Plainsong Series

Plainsong/Eventide/Benediction by Kent Haruf

I read Plainsong a couple of years ago and loved it.  I had wanted to read the rest of the series and finally got around to it.  Of course, because so much time had passed, I had to start with rereading Plainsong.

Plainsong – definitely a character driven story, as nothing much happens.  However, I loved it!  The characters are great and I really enjoyed spending time with them!  I would even consider reading this a 3rd time.

Eventide – the story of my beloved characters continues.  I loved reading more about them, watching them grow and change.  I wept when one of them died.  Not quite as good as Plainsong, but close enough!

Benediction – if this wasn’t the third of a trilogy, I wouldn’t have even finished it.  The story was so depressing and unfortunately, there was only the briefest mention of 1 or 2 previous characters. The story was completely unrelated to the previous 2 books.  I believe this book was not intended to be part of the series.  Haruf died before it was published and I have a sneaking suspicion that the publishers made it part of the series just to help sell it.  Marketing at its worst.

I use a 1-5 scale to rank books.  I ranked Plainsong a 5, Eventide a 4 and Benediction somewhere around 2.  

If you tend to read plot driven books (think suspense, thriller, family drama), give Plainsong a try and see if you don’t fall in love with these people!