A few weeks ago, my book club met to discuss Our Souls at Night. I ended up liking this book a lot more when I reflected on it after finishing. It was a great little book and there was a lot more to it the more I reflected on it and talked about it.
Most of our group enjoyed the book. Many recommended his other book, Plainsong, and said it was even better than this one. Our Souls at Night was the last book Kent Haruf wrote before he died and he knew he was sick while he was writing it. All his books take place in the same fictional Colorado town, Holt.
We had some good debate over the meaning of the title. I thought it referred to them spending time together at night. The things they talked about required them to really bare their souls and be open about the topics they picked. Another reader interpreted ‘night’ to refer to them doing this at the end of their lives. I like this analogy more.
The first word in the book is ‘and.’ We could think of many reasons Haruf chose to start like this. It’s a very conversational way to start a story, which made the writing very engaging. It also implies there was something before. It’s as if he’s skipped the exposition and started right in with the interesting part. We also skip over Addie thinking about a way to be less lonely and considering the men she knows who she could ask.
We wondered why there was so much protest to Louis and Addie. They were both single, but everyone seemed to protest. Gene’s protest was the easiest to figure out. He was jealous of Louis for bonding with Jamie in a way he struggled to do. He also worried about Addie’s money. He was strapped for cash at the time and was likely thinking of borrowing from his mother. If Louis gained control of Addie’s money, he’d be in a tough situation, even worse than he already was.
We wondered what motivated Addie. She was clearly lonely, but why did she want to share her bed and talk? It was clear her marriage changed a lot when Connie died. Her relationship after that was never as strong as it had been. We suspected that on some level, she was hoping to find what she’d had before her daughter’s death.
One thing Addie mentioned didn’t make sense to us. She said she used to go to Denver by herself. How did she explain that? Did her husband even care that she was disappearing for a weekend? He might not even have cared. She needed the escape, to let her live in a fantasy world for just a bit, to keep her happy.
One of the objections to Louis was that he’d cheated on his wife. We wondered if Louis would have been attractive to Addie if he’d been divorced. She didn’t seem to care too much what people thought of the two of them, but it might have been different if Louis had a negative image around town. The two were loyal to each other after they started, shaking off their children’s disapproval. Addie only broke up with Louis because gene forced her to, threatening to take away her grandson. It was odd how Gene started acting like the parent to Addie, forbidding her to see her boyfriend. I think a lot of teenagers could relate. Addie was looking out for Jamie. We think she felt bad for how Gene’s childhood turned out and was looking for a second chance at raising a boy.
The book gave a few good insights on aging as well. As they got older, Addie and Louis stopped caring so much what everyone thought of them. They wanted to be happy in their own rights.
We won’t meet in December so it will be January before we’re ready for our next book. That will give me plenty of reading time! Until next time, write on.
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