Dated yet timeless. Pure and simple like 'Sarah, Plain and Tall'.

This should have been an easy five-star book for me and I'm very upset it wasn't. I love multiple perspective novels, grew up in Colorado, and almost always enjoy books recognized by the National Book Award. Yet here we are.

I didn't enjoy this book for the first 60% or so. Then, I liked it more, but didn't really love it. The last, say, fifty pages, I absolutely adored it. The plot was the biggest reason for this and was Plainsong's weakest point. It moved so slowly that I honestly dreaded picking this back up to read. The characters were charming but wildly impulsive in their decisions. I don't understand the majority of why things happened in this book the way they did. Worse, I didn't care about them. It was only towards the end that I finally felt a connection with any of them. It seems as though the characters themselves were not interesting. I only cared about them once they interacted with one another and their stories intertwined. Generally, with novels like this, my love for the characters grows after their lives intertwine, but I care deeply about them from the first time I meet them.

The language Haruf employs is his biggest asset. It's so simple, yet it finds a way deep down into you, and I found myself more invested in how this book was written, than it what happened between the covers. That said, this is no [b:The House on Mango Street|139253|The House on Mango Street|Sandra Cisneros|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348245688s/139253.jpg|2000351]. I didn't think the lack of quotation marks worked well here. It slowed down the novel's progression further.

I probably won't continue on with this series, but the ending of this book may make me reconsider. I finally enjoyed myself reading this, and really genuinely connected with the characters. Even in the end though, I didn't understand why things were happening, and what ultimately lead everyone together.

I love the McPherons. They are just the kind of men I love and admire. Their folksy ways and rough hands are pure country.

Trecento pagine che volano via, una lettura che prende di peso e trasporta nella remota cittadina rurale di Holt.
Simile e al tempo stesso diversissima da casa, ambientata nel presente ma che sembra vivere in una sorta di stasi temporale, in un tempo sospeso che è il tempo mitologico della ruralità americana, dei discendenti dei colonizzatori del far west.

Per la prima volta trovo Holt confrontarsi con persone giovani, anche se qui in realtà si assiste a tutta la gamma delle età, partendo dai vecchi fratelli McPheron, allevatori che vivono isolati dalla comunità di Holt, fino ad arrivare a Ike e Bobby, i due figli di un insegnante delle superiori.
Passando ovviamente per il loro padre e per un'altra insegnante della scuola, la signorina Jones, e la segretaria della scuola, oltre che per la giovane Victoria, studentessa delle superiori rimasta incinta e cacciata di casa.

E riesce a rendere benissimo tutte queste persone diversissime tra loro per storie e per età, dimostrando di padroneggiare non solo l'età avanzata (come mostrato successivamente nei libri che ho già letto, come [b:Le nostre anime di notte|34255762|Le nostre anime di notte|Kent Haruf|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486969804s/34255762.jpg|43166999] o anche [b:Benedizione|25168319|Benedizione|Kent Haruf|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426961889s/25168319.jpg|21463360]) ma pure la fanciullezza e l'adolescenza.
Declinate ovviamente nel loro corrispettivo Holtiano, di ragazzi cresciuti in questo ambiente particolare, negli anni novanta.

Quasi viene da essere felici dell'introduzione di personaggi negativi o almeno dubbi, come i Beckman o Dwayne, visto che a parte loro in libri come questi viene quasi da credere che le persone siano tendenzialmente buone o almeno bonarie, e che contrariamente a molta della fiction che solitamente si legge il massimo della cattiveria riscontrabile siano le malelingue.
Un'iniezione di ottimismo sconvolgente in questi tempi, anche se limitata a un'ambientazione estremamente particolare come questa cittadina (e infatti di solito Denver, la "grande città", viene mostrata come qualcosa di mai totalmente positivo, e spesso anzi negativo).

This is a novel about a small community in Colorado located in the eastern plains, the part that tends to be forgotten. Haruf populates the novel with characters that don't seem to have much in common, but who come together in the end as a community. The author's style may not be to everyone's taste: there is no flowery, gushing language here. However, I thought his efficient, plain style evoked the harshness of the eastern plains perfectly. The characters are well-developed, though Haruf's prose doesn't allow for much in the way of descriptions of their emotions. The attentive reader, however, will be able to figure out what they're feeling through their actions. If anything, I agree with the reviewer who noted that the characters were strong enough to withstand greater trials. Their problems are often resolved a bit too easily. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and liked its descriptions of Holt as a community: imperfect, but beautiful in so many ways.