Highest Rated Review by the Community
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community Jun 7, 2001
Pros: Simple and powerful language and style. Ordinary people made into fascinating characters. Seamless structure.
Cons: None for me. Some may not like the changing narrative focus or limitations.
Summary: This book tricked me. It fooled me into thinking at first that it was about mostly small things, really not much more than brief glimpses into the lives of a few characters. I was also caught off guard by how carefully structured the novel is. The ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Aug 8, 2005
Pros: The stories are simple but meaningful. Stark but powerful prose.
Cons: I would have liked more stories, but that might have ruined the effect.
Summary: Kent Haruf defines plainsong as “any simple and unadorned melody,” and the description aptly captures the essence of his novel by the same name. This simple slice-of-life glimpse at a year in a small Colorado town is more cotton sheets than ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 25, 2002
Pros: Keeps you into the book by changing characters by each chapter.
Cons: Predictable in some areas.
Summary: Plainsong was an interesting book that captures the soft and harsh reality life in a small community. It ranges from different characters like, a young pregnate teenager to, two old isolated farmers. When reading this book you see the day to day ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jun 28, 2001
Pros: The end of each chapter compels you to read the next.
Cons: None
Summary: I was able to read this book in a week. Although for some that may not be saying much, but I am a slow reader, and to read a novel in a period of a week means there was definitely something special about this book. What I found I enjoyed the most was ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jun 26, 2001
Pros: Closure, beautiful language
Cons: Hard to start, no quotation marks
Summary: One of my best friends gave me Plainsong for my high school graduation. On the inside cover she wrote, "I hope it will restore your faith in the kindness of strangers."
It didn't, but I sure did like the book.
One thing that ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 13, 2000
Pros: The story will make you feel good.
Cons: It has to end.
Summary: Kent Haruf's 1999 novel Plainsong is a quietly beautiful tale about seven residents of a small Colorado plains town whose lives intertwine (improbably and otherwise) and grow richer because they're thrown together. They include a pregnant high ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 3, 2000
Pros: Absorbing story, masterfully written
Cons: Nary a one
Summary: According to the frontispiece, Plainsong is any simple and unadorned melody or air. Simple and unadorned are terms that perfectly describe this tale of rural/small town life in eastern Colorado. Unadorned not because the lives of its characters are ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Sep 30, 2000
Pros: Intricate writing, beautiful characters
Cons: slow beginning
Summary: What I noticed from the very beginning of Plainsong was that Kent Haruf was an extremely talented writer. His words meld together and they flow so gently..it really feels as though you are just sitting back and watching the scenes unfold before you, ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Sep 18, 2000
Pros: simple and easy to read, great character development
Cons: not too exciting
Summary: When done reading a novel, the reader usually is able to explain the book in a few words, pointing out the major characteristics that make it different from every other book. Almost always, there is a single major event within the plot that defines the ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Sep 11, 2000
Pros: beautiful writing
Cons: there's no punctuation marks, so be warned
Summary: There have been many small towns that have been created in literature: Larry McMurtry's Thalia, James Wilcox's Tula Springs, Garrison Keilor's Lake Wobbegon Days. It's time to add another title to this list: Kent Haruf's Holt, Colorado.
Haruf ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 6, 2000
Pros: excellently portrayed characters, good organization, easy to catch symbolism, beautiful imagery
Cons: not long enough! ;)
Summary: Plainsong is a joyful tale of an unexpected family of unrelated people bound together for their common need to love and be loved. The very small east Colorado town of Holt is the setting. All inhabitants know each other's histories and current status. ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Apr 19, 2000
Pros: Beautifully written. Simple and true.
Cons: none
Summary: This is a spellbinding work. There are times when I found myself closing the book so I could take a break, afraid to read it all at once. It's that good. The writing is spare and fluid, eloquent even. I never thought I'd say this about a novel and mean ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Mar 27, 2000
Pros: memorable characters
Cons: story will feel monotonous to some
Summary: Sure, "Plainsong" is about a small town and its inhabitants, but at its core this novel shows that people need to feel protected, loved, and, well, mothered. Written in the third person without quotation marks (a style that flows beautifully ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Feb 19, 2000
Pros: Characters
Cons: None
Summary: I think I have lived in this town. A place where everyone knows you and your business. This story rings true to life in small town eastern Colorado. And it isn't much of a leap to see these characters in any American setting.
This is the ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Feb 1, 2000
Pros: unique writing style, interesting characters
Cons: not for readers who like dramatic plot twists
Summary: This slice of life novel took me by surprise in a number of ways. First, I was struck by the author's writing style. His intentional lack of formal quotations gave an almost stream of consciousness dimension to this book. In addition to following the ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jan 16, 2000
Pros: Easy to relate to the characters.
Cons: There isn't a sequel.
Summary: I did not expect to read a book the author calls plain and find it so extraordinary I could no sooner put it down than stop thinking about it. The setting, characters and plot are in fact plain and simple, but Kent Haruf’s descriptions of each make them ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Dec 30, 1999
Pros: moving, real life, great characters
Cons: lots of info on cattle
Summary: I was surprised to find out who finally became Victoria's family. I thought differently at the beginning of the story.The author does a nice job of introducing the old men in the story, and I found myself really liking them. I also liked the little ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Dec 27, 1999
Pros: Characterizations ring true
Cons: Some of the characters not as well developed
Summary: Plainsong is plainspoken, much like the characters within, and is a good representation of small town western folks. The elderly bachelor brothers who take in the young girl quite simply jump out of the pages of the novel and into the heart of the ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Dec 12, 1999
Pros: Clear, precise and simple writing style.
Cons: None, unless an absence of violence is a con.
Summary: Haruf's novel is an elegantly sparse description of a series of colliding lives in a small town on the eastern Colorado plains. A high school girl becomes pregnant and is provided shelter by two aging bachelor farmers. The lives of all concerned are ... read more
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- Express Reviews
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Rated Show by the Epinions community Sep 11, 2006
Pros: Leaves you refreshed
Cons: There should be more books like this one!
Summary: I name this book my favorite book of all time because of the heart-warming characters and the interesting story line. I don't remember ever reading a book with such imagination yet such simplicity. Plainsong really takes everyday life and makes it so
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