Where You Once Belonged

Oh my! Now I understand why so many love the writings of this author! One book, and I'm hooked and will read all his others. This is a story that is tragic in the complexity of the main character. Jack Burdette is not someone you embrace or cheer on. He is self absorbed, narcissistic and a despicable man! The character is so very well developed, it is breathtaking in complexity.

Once a football hero, that is about it for the accomplishments he's had throughout his pitiful life. It seems he was born with a chip on his shoulder, caring so very little for any one who happens to trod on his path. He has a friend, the only one. His name is Pat Arbuckle and he inherited his father's small newspaper in a small town that produced one hero who show more grabbed the ball and smashed anyone who dared to come near! Still, Pat had an adulation and wanted to draw near like a match to an already burning flame. Pat is everything Jack is not. Pat has courage, well- deserved respect, and is an all-around good guy! But, read just what Jack does to Pat, how he destroys, with no regret!

Their lives became tragically entwined when Jack embezzled a lot of money from this small town that looked up to him, routed for him as he stole from them as well! He was handed the job of running the company that employed many. He took what he thought was his rightful place and ran with the money in the fashion he ran with the ball. Crippling, demeaning and never regretful.

When he leaves Holt, Colorado for eight years and suddenly returns, he is not greeted as a hero, rather as a vagrant that no longer belongs. But then, again, he really never belonged to anyone or anything. He took a wife, ruined her life, until Pat tried to redeem her, fell in love with her and tried valiantly to save her and the children Jack so blatantly left behind without a thought of their well fare.

Now, rather than cheering him on, Jack gets a smack on the back of his head, and this is just a bit of what he deserved! Riding symbolically into town on a bright red Cadillac, he parked it right on main street where he eerily, creepily stayed, watching the townspeople live their lives as he returned to smash them to bits.

He returns to take what is not rightfully his, nor does he deserve. But, taking, robbing and stealing is all he knows how to do. And, he does it so darn well!

Five Stars for this incredible book show less

I believe this is the last of Haruf's works that I had not yet read. It may be his most Faulkner-ish in tone and characterization. Pat Arbuckle, editor of the Holt Mercury, tells the reader the life story of his contemporary, Jack Burdette, man child with no moral sense at all, who wreaks havoc on his home town in general, and eventually on Pat himself. Elements of this story are very reminiscent of the Snopes Trilogy, as townspeople discover the treachery of one of their own, and find themselves helpless to avenge it. Almost entirely lacking in the warmth and humor that tempers life's set-backs and sorrows in Haruf's later work, this one is still potent and darned near perfect. The ending will dissatisfy many readers, I'm sure, but it show more is fitting and tragically believable. show less

This is a sad book, not least because it's the last one of Haruf's work I'll ever get to read for the first time. The loss of his rare, kind voice is one that should be mourned. This is another Holt, Colorado story, the fictional town where all his work is centered. The characters he creates to populate the place are so complicated and interesting, so real. There is a heavy veil of nostalgia draped over all of Haruf's work, but it's never the saccharine kind. It's the kind that sees those sepia colored times and grieves for their loss, but with a even gaze rather than a thoughtless urge to return. I frequently recommend [[Haruf]] to anyone who has never tried him, and I do so with a heavy heart knowing there will never be anything new show more from him. show less

Kent Haruf is best known for his Plainsong trilogy set in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado. But Holt began taking shape years earlier, in two novels many readers may have missed. Where you Once Belonged is built around a central character, Jack Burdette, and his impact on the town over a period of several years. The story is told by Pat Arbuckle, the editor of the local newspaper who has known Jack since first grade. Jack, product of a difficult childhood, grows up into a difficult adult whose life decisions reverberate across the town, disrupting and even ruining the lives of others.

This short novel and its predecessor, The Tie that Binds are Haruf’s early explorations of setting and situations that will be more fully developed show more in his later work. Where you Once Belonged suffers from its singular focus on Jack, in contrast to the Plainsong trilogy’s larger cast of characters and interconnected storylines. But for fans of Kent Haruf, his backlist is worth seeking out. show less

WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED (1990) was Kent Haruf's third novel. (He only wrote six, and I've now read four of them.) The title at once brings to mind the Beatles' tune "Get Back," but I am unable to make any coherent connection to Haruf's story, unless it's simply that the central character, Jack Burdette, does indeed come back to his hometown of Holt, Colorado, several years after he had absconded with $150K of the townspeople's money, embezzled from the local co-op elevator that he was managing. That aside, WYOB, is a character-rich, compelling tale of a high school hero gone too soon to seed, who takes shameless advantage of the town and people who idolized him. Because Jack Burdette is an unprincipled, amoral bastard who takes and show more takes from those who admire and even love him. The narrator is his boyhood friend and classmate, Pat Arbuckle, who, as Holt's newspaper editor, bears witness to Burdette's perfidy, criminal activity and abandonment of his wife and children. Arbuckle, whose own marriage is in tatters, falls hard for the wife, and, well, you gotta read this book, okay? 'Cause it's really, really GOOD! The way Burdette capitalized on his athletic reputation and popularity, took what he wanted, and took off, also brought to mind Updike's Harry Angstrom of RABBIT, RUN. At considerably less than two hundred pages, WYOB is a quick read, but it leaves the reader with plenty to think about. My highest recommendation. (Two more Harufs left to read. I hope I can.)

