![]() We begin to view their past spouses as three-dimensional persons. I’m lonely.”Īddie and Louis’ conversations slowly unfold each night bit by bit they share their former relationships with each other. And so begins an unusual relationship wherein two people seeking a common human bond of companionship fulfill a deep need for human touch. They talk very little and then go straight to bed and begin holding each other. He arrives holding a paper bag containing his toothbrush and pajamas. ![]() They agree on a plan and he waits until dark to walk behind the houses to show up at her back door. Louis immediately takes her up on the offer. Addie speaks to Louis of not wanting to spend what life she has left in unbearable loneliness. The elderly widow Addie Moore bravely approaches her elderly widower neighbor Louis Waters to propose they share a bed occasionally to simply talk, hug and then sleep. (Apparently, all of the author’s stories do). The story takes place in the small rural, fictitious town of Holt, Colorado. It also subtly intertwines loss into the storyline in ways that make one think. Instead, it is a story of tenderness, touch and companionship. I can relish such a book, but in this case, it quickly became evident that he writes solely from a specific male perspective. The book is written by the well-known author Kent Haru, who crafts small-town stories that read as slow as molasses. In this bittersweet manner, the novel ends.My expectation for “Our Souls at Night” was to be inspired to find love later in life, especially after the death of a spouse. Addie initiates the calls between them and they begin to talk regularly again. Destroyed, Louis solemnly continues his routines around the house and in town until Addie calls him one day from her cell phone. That fall, Addie breaks her hip and goes to live in a retirement home near Gene and Jamie. Addie and Louis have one more, sad night then they stop seeing each other. When Addie tries to call Jamie, Gene refuses to let her speak to him because she continues her relationship with Louis. That weekend, Gene takes Jamie home with him because Jamie’s mother agreed to come back to the house. Louis leaves in a fury and Addie tells Gene he should be ashamed of himself. Gene denounces their relationship as something disgusting and tells them to stop immediately. A weekend visit from Jamie’s father, Gene, destroys Addie and Louis’s peace. Deciding not to tell Jamie about Ruth’s death, the couple continues with their summer. Later in the week, after dinner with Louis, Addie, and Jamie at Ruth’s house, Ruth goes to the bank and collapses. To help Jamie enjoy his summer and also to be with each other, Addie and Louis take him to a softball game, the Rocky Mountains to go camping, and restaurants.Įventually, Jamie meets Louis and Addie’s elderly neighbor Ruth who quickly takes to the boy. With Bonnie, Jamie feels more comfortable and begins to settle in for the summer. Louis, who meets the boy, decides to get him a dog who they later call Bonnie. He cries every night until Addie takes him into her bed to comfort him. That summer, Jamie, Addie’s grandson, stays with her in the house. One day, Gene drops his son off at Addie’s house asking that she look after the boy because Gene’s wife left him. It put Addie in the middle of their resentment. Louis’s affair causes him to be brutally hard on himself, while Connie’s death ruined Gene, Addie’s son, and Carl’s relationship. These events affect the way that each character behaves with the other and how each thinks about their own self. ![]() A car hit her, and Connie died in the hospital a few hours later. Addie then recounts the story of her daughter, Connie, who, while playing with her brother in the yard, ran out into the street. After ruining Tamara’s marriage, he returned to his family. After relating the parts of their lives that are common knowledge, they begin to delve into the deeper, more painful memories that they have.įor instance, Louis tells Addie about his affair with a fellow school teacher named Tamara and how he left Diane and his young daughter to live with Tamara and her daughter. Addie tells Louis about her eventually cold relationship with her husband, Carl, who died in church one Sunday morning. Louis tells Addie how his wife, Diane, lost the will to live as she wasted away from terminal cancer. Despite their words, the two continue because they believe they have finally found some light after the death of their spouses.Įach night, Louis and Addie recount parts of their past to each other and become closer for it. Their arrangement immediately comes under fire from the other elderly folks. Kent Haruf’s novel, Our Souls at Night, tells the tale of the unlikely love found when Addie Moore proposes that her neighbor, Louis Waters, sleeps in the same bed as her because the nights are lonely.
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