Gjell gave commands in a loud voice, then he dismissed his men toward the town. There were carriages and horses, and from somewhere voices, laughter, and soft music came to her ear. Most of them were wrapped in cloaks and furs and barely visible in the dim light. Arvid could not really see what it was, but from a distance it looked as if glowing glass balls hung there, which plunged the undersides of roofs, facades, and the streets in cold light.Īs they approached the houses, Arvid also saw people. The lower, narrow parts were built of white stone, above that several protruding floors of wood followed, which were crowned by tall, black roofs. The houses were all of similar design and at first glance they looked like huge, angular mushrooms. Arvid’s breath almost stopped at the sight, and suddenly Thoke’s words seemed not half as absurd and ridiculous as a moment ago. Behind it the outlines of houses emerged. They passed the old school, then a huge, dark wooden building, which was also a ruin. A murmur went through the group, as everyone grabbed their weapons and joined them. To show us how others live, so we can find solace in our own lives, our own loneliness, our own vulnerability.Gjell still threw her gloomy glances, and after Thoke’s explanation Arvid felt so confused that she followed him automatically as he turned around and went off. These characters have to be honest, have to show their fears, and risk the reader’s indifference because that’s the reason for literature. Most stories would crumble under the weight that these simple words have to carry.
Now not every story could handle such unadorned language. Simple language sure, but the themes are universal and heart-breaking, the attempts of trying to fight back loneliness in the face of impending death. Thankfully, these characters are talking honestly, their vulnerability is front and center and this creates the tension needed to carry the reader through this scene and into the heart of the novel. Notice here that there is no posturing, no grandstanding, or even attempts to give stage directions. “What are you talking about? How do you mean that?” I’ve added them for citation purposes here. Haruf’s prose is so unobtrusive that he even got rid of the quotation marks. He allows the reader to share in the creation of tension. Another writer might have used language meant to dazzle the reader and create something akin to melodrama, but Haruf has a subtle and deft hand.
Here is an example of an exchange between Addie and Louis after Addie has asked Louis to spend the night for the first time. Haruf too, realized that these character could and should talk simply about their wants and needs, their misunderstandings of a forgotten world, and how they hope to live out the rest of their lives.
#Our souls at night free pdf full#
Raymond Carver’s was lauded for allowing his character’s to speak in their own voices, no matter how simple or how full of inarticulate rage.
So here is where the choice in diction and language is so important. We have a story of two lonely people trying to find their way in a world that doesn’t make much sense now that their spouses have passed away. This is not a pyrotechnic plot about unreliable narrator’s covering up murders. And talk.” Here you have the inciting incident in Addie Moore’s own voice. The story at the center of the novel is quiet itself, in that, it tells the tale of two widows that come to an agreement to meet-up at night in order to “come and sleep in the night with me. While reading Kent Haruf’s last novel Our Souls at Night, I’m struck by how simple the language is and yet how much power is conveyed through a quiet, subtle novel.
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