice and Robin Gibb wrote:
”It’s only words, and words are all I have
To take your heart away.”
A skill that very few writers actually have, but that Haruf had, and even though there will be no new ones, his words live on.
June 28, 2018
“It was not a new car… Nevertheless it was still flashy, the kind of automobile you might expect a Denver pimp or just-made millionaire in Casper, Wyoming, would drive. There was all that red paint – the color of a raw bruise, say, or the vivid smear of a woman’s lipstick on a Saturday night – and all of it was shining, gleaming under the sun, looking as though he had spent an entire day polishing it for our benefit.”
(The photo is of a 1980 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, which may not be the exact model, but is important in the story, and far more photogenic than the equally important grain elevator used on the cover of this edition.)
This is a good book (3* isn’t bad), but not in the same league as his exceptional Plainsong and Eventide (see my 5* reviews HERE and HERE, respectively), or his final novel, Our Souls at Night (see my 4* review HERE).
Like all his books, it’s set in the small, fictional town of Holt, Colorado, told in spare, believable, slightly cold style. Pat Arbuckle, editor of the town newspaper, tells the story of his classmate Jack Burdette: schoolboy football star admired and indulged by all, turned bad (or rather, undeniably revealed as such), gone, and now returned to an unwelcoming town.
But this feels less polished and more formulaic than the other Harufs I’ve read: the key point is stated early on, making some of the questions in the final few chapters less exciting; the ending was predictable and thus unsatisfying; the town I thought I knew felt less real; red is, as usual, almost the only colour mentioned (the Cadillac, and pretty tiles on a university building), but with seemingly less import; there are four(!) grisly and unusual deaths involving vehicles, and two deaths that are not quite deaths.
Foreshadowing – and not
This was the most interesting aspect, and what I enjoyed most. Haruf repeatedly teases the reader with vague hints of bad things to come:
* The wife who never showed emotion, “Not even when Toni, our daughter, was sixteen and there was good reason”.
* “[It] turned out to be the first in a series of events which ended it for X, although neither she nor anyone else knew it at the time.”
* “Five years later Jack disappeared, after something awful.”
However, later in the book, there is repeatedly a far subtler sense of malevolence lurking in the shadows of sunny days out, with no explicit hints of if or how things will change for the worse – and they don’t. Until they do.
Belonging
The title clearly relates to Jack: whether he still belongs in the town he betrayed. But it applies to many other characters: the independent, aloof outsider who marries into the community, but most especially, to several of the marriages and long-term relationships portrayed in painful detail, whether abusive, distant, or abandoned:
* “That fractious kind of truce that childless couples often accept in place of real marriage.”
* “Marriage hadn’t changed him, since marriage was merely a change in his weekend companion.”
And then there’s college, where everyone wants to belong, but “one of us sank and the other barely made a ripple”.
Other Quotes
* “Son, you ever figure making anything of yourself?... I’m just curious: when do you plan on starting?”
* “You still think she’s some kind of violin and you just haven’t learned the fingering yet?”
* “Her laughter was too loud… hanging in the air like fog” – the brave façade of happiness.
* Jack’s charm “wasn’t all conscious and deliberate… Most of it was a matter of impulse and instinct, the result of native vitality and energy.”
* “A house wasn’t alive and capable of bleeding, like a human was. It wasn’t pregnant, like X was” – so not satisfying recompense for wrongdoing of another.
Read
February 17, 2017The Hook - An irresistible review by fellow GoodReads friend and author Betsy Robinson convinced me to read Where You Once Belonged.
Kent Haruf set his novels in the fictional small town of Holt, Colorado. I had only read Plainsong and Our Souls At Night, both lifetime favorites before picking up this one. Kent Haruf died in November 2014. In his final interview Haruf said
“Right now, I don’t feel like death is right around the corner,” he said in a final interview on November 24. “But if it is, it’s a bigger corner than I thought it was.”
A unique, reflective voice has gone silent.
The Line - There are so many worthy sentences that I chose to skip the line this time and to quote the opening of the book in this review in hopes of luring you in.
The Sinker – A book that tugs at my being and leaves me in wonder at the power of good writing is often the hardest for me to review. Kent Haruf’s Where You Once Belonged is described as many things, one being terse. The definition of this adjective, “sparing in the use of words, abrupt”, might find readers in agreement or debate. At 176 pages, it is short. I read it in one day, but it s certain to stay with me for some time. Since I finished this two days ago, I have come back frequently to contemplate this gem.
”In the end Jack Burdette, came back to Holt after all. None of us expected it anymore. He had been gone for eight years and no one in Holt had heard anything about him in that time. The police themselves had stopped looking for him. They had traced his movements to California, but after he had entered Los Angeles they had lost him and finally they had given up. Thus in the fall of 1985, so far as anyone in Holt knew, Burdette was still there. He was sill in California and we had almost forgotten him.
The late on a Saturday afternoon at the beginning of November he appeared in Holt once more.
He was driving a red Cadillac now”
As the idiom states
”A bad penny always turns up.”
and a concise, atmospheric, universal, story unfolds.
Kent Haruf set his novels in the fictional small town of Holt, Colorado. I had only read Plainsong and Our Souls At Night, both lifetime favorites before picking up this one. Kent Haruf died in November 2014. In his final interview Haruf said
“Right now, I don’t feel like death is right around the corner,” he said in a final interview on November 24. “But if it is, it’s a bigger corner than I thought it was.”
A unique, reflective voice has gone silent.
The Line - There are so many worthy sentences that I chose to skip the line this time and to quote the opening of the book in this review in hopes of luring you in.
The Sinker – A book that tugs at my being and leaves me in wonder at the power of good writing is often the hardest for me to review. Kent Haruf’s Where You Once Belonged is described as many things, one being terse. The definition of this adjective, “sparing in the use of words, abrupt”, might find readers in agreement or debate. At 176 pages, it is short. I read it in one day, but it s certain to stay with me for some time. Since I finished this two days ago, I have come back frequently to contemplate this gem.
