Summary

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf is a tale of the relationship between two aging neighbors who lived in the rural Midwestern United States. One day, Addie Moore, a widow, asked Louis Waters, a widower, to sleep in her bed with her, but only for companionship, not for anything physical. With this proposal, Haruf sets the stage for his novel to explore the ideas of new love in old bodies, the small town mindset, and the role of the elderly in society.

Chapter 1 begins with Addie’s proposal on a cool, May evening on the comfortable and rural Cedar Street. Addie knocked on Louis’s door, and he invited her inside his home. He mentioned that Diane, his deceased wife, always kept the house tidy. After a moment of small talk in which Louis noticed Addie’s good looks, she asked him...