"The girl nodded and began to eat her French fries, picking them up one at a time and dipping the end in ketchup and biting off the end and dipping it in again and eating the rest by small bites."

This is a seriously boring book. Isn't this the way everyone eats french fries? The above sentence contributed nothing to the story, it did not drive the plot forward nor did it offer additional insight into the character, motive or setting. Unfortunately the whole book is this way. I hardly ever give up on a book, but I wasn't able to finish this one. ( )

A wonderful read about the quotidian lives of several residents of Holt, CO. Spunky old women, broken men and boys, prejudices, loss, regret. Sounds like a total downer, but love shines through so very clearly. ( )

Colorado author and setting ( )

Another excellent book from a great writer. As usual it takes place in Holt, it spans just a couple of months but covers a lifetime of memory's for Dad Lewis, a man dying of Cancer.
No trite cliched outcomes, just people going on with life. It is too bad this authors books end you often wish they would go on forever, especially since there is usually a long period of time between books.
This writer is easily in the top five writers of fiction today, think the early James Lee Burke or James Crumley. ( )

Life goes on in Holt, Colorado,and this time it includes death. "Dad" Lewis, long-time proprietor of the hardware store, husband, father, upright citizen, and of course flawed human being (redundancy though that is), faces the end of his life with his memories and most of his family around him. As always, Haruf's work is plain as a barn and tight as a new-strung wire fence ( )