Plainsong

By ELIZABETH GLEICK

The title says it all, or perhaps too much: a "simple and unadorned melody," as the author explains it, announcing his supposedly humble intentions. There are some echoes here--of Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, even Harper Lee--and Haruf's gentle novel gives off a familiar backwoods, cold-mountain whiff. This time we're in Colorado cattle country, with Ike and Bobby Guthrie, ages nine and 10; their father Tom; two bachelor farmers, Harold and Raymond McPheron; and Victoria Roubideaux, a pregnant teenager with nowhere to go. Once the McPherons agree to care for Victoria, Haruf has roped in his plot as if it were the most cooperative of heifers. The cliches are plentiful, but this is a lovely read, illuminated by sparks of spare beauty.

--By Elizabeth Gleick