”In the end Jack Burdette, came back to Holt after all. None of us expected it anymore. He had been gone for eight years and no one in Holt had heard anything about him in that time. The police themselves had stopped looking for him. They had traced his movements to California, but after he had entered Los Angeles they had lost him and finally they had given up. Thus in the fall of 1985, so far as anyone in Holt knew, Burdette was still there. He was sill in California and we had almost forgotten him.
The late on a Saturday afternoon at the beginning of November he appeared in Holt once more.
He was driving a red Cadillac now”
As the idiom states
”A bad penny always turns up.”
and a concise, atmospheric, universal, story unfolds.
December 12, 2020
Kent Haruf never disappoints.
This is a plot-oriented story, so I am not going to tell you very much. A prodigal son returns home. He is not welcome. Why? You do not read to ponder deep questions, but to find out what has happened and how the story will end.
The setting is the small fictional town of Holt, situated on the high plains of Colorado. Haruf writes, as always, about small town America.
Events culminate in 1985; the book starts there, it backtracks to the 60s and then the 70s and ends again in 1985. Someone is telling us of what has happened. We start and end at the same time and place, but in the beginning we understand nothing, while at the end we understand everything, including who it is that is telling us what has happened and why it is he who is telling us. This is cleverly done. The story is gripping. The tension mounts as one reaches the end.
I did guess where the story was leading, but still liked how it ended. The ending could not have been better!
That is it. I am not going to tell you anymore, except maybe to say that the tale has a blend of sweet moments, sad moments, episodes that will make you mad and others that will excite; a full spectrum of emotions are elicited.
The audiobook narration by Kirby Heyborne is superb. Without question the narration deserves a five star rating. The drama is not overdone; he lets Haruf’s words speak for themselves. He intones the young and the old, women and men, anger and delight and sadness and surprise and uncertainty in a nuanced manner. The tempo varies to fit the events that occur.
*************************
The Tie That Binds 5 stars
Our Souls at Night 4 stars
Where You Once Belonged 4 stars
Plainsong 4 stars
Eventide 4 stars
This is a plot-oriented story, so I am not going to tell you very much. A prodigal son returns home. He is not welcome. Why? You do not read to ponder deep questions, but to find out what has happened and how the story will end.
The setting is the small fictional town of Holt, situated on the high plains of Colorado. Haruf writes, as always, about small town America.
Events culminate in 1985; the book starts there, it backtracks to the 60s and then the 70s and ends again in 1985. Someone is telling us of what has happened. We start and end at the same time and place, but in the beginning we understand nothing, while at the end we understand everything, including who it is that is telling us what has happened and why it is he who is telling us. This is cleverly done. The story is gripping. The tension mounts as one reaches the end.
I did guess where the story was leading, but still liked how it ended. The ending could not have been better!
That is it. I am not going to tell you anymore, except maybe to say that the tale has a blend of sweet moments, sad moments, episodes that will make you mad and others that will excite; a full spectrum of emotions are elicited.
The audiobook narration by Kirby Heyborne is superb. Without question the narration deserves a five star rating. The drama is not overdone; he lets Haruf’s words speak for themselves. He intones the young and the old, women and men, anger and delight and sadness and surprise and uncertainty in a nuanced manner. The tempo varies to fit the events that occur.
*************************
The Tie That Binds 5 stars
Our Souls at Night 4 stars
Where You Once Belonged 4 stars
Plainsong 4 stars
Eventide 4 stars
May 18, 2020
I made a return visit to Holt, Colorado, one of my favorite places. This felt for all the world like sitting in a bar listening to an old acquaintance catch me up on what has been happening over a few beers, in particular the story of Jack Burdette and his affect on this small town. As we say in the south, "some people just need killin".
This is the second book in a couple of weeks where I would have happily crawled into the pages and done the job myself. I made the mistake of reading the last few pages at bedtime because I had no idea how sad it would be. I was half afraid to read this one because I loved his Plainsong Trilogy so much. Not to worry though, it's still Kent Haruf, still the high plains town of Holt, still the same lovely writing style.
This is the second book in a couple of weeks where I would have happily crawled into the pages and done the job myself. I made the mistake of reading the last few pages at bedtime because I had no idea how sad it would be. I was half afraid to read this one because I loved his Plainsong Trilogy so much. Not to worry though, it's still Kent Haruf, still the high plains town of Holt, still the same lovely writing style.
December 27, 2016
Kent Haruf understood people. He wrote about small-town people, but really they are people like everywhere else: proud, arrogant, hurt, angry, frustrated, petty, judgmental. In Where You Once Belonged Haruf displays his perfect pitch for understated truth through behavior and simple dialogue and plot:
A bully reappears in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado. Then we learn the history that preceded his disappearing.
This is a quietly brutal book, and it is honest. Oh how I love Kent Haruf's writing!
***
A day later's postscript:
I read this book in one day, and after a night's sleep I realize what moves me about not only this novel, but all of Haruf's work that I've read.
Before reading Where You Once Belonged, I read a magnificent war story ( The Girl in Green by Derek Miller) that got to the root of why men fight. Before that I read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution—written by men with men's perspective that referred to Native Americans as "savages" and required 76 years to recognize the freedom of African Americans and 133 years for women to be legally represented. Inadvertently I've been choosing my reading to understand what is currently going on in US politics and around the globe, and I've begun to understand that so much of the turmoil may grow out of men's pride and inability to tolerate feeling impotent.
Kent Haruf's men not only tolerate it, but they are unashamed—a quality that makes them, for me, transcendently, strong. And attractive. They are full people tolerating their puny human condition. Haruf simply reports it. And this is a stunning achievement for a writer and a man.
A bully reappears in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado. Then we learn the history that preceded his disappearing.
