Stephen Hayes reviewed Plainsong by Kent Haruf
None
4 stars
A surprisingly gripping novel set in a small town, with small-town characters and small-town problems.
There are no big earth-shaking dramas, just everyday problems that are big for the people involved. A schoolgirl gets pregnant, and is kicked out of by her mother, and goes to live with two old men on a farm. Two young brothers experience the death of a loved hore, and are bullied by an older boy, whose father was his teacher, so the boy bullies his sons out of revenge. Another teacher quietly tries to keep everyone happy. It is plainsong because, like plainsong, there are no grand crashing orchestral crescendos, story, like Grays Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, follows the characters along the even tenor of their way, and one cares about the outcome of the little dramas because one cares about the characters.