As I get older, and my mortality draws near, the less I am drawn to stories about terminal illness. Were "Terms Of Endearment" released today, I am not sure I would go see it, as good it actually was.
Now, I love Kent Haruf. I had forgotten he had died in 2014. So, when I saw "Benediction," the title and his name drew me in. When I began the first sentence, which states a man being diagnosed with terminal cancer, I put the book down, thinking, "Oh, great; what am I in for now?"
Well, I have good news. The book is not all gloom and doom, like Joan Didion's "The Year Of Magical Thinking," which I would never recommend to anyone in those circumstances. Haruf's book I would recommend. Because it ventures from the terminal patient, to his past life, troubled relations with his children, especially his son, as well as various members of the community. By the time Dad Lewis breathes his last, with his wife and daughter by his hand, I came to grasp the meaning of the title, that the comfortable, gradual, way of easing out of the world is a kind of blessing, especially for someone who has led a basically good life.
Kent Haruf is a kind of Southwestern Richard Russo. Both are narrative and character driven, but with a sensitivity to language and feeling that draws readers in. It is sad no more books will be forthcoming from Haruf, but there are others of his I have still yet to read, so that is, in itself, a kind of blessing.
If this was a brand new book this year, I could see it going on my Ten Best List, at year's end. Make sure it goes on your reading list for this year, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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