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The Tie That Binds Paperback – March 1, 2000

by Kent Haruf (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,302 ratings
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From the bestselling author of Eventide, The Tie That Binds is a powerfully eloquent tribute to the arduous demands of rural America, and of the tenacity of the human spirit.

Colorado, January 1977. Eighty-year-old Edith Goodnough lies in a hospital bed, IV taped to the back of her hand, police officer at her door. She is charged with murder. The clues: a sack of chicken feed slit with a knife, a milky-eyed dog tied outdoors one cold afternoon. The motives: the brutal business of farming and a family code of ethics as unforgiving as the winter prairie itself. Here, Kent Haruf delivers the sweeping tale of a woman of the American High Plains, as told by her neighbor, Sanders Roscoe. As Roscoe shares what he knows, Edith's tragedies unfold: a childhood of pre-dawn chores, a mother's death, a violence that leaves a father dependent on his children, forever enraged. Here is the story of a woman who sacrifices her happiness in the name of family--and then, in one gesture, reclaims her freedom.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    246 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage
  4. Publication date
    March 1, 2000
  5. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.7 x 7.95 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0375724389
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0375724381
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An impressive, expertly crafted work of sensitivity and detail. . . . Powerful."  --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[A] fine first novel that dramatically and accurately explores the lives of people who work the land in the stark American Middle West."  --The New York Times Book Review

"Kent Haruf writes so wonderfully. . . . His characters live, and the voice of his narrator reverberates after the last page: humorous, ironic, loving."  --The Christian Science Monitor

"Haruf's gifts as a writer go beyond choreography. He has caught his prairie people with the skill of Wright Morris, the prairie itself with the sweeping eye of Willa Cather. . . . [I]t's nearly impossible to believe this is his first novel."  --Rocky Mountain News

From the Inside Flap

Colorado, January 1977. Eighty-year-old Edith Goodnough lies in a hospital bed, IV taped to the back of her hand, police officer at her door. She is charged with murder. The clues: a sack of chicken feed slit with a knife, a milky-eyed dog tied outdoors one cold afternoon. The motives: the brutal business of farming and a family code of ethics as unforgiving as the winter prairie itself.

In his critically acclaimed first novel, Kent Haruf delivers the sweeping tale of a woman of the American High Plains, as told by her neighbor, Sanders Roscoe. As Roscoe shares what he knows, Edith's tragedies unfold: a childhood of pre-dawn chores, a mother's death, a violence that leaves a father dependent on his children, forever enraged. Here is the story of a woman who sacrifices her happiness in the name of family--and then, in one gesture, reclaims her freedom. Breathtaking, determinedly truthful, The Tie That Binds is a powerfully eloquent tribute to the arduous demands of rural America, and of the tenacity of the human spirit.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (March 1, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 246 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375724389
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375724381
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.7 x 7.95 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,302 ratings

About the author

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Kent Haruf

Kent Haruf

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Haruf was born in Pueblo, Colorado, the son of a Methodist minister. He graduated with a BA from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1965, where he would later teach, and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1973.

Before becoming a writer, Haruf worked in a variety of places, including a chicken farm in Colorado, a construction site in Wyoming, a rehabilitation hospital in Denver, a hospital in Phoenix, a presidential library in Iowa, an alternative high school in Wisconsin, as an English teacher with the Peace Corps in Turkey, and colleges in Nebraska and Illinois. He lived with his wife, Cathy, in Salida, Colorado until his death in 2014. He had three daughters from his first marriage.

All of Haruf's novels take place in the fictional town of Holt, in eastern Colorado. Holt is based on Yuma, Colorado, one of Haruf's residences in the early 1980s. His first novel, The Tie That Binds (1984), received a Whiting Award and a special Hemingway Foundation/PEN citation. Where You Once Belonged followed in 1990. A number of his short stories have appeared in literary magazines.

Plainsong was published in 1999 and became a U.S. bestseller. Verlyn Klinkenborg called it ""a novel so foursquare, so delicate and lovely, that it has the power to exalt the reader."" Plainsong won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award and the Maria Thomas Award in Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.

Eventide, a sequel to Plainsong, was published in 2004. Library Journal described the writing as ""honest storytelling that is compelling and rings true."" Jonathan Miles saw it as a ""repeat performance"" and ""too goodhearted.""

On November 30, 2014, Haruf died at his home in Salida, Colorado at the age of 71. He died of interstitial lung disease.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,302 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kilian85710
5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2017
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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.
8 people found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars Haruf, a quiet master
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2013
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I was attracted to the works of Kent Haruf by the publicity and reviews attending the publication of "Benediction," his latest. I thought I'd take a shot at starting with his earlier stuff, hoping that I would discover an author who would provide me with lasting satisfaction over the course of several novels. I have not been disappointed. Haruf's writing has a quiet, unpretentious grace--never calling attention to itself, but winsomely telling a good story about people the reader comes to care deeply about. After finishing "The Tie That Binds," I read "Where You Once Belonged." "Plainsong" awaits. Eventually I'll reach "Benediction," but only after enjoying other pleasures of the same ilk.
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Dave Schwinghammer
5.0 out of 5 stars Almost as good as PLAINSONG!
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2005
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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.
49 people found this helpful
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AlliG
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and painful story
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2023
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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.
One person found this helpful
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Dr Karen
3.0 out of 5 stars Good writing, depressing story
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2012
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This is a well written story about a very depressing life. The author kept me reading, but I would have never read this book had it not been my book club's choice.
3 people found this helpful
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Roman Anshin
5.0 out of 5 stars Contintues the fine standard of his curveying the life of middle America
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2013
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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!!
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Helen
5.0 out of 5 stars last one
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2023
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Kent Haruf is just outstanding. I have been sparing this, my last book of his to read and now there is no more. That makes me sad. I have never come across another writer that I have been so emotionally moved by. I cannot explain the power his writing has for me. I feel as if I am living in the lives that he is telling me about and feeling all the sorrows that they endure, and there is a lot of sorrow and hardship in the lives he tells us about. But also such ordinariness that you wonder why am I so captivated? I don’t want the story to end. 5 stars with sparkles for Kent Haruf.
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Jose Luis Gaya Fdez
5.0 out of 5 stars Buena descripción de los personajes, su relación y su entorno.
Reviewed in Spain on August 23, 2021
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Good description of the characters, their relationships and their environment.
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yuki inagaki
4.0 out of 5 stars unusual
Reviewed in Germany on December 29, 2020
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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
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history lover
5.0 out of 5 stars nel cuore dell'America
Reviewed in Italy on October 14, 2017
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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
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Rikki K.
5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing First Novel
Reviewed in Australia on March 8, 2020
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Though this is the first novel by Kent Haruf, he shows an amazing depth in his descriptions of people, places and situations. This is not an easy story, and sometimes the choices made by the main characters are difficult and sometimes incomprehensible, but always related to the ties that bind them.
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