The third installment of American author Kent Haruf's Plainsong series, Benediction (2013) tells the story of Dad Lewis, a resident of the fictional county of Holt, Colorado who is dying of pancreatic cancer. In Ursula Le Guin's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/05/benediction-review-small-town-kent-haruf-holt">review</a> of the novel in The Guardian, she calls Haruf "a stunningly original writer." Although the book is a sequel, it can be read as a standalone novel. Dad Lewis lives in the bucolic mountain county of Holt, Colorado. At the beginning of the novel, he is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told by his doctor he has only months to live. Grudgingly resigned to his fate, Dad decides to make the most of his final weeks, surrounding himself with a close circle of loved ones. Although the disease is very painful, Dad refuses to take his prescribed pain medication out of fear of becoming addicted or diminished in his mental faculties. His chief focus is spending as much time as possible with his wife, Mary, and his daughter, Lorraine. He also works to get his affairs in order, ensuring that Lorraine will take over as manager of the family's hardware store when he dies. Dad worries that his longtime employees, Rudy and Ben, will not accept Lorraine as the new manager, so he works to convince them to ensure a calm transition. Dad has an estranged son, Frank, whom he hasn't seen since Frank graduated from high school. The two had a falling out after Frank came out as a gay man. With Dad now facing death, Mary works diligently to reunite Frank with his father before he dies. Unfortunately, Mary is unsure of Frank's current whereabouts. His last known location is Denver, but Mary learns that Frank is long gone from there, and those he left behind have not heard from him since. Meanwhile, the relationship between Lorraine and Dad grows stronger in the face of his terminal illness. Lorraine agrees with Dad when he tells her that she deserves a better man than her current boyfriend, and a better life than he is capable of providing. Dad also spends time further cultivating his friendships with various townsfolk, including Willa Johnson and her daughter, Alene, Reverend Robert Lyle, Berta May, and Berta's granddaughter Alice. Alice recently moved in with Berta May after her mother died of breast cancer. Willa, an elderly widow, and Alene, who is unmarried and childless, do their best to help Berta May out with raising Alice. For example, Berta May cannot afford new clothes and a bicycle for Alice, so Willa and Alene buy these for her. Although they say their reason for helping out is to be good, charitable neighbors, in truth, the Johnson women are desperately lonely. That's especially true of Alene who is heartbroken after the dissolution of her affair with a married principal. Alene worries she will die alone with no husband or children. Reverend Lyle begins to deliver sermons about turning the other cheek and loving one’s enemy. Drawing inspiration from Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, Lyle argues that America's standing as the most powerful nation in the world means that it should love its enemies, not fight them. In a post-9/11 political climate, many interpret his sermons as being sympathetic to terrorists. Although Willa and Alene support Lyle, half of his congregation leaves in anger. Lyle delivers a benediction asking God to bless and take care of the townspeople, even those who left the congregation. One night, Lyle is physically assaulted in the street by a townsperson who is angry about his views. It is later revealed that the church specifically sent Lyle away to Holt because he possessed unpopular views. Fed up with her husband, Lyle's wife leaves him, saying she will take their son away too once she is settled somewhere. Over the course of just a couple weeks in August, Dad's condition rapidly deteriorates. As Dad grows thinner and weaker, the pain becomes too much for him to handle, and he begins to take his pain medication. Because of the medication and his overall weakness, Dad spends more and more of his days asleep, unable to make the most of his final weeks on Earth. Many of the townspeople visit him, but he is rarely awake to receive him. His friends and family begin to say their goodbyes. Near the end of the novel, Dad lies in bed dying. In his mind, he visits his estranged son, Frank, whom Mary never managed to find. A few days after Dad's death, Alice goes missing while on a bike ride. The whole town frantically searches for her until she returns on her own. Alice says that a pickup truck almost hit her, and she fell in a ditch to avoid it. Having damaged her bike, she had to walk home. Benediction is a powerful story depicting both the joys and frustrations of small-town life in the American West.

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Kent Haruf

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Fiction

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Benediction

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