This is a quietly brutal book, and it is honest. Oh how I love Kent Haruf's writing!
***
A day later's postscript:
I read this book in one day, and after a night's sleep I realize what moves me about not only this novel, but all of Haruf's work that I've read.
Before reading Where You Once Belonged, I read a magnificent war story ( The Girl in Green by Derek Miller) that got to the root of why men fight. Before that I read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution—written by men with men's perspective that referred to Native Americans as "savages" and required 76 years to recognize the freedom of African Americans and 133 years for women to be legally represented. Inadvertently I've been choosing my reading to understand what is currently going on in US politics and around the globe, and I've begun to understand that so much of the turmoil may grow out of men's pride and inability to tolerate feeling impotent.
Kent Haruf's men not only tolerate it, but they are unashamed—a quality that makes them, for me, transcendently, strong. And attractive. They are full people tolerating their puny human condition. Haruf simply reports it. And this is a stunning achievement for a writer and a man.
September 17, 2023
I really tried to stop and leave a few pages for tomorrow, but the truth is I couldn’t even slow down.
To be completely honest, I don’t even think I was in control of my emotions because the world around me completely ceased to exist and, all of a sudden, I was living in these pages instead.
As weird as it might sound, I feel like there was an electric current between me and this book, and we were both reading each other.
This why I read; always expecting to come across a story that feels so authentic and true that somehow it becomes bigger than real life.
This is one of those stories- a story that feels like home.
To be completely honest, I don’t even think I was in control of my emotions because the world around me completely ceased to exist and, all of a sudden, I was living in these pages instead.
As weird as it might sound, I feel like there was an electric current between me and this book, and we were both reading each other.
This why I read; always expecting to come across a story that feels so authentic and true that somehow it becomes bigger than real life.
This is one of those stories- a story that feels like home.
January 21, 2015
The prodigal son returns to his hometown of Holt, Colorado to what should have been his day of reckoning. Instead he will once again create havoc in someone else life. This novel took a turn I was not expecting and the ending was not one I expected at all.
Once again , Haruf with his understanding of small towns and the people who inhabit them, writes a novel that is anything but simple. Using his spare style of prose but an intimate tone by our narrator, a young man who runs the local paper that his father ran before him, he presents this story of a man, who was once his friend, and the havoc this man causes in many lives.
I will miss this man's writing, his simplicity yet earnestness in telling tales of ordinary people. He has one more book that comes out fairly soon and then no more.
Once again , Haruf with his understanding of small towns and the people who inhabit them, writes a novel that is anything but simple. Using his spare style of prose but an intimate tone by our narrator, a young man who runs the local paper that his father ran before him, he presents this story of a man, who was once his friend, and the havoc this man causes in many lives.
I will miss this man's writing, his simplicity yet earnestness in telling tales of ordinary people. He has one more book that comes out fairly soon and then no more.
August 4, 2016
Holt County, Colorado. A time and place where folks still look you in the eye and pretty much say what's on their mind. After falling off the face of the map for eight years, Jack Burdette, former high school football star and all-around charmer, shows up in the middle of the town square in a big red Cadillac. He's a good ol' boy, also a card carrying A#1 asshole. If he expects to be welcomed with open arms, he just may have another think coming.
Kent Haruf's lean economy of words will pick you up and plop you right smack dab in the middle of the goings-on in this small town and the people who live here. Sit yourself down, lean back and treat yourself to the writing of an author who knew what he was doing.
Kent Haruf's lean economy of words will pick you up and plop you right smack dab in the middle of the goings-on in this small town and the people who live here. Sit yourself down, lean back and treat yourself to the writing of an author who knew what he was doing.
June 21, 2020
Restitution
Foto di Peter Brown - Yuma County, Colorado, 2004
Oscillo fra le quattro e le cinque stelline: perché è l’ultima volta a Holt, perché Haruf in questo romanzo non potrà essere accusato di buonismo, perché se è vero che tramite le sue parole camminare per quelle strade e incontrare i suoi personaggi è un modo di sentirsi a casa, è anche vero - parafrasando Steinbeck - che ormai Holt è uno stato mentale, e per tornare ad abitarlo basta pensarlo. Ma si può sempre rileggerlo e aggirarsi per la Main puntando il dito sulla piantina stampata da NNE (NN5, durante quest’anno di festeggiamenti per la quinta candelina della casa editrice) certi di sapersi ritrovare ancora una volta.
(continua)
Foto di Peter Brown - Yuma County, Colorado, 2004
Oscillo fra le quattro e le cinque stelline: perché è l’ultima volta a Holt, perché Haruf in questo romanzo non potrà essere accusato di buonismo, perché se è vero che tramite le sue parole camminare per quelle strade e incontrare i suoi personaggi è un modo di sentirsi a casa, è anche vero - parafrasando Steinbeck - che ormai Holt è uno stato mentale, e per tornare ad abitarlo basta pensarlo. Ma si può sempre rileggerlo e aggirarsi per la Main puntando il dito sulla piantina stampata da NNE (NN5, durante quest’anno di festeggiamenti per la quinta candelina della casa editrice) certi di sapersi ritrovare ancora una volta.
(continua)
August 10, 2020
Per me forse ancora più bello di Vincoli.
Perchè Jessie Burdette, la protagonista femminile, è uno straordinario esempio di femminilità in senso completo, un personaggio descritto con pochi tratti -non solo fisici- in modo sublime, è una donna che non ti fa pena, nonostante le disgrazie, ti fa compassione. Perchè Jessie Burdette è un personaggio potente, tanto da giudicarsi e condannarsi da sè per colpe non sue, ma che, nella logica della gente della contea di Holt, ricadono su di lei.
Perchè in lei c'è tanta sobrietà, tanta disperazione, tanta umanità.
