Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

‘Our Souls at Night’ by Kent Haruf is a tender and touching novel. I love the book’s title and the implied double meaning. Like Haruf’s other five first-rate novels, this story occurs in the small fictitious town of Holt, Colorado. It is a beautiful meditation on the emotional isolation of aging. Haruf’s writing is intimate while reserved and simple, while nuanced.

The book’s plot is straightforward. Widow Addie Moore knocks on the door of her widower neighbor Louis Waters. Addie says to Louis, “I wonder if you would consider coming to my house sometimes to sleep with me. I mean we’re both alone. We’ve been by ourselves for too long. For years, I’m lonely. I think you might be too.” Addie’s bold proposal is not about sex, but rather a hope for companionship. Addie and Lucas are in their 70s and keenly aware that they have fewer years ahead of them than behind. Loneliness has been a constant companion since their spouses died and their children moved away.

The next day Louis calls Addie, “I’d like to come over tonight if that is still alright.”

And the story of Addie and Lucas’ adventure begins.

Night after night, they lay next to one another sharing the stories of their lives. The joys and delights, the mistakes and regrets. They discuss their deceased spouses, careers, grown children, and Addie’s grandson. They are not interested in what their lives have meant in a larger existential way. Rather the dynamic between Lucas and Addie initially feels like a therapist and a patient or a clergy member and a parishioner. Addie and Lucas don’t apologize or analyze their pasts. They do not express their regrets in teary confessions of self-flagellation, but rather they state the truths of their lives. And the sharing of their souls becomes healing because there is no judgment. Lucas and Addie respond to each other’s stories with empathy.

It is not all smooth sailing. Unresolved dynamics with adult children emerge and petty small-town gossip grows. Nonetheless, Addie and Lucas grow fond of one another and even come to love one another. Their connection is both ordinary and sacred.

This book is about grace, tenderness, vulnerability, and maybe even forgiveness. Most important, their companionship makes them happy. I wish the ending were different, but it is probably realistic. Kent Haruf died in Nov. 2014. His writing about the human condition will be missed. Though I appreciated all his books, the love, and grace in ‘Our Souls at Night’ makes this novel my favorite.