The Tie That Binds Paperback – March 1, 2000

What it means to be family and how people so often get it wrong. Edith's life is full of work with glimpses of joy. Few authors capture the grittiness of human nature as skillfully as Haruf.

Haruf is a favorite of mine. He seems to get the sense of the high plains west in his writing and his characters and especially so in this book. Despite the sorrow, I would recommend it. This story is told from the point of view of the neighbor of a hardscrabble, and ultimately successful, pioneering family that set out to farm and ranch their spread. The patriarch of this family is as mean spirited as any character I've come across in years, and his cruelty cascades down through the decades in the form of being trapped by duty or of escaping entirely. It's all, in the end, sad and heartwarming. I felt that I'd met the three main characters that survived the father, to my benefit.

I love Kent Haruf. My introduction to him was through a book club selection of Plainsong, and I've been reading him ever sense. His prose is as clear and direct as the country he writes about, and this book is no different. It is a little different in its unrelenting sadness. At the heart of the story is Edna Goodnough, trapped in a life of unending toil, first for her manipulative, nearly insane father, then her brother, as she watches him descend into senility. Day by dogged day, year by year, she does what needs to be done, until one day she makes her break for freedom.The story is told by a neighbor, young enough to be her son, and Kent Haruf uses him to display an unusual insight into human character. This book was a little a break from the others in that the main character finds little happiness until the end of her life. The characters surrounding her are grim, unforgiving, unloving people. We come to understand Edna and her dire situation as Haruf paints the picture of a woman who gives her life to the men who are unable to appreciate her and her sacrifice.

THE TIE THAT BINDS is structured differently than PLAINSONG. For one thing it's written in first person and the narrator, rancher Sanders Roscoe, holds the point of view throughout the novel. But the story is really about Edith Goodnough, who is being charged with the murder of her brother. Roscoe takes us all the way back to the nineteenth century when Edith's father Roy emigrated to Holt County, Colorado. He and his wife, Ada, have two children, Edith and Lyman. Roy is an ornery cuss who treats his family like possessions. Ada, who longs for her home country in Iowa, soon dies and Edith becomes the mother, a role she will play for the rest of her life. Sanders' father once had a romantic attachment to Edith but Roy rejects him because he's part Native American. His father never quite gets over Edith and makes Sanders help out at the Goodnoughs when Roy tries to make Edith work in the fields. She becomes a second mother to Sanders. These characters are simply amazing. Lyman Goodnough, who escapes his father during WWII and travels the U.S. for most of his life, is a true original. Little Rena Roscoe, Sanders' daughter, adds a little comic relief to the story when she forms an attachment to the increasingly senile Lyman. About the only character from PLAINSONG that's familiar is Sheriff Bud Sealy, who incites Sanders' wrath when he arrests Edith. Believe me, it doesn't matter; this author can make the most transitory character resonate with life. Kent Haruf has more compassion in his little toenail than some of our religious leaders have in their whole congregation. When Edith's father dies, she winds up alone. Haruf's description of what this does to a person, sent shivers up my spine. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. I've read PLAINSONG, EVENSONG and now THE TIE THAT BINDS, and I can't wait for the next episode in the lives of the people who live in Holt, Colorado.

My first Kent Haruf book and it was fine. I enjoy the way he writes. I think there was more to say about the title than got said in the book and it also applies to many in the book and us. Why do we stay, when everything we see, the evidence that surrounds us says leave. Why do we stay?

Haruf has written a number of outstanding novels, all taking place in the small plateau town of Holt, Colorado. His characterization is superb, and his storytelling is spellbinding. He reminds me, at his best, of the "grotesques" of Sherwood Anderson. He captures the quientess, the poverty emotionally and architecturally, and the richness of the characters' inner lives beautifully. To me, he is something like a modern day Willa Cather, and also reminds me of Richasrd Ford, at hhis best. He even, sometimes, has the humor and sweetness of Charles baxter, and a bit of the bizarreness of the little known, but fascinating, Floridian, Harry Crews. THe quiet zAmerican-0-Haruf deserves a s=wider audience. He is gender, poignant, aned captures American pschoypathlogy quite tenderly, and with great empathy for his characters.Read this book, and you will want to read all of his fine writings!!

As always, a good and moving story, and well worth the read. Haruf hadn't quite found his unique kind of simple eloquence, but an excellent read, even so.

Good description of the characters, their relationships and their environment.

an unusual approach to a story that could have been told often before . A somewhat harsh judgement of the characters involved but authentic in its negative description, sometimes painful to read

Having thoroughly enjoyed (if that's the right word; see below) the Plainsong trilogy, I turned to this, the first in Kent Haruf's short library of novels. As with the others, it was beautifully written but once again, very sad. One is reminded of the harsh reality of living in the first part of the 20th century, especially for women. Also as with the other novels, I was rooting for the main protagonist throughout, and it pained me to see how many trials and tribulations her life contained. For this reason, "enjoy" is probably not the right word for this author, even though his writing is peppered with wry an often gentle humour. The other sad thing for me is that he died having written only a handful of books. I certainly intend to read the only other ones I haven't read (Our Souls at Night, and Where You Once Belonged).

il libro di Haruf porta il lettore nel cuore dell'America vera, lontana dai miti holliwodiani e del grande sogno americano. La narrazione è sostenuta da una lingua viva, duttile. che riesce a dar corpo ai protagonisti. E' ovviamente un libro al meglio se letto in lingua originale. Hanuf è un narratore delicato e al contempo potente e commovente