Mi è piaciuto perchè il finale aperto mi è parsa la migliore fine possibile, a me è piaciuto davvero tanto il colpo di scena finale, mi sono piaciuti la tensione e la spettacolarità (che non sembrerebbero tipici di Haruf) dell'amaro e duro epilogo.
Perchè Jessie Burdette, la protagonista femminile, è uno straordinario esempio di femminilità in senso completo, un personaggio descritto con pochi tratti -non solo fisici- in modo sublime, è una donna che non ti fa pena, nonostante le disgrazie, ti fa compassione. Perchè Jessie Burdette è un personaggio potente, tanto da giudicarsi e condannarsi da sè per colpe non sue, ma che, nella logica della gente della contea di Holt, ricadono su di lei.
Perchè in lei c'è tanta sobrietà, tanta disperazione, tanta umanità.
Mi è piaciuto perchè il finale aperto mi è parsa la migliore fine possibile, a me è piaciuto davvero tanto il colpo di scena finale, mi sono piaciuti la tensione e la spettacolarità (che non sembrerebbero tipici di Haruf) dell'amaro e duro epilogo.
July 1, 2020
Si ritorna a Holt e stavolta sarà per l'ultima volta.
Una Cadillac rossa, quella di Jack Bourdette, inconfondibile.
Questo ritorno fa subito rumore tra le strade della tranquilla cittadina: Jack mancava da otto anni e nessuno sentiva la sua mancanza. Infatti, tutti pensavano non sarebbe più tornato.
E invece... eccolo di nuovo qui, appesantito, invecchiato, ma identico a se stesso.
Ma chi era Jack Burdette?
Nato nel 1941 da una coppia di sposi un po' avanti nell'età, era emersa sin da subito la sua natura selvaggia, difficilmente gestibile. Poco amante delle regole, durante la scuola dell'obbligo si era distinto per i suoi successi nel football.
Jack Burdette però ha un talento: sa sparire, sa far sparire il denaro ed è totalmente inaffidabile.
Un anti Re Mida: brucia tutto quello che tocca.
Alla figura di Jack e alle sue malefatte, si affianca Jessie, sua moglie, conosciuta durante un convegno e sposata poche ore dopo, più giovane di lui di dieci anni.
Jessie saprà conquistarsi la fiducia degli abitanti di Holt, saprà anche riscattarsi dall'aura negativa lasciatele in consegna dal marito. Sarà estrema anche lei, a modo suo, e dolce al tempo stesso. Ma questo non sarà abbastanza.
E come bolla di sapone in balia del vento, anche lei volerà via, lontano.
https://youtu.be/MqBsWiYDTvM
“La canzone era I love you in a thousand ways di Lefty Frizzell, con la sua promessa di cambiamento, di fine dei giorni tristi, una canzone con un ritmo abbastanza lento da consentire a Vince Junior di eseguire i suoi soliti trucchetti.”
E credo che sia nel testo di questa canzone l'epilogo di questo ultimo romanzo di Haruf che mi ha lasciato l'amaro in bocca.
"I love you, I'll prove it in days to come
I swear it's true
Darling, you're the only one
I think of you, of the past and all our fun
I love you, I'll prove it in days to come
You're my darling, you've been true
I should have been good to you
You're the one that's in my heart
While we're apart
I'll be true
I'll prove it to you someday
My love is for you
In my heart you'll always stay
I've been so blue and lonesome all these days
I love you, I'll prove it a thousand ways
I'll be nice and sweet to you
And no more will you be blue
I'll prove I love you everyday
All kinds of ways
Darling please wait
Please wait until I'm free
There'll be a change
A great change made in me
I'll be true, there'll be no more blue days
I love you, I'll prove it a thousand ways"
Una Cadillac rossa, quella di Jack Bourdette, inconfondibile.
Questo ritorno fa subito rumore tra le strade della tranquilla cittadina: Jack mancava da otto anni e nessuno sentiva la sua mancanza. Infatti, tutti pensavano non sarebbe più tornato.
E invece... eccolo di nuovo qui, appesantito, invecchiato, ma identico a se stesso.
Ma chi era Jack Burdette?
Nato nel 1941 da una coppia di sposi un po' avanti nell'età, era emersa sin da subito la sua natura selvaggia, difficilmente gestibile. Poco amante delle regole, durante la scuola dell'obbligo si era distinto per i suoi successi nel football.
Jack Burdette però ha un talento: sa sparire, sa far sparire il denaro ed è totalmente inaffidabile.
Un anti Re Mida: brucia tutto quello che tocca.
Alla figura di Jack e alle sue malefatte, si affianca Jessie, sua moglie, conosciuta durante un convegno e sposata poche ore dopo, più giovane di lui di dieci anni.
Jessie saprà conquistarsi la fiducia degli abitanti di Holt, saprà anche riscattarsi dall'aura negativa lasciatele in consegna dal marito. Sarà estrema anche lei, a modo suo, e dolce al tempo stesso. Ma questo non sarà abbastanza.
E come bolla di sapone in balia del vento, anche lei volerà via, lontano.
https://youtu.be/MqBsWiYDTvM
“La canzone era I love you in a thousand ways di Lefty Frizzell, con la sua promessa di cambiamento, di fine dei giorni tristi, una canzone con un ritmo abbastanza lento da consentire a Vince Junior di eseguire i suoi soliti trucchetti.”
E credo che sia nel testo di questa canzone l'epilogo di questo ultimo romanzo di Haruf che mi ha lasciato l'amaro in bocca.
"I love you, I'll prove it in days to come
I swear it's true
Darling, you're the only one
I think of you, of the past and all our fun
I love you, I'll prove it in days to come
You're my darling, you've been true
I should have been good to you
You're the one that's in my heart
While we're apart
I'll be true
I'll prove it to you someday
My love is for you
In my heart you'll always stay
I've been so blue and lonesome all these days
I love you, I'll prove it a thousand ways
I'll be nice and sweet to you
And no more will you be blue
I'll prove I love you everyday
All kinds of ways
Darling please wait
Please wait until I'm free
There'll be a change
A great change made in me
I'll be true, there'll be no more blue days
I love you, I'll prove it a thousand ways"
August 27, 2017
I feel a deep regret as I finish this book- this is the last book I will be able to read by one of the best authors ever.(I have read them all!) I love going to small town Holt and meeting its people. The language in his books is simple but eloquent. With each of his books, I am drawn in immediately and the ending always comes way too soon. In this book "Where You Once Belonged", we meet Jack Burdette, the small town football hero who returns after an 8 yr absence. He left under nefarious circumstances and his return is definitely not celebrated. Through Pat Arbuckle, the newspaper editor, we learn his story.The story is so well constructed, it is so simple and honest that the ending left me feeling bereft. Mr. Haruf is such a profound master of words- I shall miss him. Highly recommend this book and all of his books.
August 18, 2017
4 stars
Trying to catch up on all the books that Haruf wrote. Not finding one that I haven't liked. Such a wonderful author - gone too soon.
Definitely not the ending that one expects, but written by Haruf, you should know better. This story took place mainly in the 1970' s and 80's. However the town was as big a character as any one person in the story. Small Colorado town, inhabited by small town people, who were faithful to their town. We meet the farmers, the business owners, and their families. Two young boys in particular, Jack Burdett and Pat Arbuckle are followed from grammar school into adulthood. Burdett became the town bully, Arbuckle just meandered along. The novel tells how the stories of these two men intercept throughout their lives and loves.
Strong characters, strong story and a better than true to life ending.
Trying to catch up on all the books that Haruf wrote. Not finding one that I haven't liked. Such a wonderful author - gone too soon.
Definitely not the ending that one expects, but written by Haruf, you should know better. This story took place mainly in the 1970' s and 80's. However the town was as big a character as any one person in the story. Small Colorado town, inhabited by small town people, who were faithful to their town. We meet the farmers, the business owners, and their families. Two young boys in particular, Jack Burdett and Pat Arbuckle are followed from grammar school into adulthood. Burdett became the town bully, Arbuckle just meandered along. The novel tells how the stories of these two men intercept throughout their lives and loves.
Strong characters, strong story and a better than true to life ending.
May 30, 2020
I never get tired of Kent Haruf's writing.
Highly recommend!
Highly recommend!
April 7, 2016
(4.5)
"If nothing else, Jack Burdette knows how to disappear."
As the sun slowly dips beyond the horizon, Jack Burdette, with his freshly new linens on credit, opens his car door, sits down and turns the ignition; he’s on his way out of town, away from his past. He suddenly returns eight years later with a plan and no one can stop him from achieving his goal.
Haruf shows us that life isn’t always fair and the bad guy doesn’t always get caught; life is open-ended and no one is safe, bereft from a natural death or a life without mistakes and sorrow. Beautifully crafted. Recommended.
"If nothing else, Jack Burdette knows how to disappear."
As the sun slowly dips beyond the horizon, Jack Burdette, with his freshly new linens on credit, opens his car door, sits down and turns the ignition; he’s on his way out of town, away from his past. He suddenly returns eight years later with a plan and no one can stop him from achieving his goal.
Haruf shows us that life isn’t always fair and the bad guy doesn’t always get caught; life is open-ended and no one is safe, bereft from a natural death or a life without mistakes and sorrow. Beautifully crafted. Recommended.
June 7, 2017
Kent Haruf died exactly one month after my beloved father (they were born the same year, too), and, when I found out, I cried right into my hands.
I've had a literary love affair with Haruf, and this was the only book of his I hadn't read. We now have no new territory to explore together.
His book, Eventide, remains my five-star favorite; I do believe it was his Great American Novel, but Where You Once Belonged was wonderful. They're all wonderful. And, even though this particular story is just so damn sad, I am still in awe of his use of space and his conservation of words. I can not help but perpetually compare him to John Steinbeck, both for his believable and tragically flawed characters and his ability to create setting in the smallest of spaces.
And now. . . I will re-read them all, over and over, and improve my own writing by reading his.
I've had a literary love affair with Haruf, and this was the only book of his I hadn't read. We now have no new territory to explore together.
His book, Eventide, remains my five-star favorite; I do believe it was his Great American Novel, but Where You Once Belonged was wonderful. They're all wonderful. And, even though this particular story is just so damn sad, I am still in awe of his use of space and his conservation of words. I can not help but perpetually compare him to John Steinbeck, both for his believable and tragically flawed characters and his ability to create setting in the smallest of spaces.
And now. . . I will re-read them all, over and over, and improve my own writing by reading his.
March 24, 2017
This is a story about unassuming, hardworking people, living a simple life, though there is nothing simple about their story. It is less than two hundred pages in length and contains a lifetime’s worth of tragedy and heartbreak, along with some stolen moments of happiness.
By reducing his words to the bare minimum and leaving out unnecessary emotive descriptions, Haruf lets the reader determine the level of feeling for themselves simply by witnessing each character’s actions and reactions. I just love how he does that. I would rather be shown than told, the feeling is so much more authentic this way.
Recommended for those who enjoy lovely, unpretentious writing that remains a cut above most everything else.
By reducing his words to the bare minimum and leaving out unnecessary emotive descriptions, Haruf lets the reader determine the level of feeling for themselves simply by witnessing each character’s actions and reactions. I just love how he does that. I would rather be shown than told, the feeling is so much more authentic this way.
Recommended for those who enjoy lovely, unpretentious writing that remains a cut above most everything else.
June 28, 2020
È Holt, è Haruf, è casa.
Anche se per Jack Burdette non c’è ombra di redenzione e si rimane male.
Non c’è giustizia.
Soprattutto per Jessie. Ah Jessie ... che personaggio! In puro stile Haruf.
Eppure possiamo immaginarcela una felicità futura.
