Benediction

De: Kent Haruf

Narrado por: Mark Bramhall

A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year

From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado.

When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors.

Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times. Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.

Benediction - what a way to end your life.........

What did you love best about Benediction?

The absolutely normal but complex way the author integrated the characters

What did you like best about this story?

That life is so full of interest and importance no matter how outwardly insignificant the players appear to be.

Which scene was your favorite?

where all the girls - old and young - went skinny dipping!

Who was the most memorable character of Benediction and why?

The little girl - what sort of an adult will she become having been shown the undemanding love of four lonely women.

Any additional comments?

Very human portrayal of every aspect of life - realistic but not overly moralist. Well read and worth listening to again, looking forward to some more from this author.

Best of the series....

Any additional comments?

Like the previous books in the series this book approaches the simple life in small town America. Several storylines cross and play out in a similar way to the first two installments. No real connections to the other books but very similar feel.
The ending however for me was what made this book special. Anyone who has gone through the process in their family may revisit old emotions in a powerful, but for me, a beautiful way. Best of the series.

40% sex

If you could sum up Benediction in three words, what would they be?

Sex worked into every angle pssible.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Narrator.

What does Mark Bramhall bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Versatile

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The death.

Any additional comments?

Can't play sex on speakera with SMALL CHILDREN IN THE ROOM.

Beautifully written

If you could sum up Benediction in three words, what would they be?

Slice of life

What did you like best about this story?

The prose and the simplicity with which Haruf paints such a rich picture of his characters.

Which character – as performed by Mark Bramhall – was your favorite?

Favorite is not really a good word, as Haruf shows us the main characters' flaws, which make them somewhat unlikeable, but he balances that with good, solid supporting characters to make them multidimensional, as people truly are.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No.

As a stand alone ok

As a stand alone ok, but as a glimpse into the lives that we met in the prior two, fundamentally disappointing. The performance was good.