Instead, the author’s viewpoint gives the reader insight into how some men lack romantic emotions. I confess I kept waiting for true love to emerge in this book but it does not follow such a prescribed outcome. It becomes the driving force behind the way in which Addie and Louis’ relationship develops, slowly blossoms, becomes hindered and then…Well, I will not spoil the ending. The reader witnesses how the townspeople decide the appropriateness of Addie’s and Louis’s decision to share a bed, even though both of their spouses are long dead. It doesn’t matter which small town because all such main streets suffer the same wagging tongues and invasion of privacy that can rule or ultimately ruin one’s life. “Our Souls at Night” unexpectedly took me back to my childhood in the 60’s when I spent all my summers in a small rural town with my grandparents. “He shaved and showered as he always did and in the darkness of the evening walked over past the neighbors’ houses and she was sitting on the porch waiting for him and she got up and stood on the steps and kissed him for the first time where people could see them.” Addie needs her grandson in her life, so she reluctantly parts ways with Louis. He threatens to keep Addie’s grandson Jamie from her in an attempt to control her behavior. The stress, combined with his small-town thinking, causes him to voice his disapproval of his mother’s relationship with Louis.

Years after the accident, Gene faces serious problems in his life (both his marriage and his business fail). This incident deeply damaged Addie’s husband’s relationship with his son and, consequently, the relationship between Addie and her husband. She ran out front to see that her daughter had been killed by the car while running from Gene. Addie was in the house when she heard a car screech. On a hot summer day, her son Gene was chasing his 6-year-old sister Connie in the backyard with a water hose. Soon Addie also reveals the details of her daughter’s tragic death as a child. As Addie and Louis become more familiar, they reach a point where they even share the sacred experiences of the deaths of their spouses. 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. My expectation for “Our Souls at Night” was to be inspired to find love later in life, especially after the death of a spouse.

Our souls at night book