Ma Haruf non lo dice e mi manca la sua voce, il suo tono, mi mancano le sue parole per accendere la quinta stella.
Ma forse è anche la malinconia di non goderne più e la netta sensazione di dover tornare a Holt ripartendo dalla trilogia.
Anche se per Jack Burdette non c’è ombra di redenzione e si rimane male.
Non c’è giustizia.
Soprattutto per Jessie. Ah Jessie ... che personaggio! In puro stile Haruf.
Eppure possiamo immaginarcela una felicità futura.
Ma Haruf non lo dice e mi manca la sua voce, il suo tono, mi mancano le sue parole per accendere la quinta stella.
Ma forse è anche la malinconia di non goderne più e la netta sensazione di dover tornare a Holt ripartendo dalla trilogia.
May 21, 2020
Former high school football star Jack Burdette returns to his hometown of Holt, Colorado, in the 1980's, after an eight-year absence. Jack has alienated the townspeople due to his past actions. His friend, Pat Arbuckle, the local newspaper editor, tells the sad story of Jack’s rise and fall.
I enjoyed the first half of this book. The author writes in a clear, crisp style. He maintains dramatic tension by creating curiosity to find out what could have gone so terribly wrong in Jack’s life. It is an indictment of the way our heroes are idolized, and the impact it can have on the psyche of those that buy into the hero worship. Unfortunately, the second half goes downhill, with one completely unrealistic major plot point and an ending I could not appreciate. This book seems to me like a long introduction to another more in-depth story, which remains untold.
I enjoyed the first half of this book. The author writes in a clear, crisp style. He maintains dramatic tension by creating curiosity to find out what could have gone so terribly wrong in Jack’s life. It is an indictment of the way our heroes are idolized, and the impact it can have on the psyche of those that buy into the hero worship. Unfortunately, the second half goes downhill, with one completely unrealistic major plot point and an ending I could not appreciate. This book seems to me like a long introduction to another more in-depth story, which remains untold.
November 26, 2021
Wer will schon so einen Sohn?
Mit „Ein Sohn der Stadt“ habe ich (leider) erst meinen zweiten Roman von Kent Haruf gelesen. Leider deshalb, weil ich von Haruf´s Schreibkunst, mit wenigen, schlichten Worten unter die Haut gehende Stimmungen heraufzubeschwören, schlichtweg begeistert bin. „Kostbare Tage“ war ein Highlight für mich im letzten Jahr. Nun also „Ein Sohn der Stadt“; der wohl zweite Roman der im fiktiven Ort Holt spielenden Romane des 2014 verstorbenen Schriftstellers; erschienen 2021 im Diogenes Verlag in der Übersetzung von pociao und Roberto de Hollanda.
Nach acht Jahren taucht Jack Burdette (einst ein gefeierter Footballstar) in seiner Heimatstadt Holt auf, was die Bürgerinnen und Bürger in wahre Aufruhr versetzt.
Warum das so ist, erfahren die Leserinnen und Leser aus der Sicht von Pat, dem „Stadtchronisten“ sowie einstigem und – ja, man muss es so sagen – einzigem Freund von Jack. Anhand von Rückblenden in Jack´s und Pat´s Kindheit, Jugend und Studienzeit und den Ereignissen der jüngeren Vergangenheit, nähert sich die Erzählung immer mehr dem dramatischen Höhepunkt entgegen.
Und genau dieser Höhepunkt lässt mich unbefriedigt zurück. Hier hat es sich Kent Haruf meiner Meinung nach zu „einfach“ gemacht. Oder ist das Ende unter der Prämisse geschrieben worden, die Fantasie der Leserinnen und Leser anzufachen und sich zu fragen „Was wäre wenn…?“ Unter diesen Gesichtspunkten ist es dann natürlich wieder ein schlüssiges Ende, doch irgendwie kann es mich trotzdem nicht restlos überzeugen.
Man verstehe mich bitte nicht falsch: Herr Haruf kann bzw. konnte schreiben und (wie oben schon angedeutet) mit wenigen schlichten Worten Stimmungen heraufbeschwören, die mich auch in „Ein Sohn der Stadt“ völlig geflasht haben. Auch zeigt er wunderbar auf, dass in konservativ geprägten Landstrichen (nicht nur bezogen auf die USA, sondern durchaus global gesehen) die Bevölkerung nicht so schnell vergisst, wenn ihnen jemand etwas angetan oder weggenommen hat. Aber auch die Gemeinheiten einer eingeschworenen Gemeinschaft gegenüber ortsfremden Personen nimmt Herr Haruf auf´s Korn.
Und trotzdem nehme ich ihm das Ende übel. Wenn mich selbiges mehr überzeugt hätte, würde ich wohl auch für „Ein Sohn der Stadt“ die Höchstnote zücken. So werden es (sehr gute) 4* und eine klare Leseempfehlung.
©kingofmusic
Mit „Ein Sohn der Stadt“ habe ich (leider) erst meinen zweiten Roman von Kent Haruf gelesen. Leider deshalb, weil ich von Haruf´s Schreibkunst, mit wenigen, schlichten Worten unter die Haut gehende Stimmungen heraufzubeschwören, schlichtweg begeistert bin. „Kostbare Tage“ war ein Highlight für mich im letzten Jahr. Nun also „Ein Sohn der Stadt“; der wohl zweite Roman der im fiktiven Ort Holt spielenden Romane des 2014 verstorbenen Schriftstellers; erschienen 2021 im Diogenes Verlag in der Übersetzung von pociao und Roberto de Hollanda.
Nach acht Jahren taucht Jack Burdette (einst ein gefeierter Footballstar) in seiner Heimatstadt Holt auf, was die Bürgerinnen und Bürger in wahre Aufruhr versetzt.
