It is difficult to review this book. The writing is excellent -- it "came off the page" as I read it. However, despite the fine writing, the book's small story would have been rather sad and dull. ( )

Oh my! Now I understand why so many love the writings of this author! One book, and I'm hooked and will read all his others. This is a story that is tragic in the complexity of the main character. Jack Burdette is not someone you embrace or cheer on. He is self absorbed, narcissistic and a despicable man! The character is so very well developed, it is breathtaking in complexity.

Once a football hero, that is about it for the accomplishments he's had throughout his pitiful life. It seems he was born with a chip on his shoulder, caring so very little for any one who happens to trod on his path. He has a friend, the only one. His name is Pat Arbuckle and he inherited his father's small newspaper in a small town that produced one hero who grabbed the ball and smashed anyone who dared to come near! Still, Pat had an adulation and wanted to draw near like a match to an already burning flame. Pat is everything Jack is not. Pat has courage, well- deserved respect, and is an all-around good guy! But, read just what Jack does to Pat, how he destroys, with no regret!

Their lives became tragically entwined when Jack embezzled a lot of money from this small town that looked up to him, routed for him as he stole from them as well! He was handed the job of running the company that employed many. He took what he thought was his rightful place and ran with the money in the fashion he ran with the ball. Crippling, demeaning and never regretful.

When he leaves Holt, Colorado for eight years and suddenly returns, he is not greeted as a hero, rather as a vagrant that no longer belongs. But then, again, he really never belonged to anyone or anything. He took a wife, ruined her life, until Pat tried to redeem her, fell in love with her and tried valiantly to save her and the children Jack so blatantly left behind without a thought of their well fare.

Now, rather than cheering him on, Jack gets a smack on the back of his head, and this is just a bit of what he deserved! Riding symbolically into town on a bright red Cadillac, he parked it right on main street where he eerily, creepily stayed, watching the townspeople live their lives as he returned to smash them to bits.

He returns to take what is not rightfully his, nor does he deserve. But, taking, robbing and stealing is all he knows how to do. And, he does it so darn well!

Five Stars for this incredible book ( )

Former high school football star Jack Burdette returns to his hometown of Holt, Colorado, in the 1980's, after an eight-year absence. Jack has alienated the townspeople due to his past actions. His friend, Pat Arbuckle, the local newspaper editor, tells the sad story of Jack’s rise and fall.

I enjoyed the first half of this book. The author writes in a clear, crisp style. He maintains dramatic tension by creating curiosity to find out what could have gone so terribly wrong in Jack’s life. It is an indictment of the way our heroes are idolized, and the impact it can have on the psyche of those that buy into the hero worship. Unfortunately, the second half goes downhill, with one completely unrealistic major plot point and an ending I could not appreciate. This book seems to me like a long introduction to another more in-depth story, which remains untold. ( )

Haruf will always be one of my favorite writers. His characters are so human, all of his endings are true to life, not what you want, but what you should expect. ( )

WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED (1990) was Kent Haruf's third novel. (He only wrote six, and I've now read four of them.) The title at once brings to mind the Beatles' tune "Get Back," but I am unable to make any coherent connection to Haruf's story, unless it's simply that the central character, Jack Burdette, does indeed come back to his hometown of Holt, Colorado, several years after he had absconded with $150K of the townspeople's money, embezzled from the local co-op elevator that he was managing. That aside, WYOB, is a character-rich, compelling tale of a high school hero gone too soon to seed, who takes shameless advantage of the town and people who idolized him. Because Jack Burdette is an unprincipled, amoral bastard who takes and takes from those who admire and even love him. The narrator is his boyhood friend and classmate, Pat Arbuckle, who, as Holt's newspaper editor, bears witness to Burdette's perfidy, criminal activity and abandonment of his wife and children. Arbuckle, whose own marriage is in tatters, falls hard for the wife, and, well, you gotta read this book, okay? 'Cause it's really, really GOOD! The way Burdette capitalized on his athletic reputation and popularity, took what he wanted, and took off, also brought to mind Updike's Harry Angstrom of RABBIT, RUN. At considerably less than two hundred pages, WYOB is a quick read, but it leaves the reader with plenty to think about. My highest recommendation. (Two more Harufs left to read. I hope I can.)

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )