Review: Benediction by Kent Haruf

Kent Haruf seems to have a window that looks deep into the human condition. He writes with such honesty and beauty that no gimmicks are needed; no twisty plot, no slapstick comedy, just the truth of what it's like to live an ordinary life.

In the years before I blogged, I read his Eventide and Plainsong, both of which take place in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado, a few hours east of Denver. Benediction, published this spring, takes us back to Holt and focuses on "Dad" Lewis, the seventy-seven-year-old owner of the hardware store.

In the heat of a High Plains summer, Dad waits at home for his terminal cancer to get the best of him. Next door, eight-year-old Alice, recently orphaned, settles in to a new town and gets used to living with her grandmother. Lorraine Lewis returns from Denver to ease her mother's burden and to be near her father. The elderly Johnson women help out where they can, and the new reverend hopes to offer direction and comfort to his flock.

The characters in Benediction are as real as your neighbors. Each has been shaped by everyday circumstances: widowhood, rough childhood, fortunate and unfortunate marriages, bad decisions, death, and success. In Holt, the small crises of daily life (a girl gets temporarily lost, a boy is hurt in love) mingle comfortably with the bigger questions faced by the adults (forgiveness for past wrongs, the future of a family after death).

Haruf doesn't offer us spine-tingling thrills but lets us see the way of things by introducing us to contemporary life in small-town America. Although I loved many scenes in Benediction, it was Dad Lewis's death with dignity and the love and respect of his wife and daughter that will stay with me the longest.

Open your heart to the people of Holt and give yourself over to Haruf's simple, profound, and honest prose.

I listened to the unabridged audiobook (Random House Audio; 8 hr 54 min) read by Mark Bramhall, whose thoughtful reading brought Haruf's characters to life. Leaving sentimentality behind, Bramhall nonetheless infused his narration with the perfect emotional level, so we feel both the elation of women swimming on hot summer's day and the sadness of friends saying good-bye for very last time. A don't-miss listen.

Random House / Knopf, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780307959881
Source: Review (both print and audio) (see review policy)
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