Eventide

Nothing really happens in EVENTIDE, yet, somehow, the straightforward, no-nonsense conversations, the descriptions of the most ordinary things draw the listener in and won't let go. Haruf's writing, spare and lean as a Colorado cowboy, is partly responsible. However, much of the audiobook's charm comes from George Hearn's performance. Hearn adds just the right touches to define characters like the always sweet McPheron brothers; 11-year-old D.J., who's caring for his aged grandfather; three abandoned children who make themselves a home in a shed; and the mentally challenged parents whose children may be taken from them. In a cracker-barrel, good-old-boy delivery, Hearn slips in and out of the vastness of human loneliness, its capacity for love and grief--and its occasional stupidity. PLAINSONG fans are in for a treat. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 5, 2004
Narrator Hearn, who won a Tony award for his performance in the Broadway musical Sunset Boulevard
, proves to be a perfect complement to Haruf's earthy, austerely elegant prose in this atmospheric sequel to Hearn's novel Plainsong
(1999). Many of the characters from that book return, with the brothers Harold and Raymond MacPheron once again serving as the focal point. Haruf concentrates on the complexities of what seems to be a simple Colorado community. New characters include a mentally challenged couple struggling to raise their two children, and an 11-year-old orphan boy charged with caring for his aging grandfather. The text is restrained, as is Hearn's performance. His relaxed, throaty voice and even pace fit comfortably with a book that boasts its fair share of sayings like, "Yes, ma'am," and in which a present participle ending in "g" is rarer than a discouraging word. He makes only the slightest alterations for different characters, yet they all ring true. Whether describing the events of a tragic death or a couple's thorough contemplation of the likelihood that pouring raisins on plain cereal would be the same thing as Raisin Bran itself, Hearn's voice possesses an ease and casual quaintness to rival Garrison Keillor, and it precisely conveys this book's enchanting spell. Simultaneous release with the Knopf hardcover (Forecasts, Apr. 26).

Starred review from April 26, 2004
Haruf's follow-up to the critically acclaimed and bestselling Plainsong
is as lovely and accomplished as its predecessor. The aging bachelor McPheron brothers and their beloved charges, Victoria and her daughter, Katie, return (though Victoria quickly heads off to college), and Haruf introduces new folks—a disabled couple and their children, an old man and the grandson who lives with him—in this moving exploration of smalltown lives in rural Holt, Colo. Ranchers Raymond and Harold McPheron have spent their whole lives running land that has been in their family for many generations, so when Harold is killed by an enraged bull, worn-out Raymond faces a void unlike any he has ever known. His subsequent first-ever attempts at courtship and romance are almost heartbreaking in their innocence, but after some missteps, he finds unexpected happiness with kind Rose Tyler. Rose is the caseworker for a poor couple struggling so dimly and futilely to better their lives that it becomes painful to witness. Children play crucial roles in the novel's tapestry of rural life, and they are not spared life's trials. But Haruf's characters, such as 11-year-old orphan DJ Kephart, who cares for his retired railroad worker grandfather, and Mary Wells, whose husband abandons her with two young girls, maintain an elemental dignity no matter how buffeted by adversity. And while there is much sadness and hardship in this portrait of a community, Haruf's sympathy for his characters, no matter how flawed they are, make this an uncommonly rich novel. Agent, Sterling Lord Literistic
. (May 9)

Forecast:
Readers will find that what made
Plainsong a bestseller—its humanity, its grace and its moving, heartfelt story—shines again in
Eventide. With an announced first printing of 250,000 and an author tour, Haruf's latest should do very, very well
.