Leif Enger

I read this for a local book club. Enger is a major name in Minnesota literature, and I was glad to have an excuse to pick up this debut of his, right as his new release is getting a lot of buzz. I must say--dang, this man can write. The Land family is mesmerizing in their complexity. The book is dark and sinister yet profoundly hopeful, ardently Christian yet not the sort to ever be marketed in a Christian bookstore. The main character is Reuben Land, an 11-year-old asthmatic, the middle child in a loving family that features an honorable, religious father who performs the occasional miracle, an older brother who is sometimes too ancient and callous for a teenager, and a younger sister, Swede, who I adore for her precocious, obsessive western-themed poetry. When older brother Davey defends the family against home invaders, he flees from the American justice system, and the family soon sets off in pursuit. The mood of the book is, at times, dream-like and weird, not tidy at all, and the end is not something that can be predicted.

I would love to read more of Enger's work and absorb some of his mastery of prose.… (more)

Set in a not-too-distant future marked by climate change, lawlessness, and corruption and governed by a dictatorial ruling class known as the astronauts, Rainy, a musician, and his beloved wife, Lark, a bookstore owner, live on the shore of Lake Superior until she is murdered. Rainy, in his grief, sets sail in an old sailboat partly to escape the perpetrators but also in the hope of finding Lark’s spirit. In his journey, he confronts severe storms, extreme evil and violence but he also finds friendship and hope along the way.

I Cheerfully Refuse by Lief Enger is a beautifully written dystopian tale full of contrasts between the beauty of the landscape and the horrors he encounters on shore, between the kindness of some of the characters he meets and the shocking cruelty of others and all written in lyrical prose. At times, the tale feels like a wild adventure and, at other times, like a fairy tale wonderfully told. This is not always an easy story - there are suicides, references to paedophilia, lynchings - but, in the end, there is hope. I listened to the audiobook narrated by David Aaron Baker who does an absolutely wonderful job of conveying the beauty and lyricism of Enger’s prose.

Thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for an audiobook of this novel in exchange for an honest review… (more)