Search - The Tie That Binds

I remember picking this book up from a library shelf and starting to read, and I couldn't stop.

Terrific opening of an absolutely gripping story that is not a whodunnit but a whydunnit.

In my opinion, Kent Haruf is the best living American writer (with Cormac McCarthy a close second), and this book, combined with the best-selling Plainsong, confirm it.

This the the third book I've read by this author, and I wish there were a whole lot more of his to read. What Proulx, Spragg, McMurtry and James Galvin have done for the West, Haruf does for the Midwest. His characters are true-to-life and unforgettable. His narration style of this book, though different from Plainsong and its sequel Eventide, is unique and plausible at the same time. I agree with another reviewer -- you never want his books to end, and you put down the book wondering what will happen to the characters who remain.

The book sounds like a good one, but the idea of listening or reading the words of the farmer all the way through the book was a task I was not desires to do. I could have stood it if it had been a part of the book, but not the whole story, every page, every paragraph, every line, every word. No! No way! The few pages I did read were good, even funny in places but some what like watching leaves dry. It takes a long time to see the change.

This is an excellent book, great story. I felt like I was living next door to these people.

Written with homey language, this is a first-person account of farming neighbors on the Colorado plains. I felt the story dragged on, and I didn't find the characters likeable, save the narrator. I hung in until the end, though I wish I hadn't. I'd give it 2 out of 5 stars. I wanted to like it - I really did, but I thought it fell short in so many ways.

part of his midwestern series of books in the same style as plainsong, so quiet and lyrical.