Warum das so ist, erfahren die Leserinnen und Leser aus der Sicht von Pat, dem „Stadtchronisten“ sowie einstigem und – ja, man muss es so sagen – einzigem Freund von Jack. Anhand von Rückblenden in Jack´s und Pat´s Kindheit, Jugend und Studienzeit und den Ereignissen der jüngeren Vergangenheit, nähert sich die Erzählung immer mehr dem dramatischen Höhepunkt entgegen.
Und genau dieser Höhepunkt lässt mich unbefriedigt zurück. Hier hat es sich Kent Haruf meiner Meinung nach zu „einfach“ gemacht. Oder ist das Ende unter der Prämisse geschrieben worden, die Fantasie der Leserinnen und Leser anzufachen und sich zu fragen „Was wäre wenn…?“ Unter diesen Gesichtspunkten ist es dann natürlich wieder ein schlüssiges Ende, doch irgendwie kann es mich trotzdem nicht restlos überzeugen.
Man verstehe mich bitte nicht falsch: Herr Haruf kann bzw. konnte schreiben und (wie oben schon angedeutet) mit wenigen schlichten Worten Stimmungen heraufbeschwören, die mich auch in „Ein Sohn der Stadt“ völlig geflasht haben. Auch zeigt er wunderbar auf, dass in konservativ geprägten Landstrichen (nicht nur bezogen auf die USA, sondern durchaus global gesehen) die Bevölkerung nicht so schnell vergisst, wenn ihnen jemand etwas angetan oder weggenommen hat. Aber auch die Gemeinheiten einer eingeschworenen Gemeinschaft gegenüber ortsfremden Personen nimmt Herr Haruf auf´s Korn.
Und trotzdem nehme ich ihm das Ende übel. Wenn mich selbiges mehr überzeugt hätte, würde ich wohl auch für „Ein Sohn der Stadt“ die Höchstnote zücken. So werden es (sehr gute) 4* und eine klare Leseempfehlung.
©kingofmusic
October 27, 2021
Das Buch erzählt von Jack Burdette und seine Wechselwirkung zu einer kleinen Stadt in Amerika. Als "Ein Sohn der Stadt" beeinflusst er die Stadt und die Bewohner auf seine eigene spezielle Art und Weise, sodass die Stadt seine Existenz nicht vergessen kann.
Die Geschichte macht sehr viel Spaß und ist eindeutig ein Page-Turner. Ich wollte wissen, was es mit Jack auf sich hat und was in der Stadt passiert ist, dass er so eine besondere Rolle spielt. Interessant ist zu erwähnen, dass Jack überraschender Weise gar nicht so oft auftaucht und die Geschichte nie viel Wert darauf legt ihn detailliert zu analysieren. Trotzdem schafft er es nachhaltig diese Kleinstadt über eine lange Zeit zu verändern.
Das Buch hatte zwar weniger Tiefgang als "Unsere Seelen bei Nacht", aber es hat mir trotzdem gut gefallen. Es war spannend und unterhaltsam. Der Autor weiß wie er Charaktere darstellen muss um Sympathie zu erzeugen oder diese zu nehmen. Außerdem gefällt mir seine Art des Erzählens; es ist zwar einfach, aber trotzdem immer auf dem Punkt. Besonders in dieser Geschichte fand ich sein Erzählstil passend für diese kleine Stadt und den Auswirkungen von Jack Burdette. Das Ende hat mir übrigens in dieser Geschichte am meisten gefallen!
** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **
Die Geschichte macht sehr viel Spaß und ist eindeutig ein Page-Turner. Ich wollte wissen, was es mit Jack auf sich hat und was in der Stadt passiert ist, dass er so eine besondere Rolle spielt. Interessant ist zu erwähnen, dass Jack überraschender Weise gar nicht so oft auftaucht und die Geschichte nie viel Wert darauf legt ihn detailliert zu analysieren. Trotzdem schafft er es nachhaltig diese Kleinstadt über eine lange Zeit zu verändern.
Das Buch hatte zwar weniger Tiefgang als "Unsere Seelen bei Nacht", aber es hat mir trotzdem gut gefallen. Es war spannend und unterhaltsam. Der Autor weiß wie er Charaktere darstellen muss um Sympathie zu erzeugen oder diese zu nehmen. Außerdem gefällt mir seine Art des Erzählens; es ist zwar einfach, aber trotzdem immer auf dem Punkt. Besonders in dieser Geschichte fand ich sein Erzählstil passend für diese kleine Stadt und den Auswirkungen von Jack Burdette. Das Ende hat mir übrigens in dieser Geschichte am meisten gefallen!
** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **
May 20, 2024
Voto = ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Romanzo pubblicato nel 1990, “La Strada di Casa” è la storia di Jack Burdette che dopo aver sottratto astutamente un bel malloppo come direttore della cooperativa degli agricoltori di Holt, sparisce per otto anni non solo dalla città ma anche dalla vita della moglie e dei due figli. E quando tutti sono convinti che non lo rivedranno più in questa vita, eccolo ricomparire con invidiabile faccia tosta, certo di passarla liscia perché il reato è andato in prescrizione. Questo romanzo in realtà non è soltanto la storia di Jack Burdette ma anche quella dei suoi amici, delle donne che ha frequentato, dei concittadini che dapprima l’hanno emarginato come studente indisciplinato, poi l’hanno apprezzato come giocatore di football e da adulto l’hanno stimato al punto da assegnargli incautamente l’incarico di direttore dei silos, l’hanno invidiato per le donne che l’hanno amato, l’hanno odiato per il furto che ha compiuto ai loro danni. E attraverso la vita e le avventure di questo lestofante made in USA, Haruf continua a narrare sentimenti, stati d’animo, emozioni, temperamenti della provincia americana di fine XX secolo.
