Such a lovely, lovely story, bittersweet and joyful at once. Mark Bramhall's narration was perfect—quiet, textural, understated, everything I love in a narrator. His performance reminds me of my all-time favorite narrator, the late Mark Hammer.

Ruth

I usually love “quiet” stories, but this one irritated me. Maybe if you don’t buy the premise (a widow asks a neighbor to share her bed at night so she has someone to talk to?) then the story feels shallow. It also bothered me that the man she invites keeps considering her good figure, and how moonlight falls on her shoulder, and how her soft skin appeals to him - it feels like he’s on a certain trajectory (sex) and she’s on another (companionship.) I just found the whole thing unbelievable. The writing style is also very clipped - kind of like this: he got up, walked back to his house, ate some cereal, did a crossword, fixed some lunch, and took a nap. Very dry. I don’t need writing to be lush or poetic, but it needs to be more than a list.

I love how the characters in this quiet novel collectively tackle the issue of lonliness in this delightful novel. I found it to be a funny, renosant and inspiring read.

A truly lovely novel about two older people who find each other and quietly fall in love in a small town in Colorado after a lifetime of acquaintance. Kent Haruf is the bard of everyday life and renders simple acts such as preparing supper or toasting marshmallows beautiful with his sparse but moving language. This is a short but touching must read.

Kent Haruf is an amazingly talented author who writes with great empathy for the lives of his characters. He has never disappointed me!! Kristi & Abby Tabby

I read this book in a couple of hours. It is the simple story of Addie and Louis, two long-time neighbors who hardly knew each other but whose empty lives are filled with joy in each other’s company. The plot is uncomplicated and yet is filled with simple truths about love, complicated parent-adult child relationships and loss. The author, however, shows how even in their seventies people can still find friendship and love if they open their hearts. It is also a story of an adult child not accepting his mother’s new-found relationship and withholding his love to manipulate her. A very quick read and an inspiring story.

I love recommending OSAN to anyone looking for a well written love story. It focuses on two people who decide to date, fall in love, and the people that stand in their way. It's a short book that leaves a lasting impression. Beautiful.

Prose. People. An exquisite homage to finding love in life's final chapter.

I read OUR SOULS AT NIGHT as the 6th and final of a Kent Haruf marathon, reading WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED, THE TIE THAT BINDS and The PLAINSONG Trilogy in quick succession. Having insight into the fact that OUR SOULS was Haruf's last novel, written while he dying of lung disease, made it a particularly poignant endeavor.
Haruf's writing style (e.g., lacking certain "normal" punctuation) might be off-putting to some readers, but his eloquent descriptive use of the written word is almost beyond compare.
Read OUR SOULS as the swan-song of a gifted writer who was silenced too soon.