Benediction

De: Kent Haruf

Narrado por: Mark Bramhall

Shortlisted for The Folio Prize 2014

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.

©2013 Kent Haruf (P)2013 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Reverberant… From the terroir and populace of his native American West, the author of Plainsong and Eventide again draws a story elegant in its simple telling and remarkable in its authentic capture of universal human emotions.” (Brad Hooper, Booklist

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.

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.

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.

Another Home Run for Haruf & Bramhall

I’m sure many will not exactly enjoy this story—it’s hardly something to take to the beach, it’s quite the opposite. The subject (a dying patriarch) and the aspects of the personalities visited in Benediction are relentlessly dark. But Haruf’s fictional Holt, Colorado and his characters are so real and so finely wrought as to be palpable. Mark Bramhall is the perfect narrator, he makes this novel into a work of art.

Brilliance interspersed with tediousness

The author is at times brilliant, insightful and poignant as he interweaves the relationships among people in a fictional small town, Holt, Colorado. The reader is drawn deeply into the lives of these "average" lower- middle class people .

"Dad" Lewis is dying of cancer, and with that awareness of impending death, comes reflection on his life. Haruf touched my heart with his intimate description of the love between "Dad" Lewis and his wife Mary. Haruf portrays other characters with great skill, as well.

Unfortunately, too much detail makes some of the book tedious. We hear that Mary stops at a gas station and uses the restroom. Do we really need to know that she puts toilet paper on the toilet seat, washes her hands and dries them on a paper towel?

I listened to this on Audible, and it was rather slow moving. Perhaps, if I read the text on Kindle ( I did buy this on Kindle, also) it would intrigue me even more.

A Blessing

A benediction is a blessing and that is exactly what this book is. Kent Haruf writes about the lives of ordinary people in such a way that I'm left feeling I know them and remember them. I wrote a similar comment when reviewing Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. Haruf's ability to look into the soul of his characters reminds me of Stegner.

Benediction is about Dad Lewis who is dying of cancer. The story revolves around his experiences and those of the people who are close to him. It's an unhurried book perfect in it's simplicity. There are no earth shattering twists to the plot. Beautifully written and expertly narrated by Mark Bramhall, it never slides into sentimentality. Ultimately this is an uplifting story that reveals the ways we live and the values we live by. I strongly recommend it and Haruf's other books as well.

A solid story, perfectly told, value added reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Bramhall's reading adds so much to an already masterful story, perfectly told.

What did you like best about this story?

It's utter simplicity and truth.

Which scene was your favorite?

Dad's death, but it's hard to choose.

If you could rename Benediction, what would you call it?

I wouldn't rename it.

Any additional comments?

Congratulations!

perfect.

Another superb study of small town life, this one featuring the beloved, elderly proprietor of the local hardware store who is dying of cancer. These are his last weeks. He reviews his life in his own mind. Friends and townspeople come to visit and say goodbye. The support they give his wife and daughter is a written as a wonderful tribute to a close-knit community, which the author clearly loves, but still, he does not fail to skewer them viciously in a sub-plot about bigotry in the guise of religion and the power/hypocrisy of church politics.
There is also a hilarious scene involving a bunch of old ladies and one little girl who go skinny-dipping on a hot day in the cows' water tank. i don't usually read novels written by men because they can't write female characters realistically....but this scene was right on, and just hysterical!
The reader is perfect. His voice sounds so comforting and gentle, I could listen to him all day. He was born to read Ken Haruf's books.