Romanzo pubblicato nel 1990, “La Strada di Casa” è la storia di Jack Burdette che dopo aver sottratto astutamente un bel malloppo come direttore della cooperativa degli agricoltori di Holt, sparisce per otto anni non solo dalla città ma anche dalla vita della moglie e dei due figli. E quando tutti sono convinti che non lo rivedranno più in questa vita, eccolo ricomparire con invidiabile faccia tosta, certo di passarla liscia perché il reato è andato in prescrizione. Questo romanzo in realtà non è soltanto la storia di Jack Burdette ma anche quella dei suoi amici, delle donne che ha frequentato, dei concittadini che dapprima l’hanno emarginato come studente indisciplinato, poi l’hanno apprezzato come giocatore di football e da adulto l’hanno stimato al punto da assegnargli incautamente l’incarico di direttore dei silos, l’hanno invidiato per le donne che l’hanno amato, l’hanno odiato per il furto che ha compiuto ai loro danni. E attraverso la vita e le avventure di questo lestofante made in USA, Haruf continua a narrare sentimenti, stati d’animo, emozioni, temperamenti della provincia americana di fine XX secolo.
July 24, 2024
4 🚘 🚘 🚘 🚘
Read it in one day. Captivated from page 1 to the last. Kent Haruf—the Prose Master.
Read it in one day. Captivated from page 1 to the last. Kent Haruf—the Prose Master.
December 17, 2018
It feels like a sacrilege to rate a Haruf novel less than 4 stars, but this was my least favorite (and final) of all his works. I much preferred his later novels, particularly his ‘Plainsong’ trilogy. I didn’t really bond with anyone in this story until the very end when narrator and Holt newspaperman Pat Arbuckle starts living in the present instead of documenting the past. Another problem for me was the town of Holt itself - Holt, Colorado, in this early book, is not the vibrant Holt of Haruf’s later stories, and its citizens are not as compelling. I probably should have read his books in order.
Synopsis: Jack Burdette, the town football jock, is narcissistic, cruel and lazy, but a hero among the men in Holt: “They remembered each game he had played better than he did himself . . . They kidded him, they slapped his back; it was a kind of grown-man’s adulation . . .” Jack never outgrows his own ego, but they don’t care. He’s a good ‘ole boy, managing the local Farmers’ Co-op Elevator and telling endless stories over endless games of pool at the Legion bar. However, when Jack vanishes from Holt one day, without a trace and under nefarious circumstances, few of these men or anyone else in town, are left unscathed by his selfish actions. We know from the first paragraph of the book that after being gone for eight years, Jack returns to Holt, driving a flashy red Cadillac. And the townsfolk, particularly sheriff Bud Sealy and former friend Pat Arbuckle are none too happy about it, hence the appropriate title ‘Where You Once Belonged.’ While not my favorite Haruf, this short novel still shines with his rich, honed writing and rates a solid 3.5 “very good but not his best” stars. My last Haruf (*sigh*).
Synopsis: Jack Burdette, the town football jock, is narcissistic, cruel and lazy, but a hero among the men in Holt: “They remembered each game he had played better than he did himself . . . They kidded him, they slapped his back; it was a kind of grown-man’s adulation . . .” Jack never outgrows his own ego, but they don’t care. He’s a good ‘ole boy, managing the local Farmers’ Co-op Elevator and telling endless stories over endless games of pool at the Legion bar. However, when Jack vanishes from Holt one day, without a trace and under nefarious circumstances, few of these men or anyone else in town, are left unscathed by his selfish actions. We know from the first paragraph of the book that after being gone for eight years, Jack returns to Holt, driving a flashy red Cadillac. And the townsfolk, particularly sheriff Bud Sealy and former friend Pat Arbuckle are none too happy about it, hence the appropriate title ‘Where You Once Belonged.’ While not my favorite Haruf, this short novel still shines with his rich, honed writing and rates a solid 3.5 “very good but not his best” stars. My last Haruf (*sigh*).
February 23, 2022
He was driving a red Cadillac now. It was not a new car; he had bought it soon after he left town when he still had money to spend. Nevertheless it was still flashy, the kind of automobile you might expect a Denver pimp or a just-made oil millionaire in Casper, Wyoming, would drive.So this is the story of Jack Burdette and what happened before he returned to Holt, Colorado in that shiny, red Cadillac (and some after). Why did he leave in the first place and why would his return - shiny red Cadllac or not - be of any interest to the people of Holt?
I had forgotten that reading Kent Haruf is pure delight. His writing style reflects perfectly the story he has to tell. His characterizations are excellent. And - tada! - he has a good story to tell. It isn't a flashy plot like the Cadillac, with lots of action, but neither is it so quiet that you might fall asleep.
Others might be able to finish this in an afternoon. I'm a slow reader, but I was just as glad to take my time. I even stopped to re-read a sentence here and there because he puts words together so nicely I wanted to savor them. I can see the highest ratings point is 4-stars, but I'm inclined to move across into 5-star territory.
February 5, 2024
I started this book on Saturday morning and finished it before dinner on Sunday. It's a short, fast read, but a worthwhile one. If you are familiar with Haruf, you probably know his Plainsong trilogy. This book is not part of that, but it does take place in Holt, Colorado, where most of his fiction is set. This is the story of Jack Burdette, local football hero and large personality, who is also a bully and the kind of person who ploughs through life with little regard of who he harms. Locals love him, until he double crosses them. Then one day he disappears, only to reappear 8 years later.
The story is narrated by Pat Arbuckle, a classmate and former friend of Jack's. Pat is a very different kind of person from Jack, and that contrast serves the story well. This is not just about small town life. It is also about the morality of our actions in regards to others. Haruf is a magician in taking rather mundane events and turning them into something gripping and deeply moving.
Recommended.
The story is narrated by Pat Arbuckle, a classmate and former friend of Jack's. Pat is a very different kind of person from Jack, and that contrast serves the story well. This is not just about small town life. It is also about the morality of our actions in regards to others. Haruf is a magician in taking rather mundane events and turning them into something gripping and deeply moving.
Recommended.
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