Eventide (Plainsong 2) by Kent Haruf (2013-04-11)

After loving Plainsong, I was happy to find the sequel. Beautifully written with wonderful characters, I found this sequel a bit more depressing. Haunting and sad but still a rich and satisfying reading experience.

I NEVER cry at books anymore...too hardened? Too cynical? Too old? I dunno, but I cried at "Eventide" while on a full plane to D.C.! THAT'S how affecting it is.
If you fell in love with the McPheron borthers in "Plainsong", as I did, then you will not want to miss this novel.

A spare story that continues the lives of several characters in Plain Song and brings in several other families in this town. Haruf doesn't sugarcoat his characters ; he sees them clearly but with empathy and concern.

While not quite a sequel to Plainsong, Eventide continues with some of the characters introduced in the earlier book, as well adding some new ones. I don't know that it was quite as impressive as Plainsong, but still a marvellous piece of writing. Perhaps because I had got to know certain characters from Plainsong, I was more interested in their stories than those of the new characters. Nevertheless, I'd rate Eventide very highly

Haruf's writing style is distinctive, and he is great at painting the pictures. This book is a partial extension of the stories in Plainsong, which I whipped through in a couple of days. I loved those characters and could not put the book down.

I loaned Eventide to two friends, both of whom liked the book better than I did. I have a hard time reading about kids who are in trouble, and to me there were loose ends in the stories that needed to be tied up. I looked for a sequel, but did not find one.

If any of you know which Haruf book takes the characters into peace, please drop me a line.

I read Eventide right after finishing Plainsong (which was excellent). Eventide was a good read, but Plainsong is a pretty impossible act to follow. I didn't feel that this sequel was a waste of time, I was curious about what happened to the characters in Plainsong. Haruf picked up the plot two years after Plainsong ended. Reading the book was a kind of homecoming, but for people wanting something totally "new" it' will be a bit of a disappointment. At the same time, several characters that were not present in Plainsong appeared in Eventide. Haruf's character descriptions and development are excellent and I had a complete sense of the people about whom he wrote. And, most important, the reader gets another taste of Haruf's style which is, I think, always a treat.

I purchased this book after listening to it and Plainsong in the car, borrowed from the library. I purchased both to loan them to friends but found myself re-reading them both first.
Compelling, real stories.

I've searched for words to describe what Kent Haruf does in all of the Plainsong books, and that's the word I've settled on: adorable. Nothing fancy, nothing to marvel at in this author, and that's what makes him maybe the best writer of our time: his craft disappears, and you're left as an observer of this small plains town in Colorado. I feel like a neighbor to these characters. Wonderful.

An open-eyed look at human naure with its depravity as well as its goodness. Haruf manges to write a riveting story wherin the tension between good and evil is deftly portrayed. Realistically presented, with neither "side" winning, but enough kindness to keep the human spirit alive and even thriving in its characters.

Since first reading Plainsong I've become a fan of Kent Hanuf. I love his spare language, the simplicity of his stories, a simplicity that hides complexity, layers and nuances. I appreciate their measured pace, which doesn't require that I engage with breakneck speed.

Having grown up in small dusty towns in the West, I enjoyed the poetry of Haruf's work. The old brothers were wonderful and reminded me of bachelor farmers/ranchers I bucked bales for as a youth. His descriptions are as good as anyone is writing in English today.

The perfection is in the simple and accurate way Haruf describes the people of Holt. It is a gripping story of the intricacies of the lives of the people in Holt. Brings to mind that the difficulties one finds in the city are of the same magnitude in Holt.

This continuation follows the lives of some wonderful (but not all) people as things more on. Characters become more complex and occasionally flawed but the story goes on. Ending on a very high note could their be a third installment waiting in the wings?? I hope so.