![]() ![]() We could imagine where the story went from there. None of us were as harsh as Don was about the ending, but we decided that the ending gave us something to think about. In fact, when my husband and I listened to the audiobook together, he rated the book as a 'two' due to the ending. Starting with "And" forces the reader to think about what happened before the print on the first page. How do they help the reader imagine the story 'before and after' the confines of the book? We noted that the first sentence started with the "And", which we've never noticed before in any books. Talk about the beginning and the ending of the book.In his last interview, Haruf said, "I think I have written as close to bone as I could." I thought that perhaps Haruf could be compared to Hemingway, who famously worked at being concise and spare in his writing. What did you think of his writing? None of us are big know-it-alls about literary styles and writing but we all appreciated the shortness of the book and the spare use of description. ![]() Compare Kent Haruf's writing style to other authors.Family dynamics, especially around finances, factored into our discussion heavily. As the relationship between Addie and Louis deepened they were able to shed some of their guilt for events that happened earlier in their lives, but then we saw their children come back and attempt to throw that guilt right back on them. I felt that the last theme, grief and guilt, played into so many of the actions of our characters. What were the themes of the book? We were able to identify lots of themes-the need for physical touch at every age life in a small town treatment of the elderly family issues issues related to grief and guilt.But because the book was heavy on dialogue, it wasn't a big distraction. One gal did identify one thing about the book which bothered her-no quotations around the dialogue. Three scenes stuck out in our minds: camping, getting the dog, and teaching him to play catch. Several of us talked about liking the way that Addie and Louis treated the boy, Jamie. One gal, whose husband died a few years ago, said she could really relate to the reasons that Addie and Louis got together and the awkwardness that accompanied the beginnings of their arrangement. ![]()
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