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Haruf returns to Holt, Colorado, this time with a story of betrayal, redemption, and tragedy.

Jack Burdette was a wild kid who grew up to be a big frog in Holt's little puddle -- high school football star, ex-GI returning to his home town where he stepped into a job managing the local grain co-op.

Burdette is a totally unlikeable character -- a bully, a cheat, and a blowhard -- and perhaps the only false note in the book is the friendship between him and narrator Pat Arbuckle, another hometown boy who grew up to take over his father's small-town newspaper. The friendship has pretty well retreated by the time Jack Burdette betrays the trust of his employer and walks out on his pregnant wife and their two small boys, taking along $150,000 show more of the co-op's money. How the town reacts to this betrayal and how Burdette's abandoned wife copes with her situation forms the core of this slim novel, and exposes the heart of small-town America, warts and all.

As always, Haruf uses simple language and characters who are readily identifiable without ever becoming cliche, and creates a story that burrows right into the core of who we are. show less

Samstagnachmittag im November, ein roter Cadillac, der auf der Hauptstraße parkt. Erst interessiert sich niemand für ihn, doch dann wird man aufmerksam und noch mehr steigt die Neugier in dem kleinen Ort Holt in Colorado, als sich rumspricht, wer in dem Wagen sitzt: Jack Burdett, berühmtester Sohn der Stadt, einst hoffnungsvoller Footballstar und Retter der Farmer Kooperative. Bis er verschwand und mit ihm ein Haufen Geld der Kooperative, seine Frau und die Kinder ließ er zurück. Nach acht Jahren ist er nun also wieder da und kann nicht auf einen freudigen Empfang hoffen, denn die Wunden, die er gerissen hat, sind noch immer nicht verheilt. Pat Arbuckle, Lokaljournalist und ehemals bester Freund von Jack, ist ebenso gespannt wie show more alle andere, doch er hat noch einen ganz anderen Grund sich für den Rückkehrer zu interessieren als die lange zurückliegenden Ereignisse.

Kent Haruf erzählt in seinem Roman die Geschichte eines Lebens und einer Kleinstadt in ihrer verhängnisvollen Wechselwirkung. Der gefeierte Sportler, dem man alles verzeiht und der dank seiner Ausstrahlung immer wieder auf die Füße fällt, egal, was er anstellt, bis er den Bogen überspannt und dennoch den Ort weiter in seinem Griff hält. Aber Holt ist es auch, das ihn zu dem hat werden lassen, was er ist, und so müssen die Bürger auch ein Stück weit mit ihrer eigenen Schuld leben.

Man könnte glauben, dass eine amerikanische Kleinstadt im Mittleren Westen der 1960/70er Jahre nicht wirklich reizvoll für einen Roman ist. Dem Autor gelingt es jedoch, den Leser sofort zu packen und man will wissen, wie es dazu kommen konnte, dass der Sohn der Stadt verschwand und wie die offenkundig noch offenen Rechnungen beglichen werden. Vor allem das subtile Foreshadowing, das Andeuten von dem, was geschehen wird, gelingt Haruf meisterhaft und so kreiert er eine Spannung, die bis zur letzten Seite fesselt.

Auch wenn Jack und Pat nicht wirklich Antagonisten sind, wird an ihnen beiden doch der Kontrast zwischen den Lebensentwürfen verdeutlicht. Jack ist bildungsfern, dafür verfügt er jedoch über Kraft, die er auf dem Spielfeld und der lokalen Fabrik gewinnbringend einsetzen kann. Pat hingegen weiß, dass er die Zeitung seines Vaters irgendwann übernehmen wird und folgt dem vorgezeichneten Plan Schule – Studium - Zeitung - Familiengründung. Immer wieder kreuzen sich die Wege, während Pat geradeaus geht, mäandert Jack und schafft es immer wieder, Menschen für sich zu gewinnen und sich so neue Chancen zu eröffnen. Dabei agiert er jedoch rücksichtslos und egoistisch, was aber niemanden zu stören scheint.

Es ist aber auch die Geschichte des Kleinstadtlebens, wo nichts verborgen bleibt, jeder jeden kennt und in erster Linie: wo die Männer das Sagen haben. Die Frauen leiden still und ertragen unwidersprochen den Platz, den man ihnen zu weist. Wanda Jo, die Jack über Jahrzehnte anhimmelt und alles für ihn tun würde, muss die öffentliche Demütigung ertragen; auch Pats Frau, die aus der Großstadt kam und Kunst und Kultur liebte, stellt ihre Bedürfnisse hinter jene ihres Mannes und mimt 18 Jahre lang schweigend die brave Hausfrau und Mutter. Nur Jessie, Jacks Frau, wagt es irgendwann, laut die Stimme zu erheben, was jedoch relativ pikiert zur Kenntnis genommen wird.

Eine sprachlich und gestalterisch grandiose Kleinstadtstudie, die restlos begeistert. show less