Virgil Wander

Virgil Wander should be dead. In fact, rumor has it that he did die when his car sailed through a retaining wall in a blizzard, ending up in the churning icy waters of Lake Superior. In reality, he was saved by the unlikely presence and courage of a local salvage yard operator who fished him out of his sinking Pontiac. The incident has left Virgil concussed and disoriented, at a loss for adjectives, and more than a little accident-prone. It has also, understandably, changed his outlook on life considerably. Virgil, and his hometown of Greenstone, Minnesota, both seem headed toward a vague and pointless future until Rune Eliasson, an old Norwegian with mad kite-designing skills, shows up looking for information about a man who show more disappeared years ago. This novel is full of slightly off-plumb characters, at least one of whom is utterly creepy in an unfathomable way. It took me a little while to get invested in them, but once I did, I couldn't stop hoping for a happy ending for most of them. It also made me a little ashamed of complaining about NE PA winters... show less

“I made a fist and held it out. It didn't look like much—not like a fist anyone would count on for protection. If war came seeking a person I loved, that undernourished fist was not going to be enough. I would have to put my whole body in the way”

“A person never knows what is next--I don't anyway. The surface of everything is thinner than we know. A person can fall right through, without any warning at all.”

Virgil Wander is the owner of a movie theater, in Greenstone MN, on the banks of Lake Superior. He is an amiable bachelor and long-time resident. After his car went into a skid and he plunged into the frigid lake, he is rescued, (a virtual miracle) and while he recovers, starts seeing his world in a whole new way. This show more coincides with his meeting with a kite-flying stranger, from Norway, who is searching for his long-lost son. They bond immediately and Virgil begins a new chapter in his life.
It has been nearly twenty years since Enger broke on the scene with, Peace Like a River, (which I adored) and then followed it up with, So Brave, Young and Handsome (which I have not read) and we had not heard from him since. Well, he sure came back like gangbusters, with this one. The writing is beautiful and the characters, leap off the page. Think of Richard Russo, based in the upper Midwest, but with a tad more warmth and a touch of magic. Highly recommended. show less

Audiobook performed by MacLeod Andrews.

The title character, Virgil Wander, is a small-town cinema owner (and town clerk), who survives an accident on a snowy night when his car breaks through a barrier and “flies” off a bridge into frigid Lake Superior. When he awakes in the hospital, he’s told he has some “minor brain injury” and his memory is somewhat affected. Slowly he begins to piece together his personal history, as well as that of the town in which he lives – a former mining town, now struggling along after one hard-luck event after another. He’s helped – or hindered – in his recovery by a cast of interesting people: among them the town beauty Nadine, an old Norwegian who constructs and flies elaborate kites, a show more young boy after a legendary giant sturgeon, a depressed handyman who never seems to have the tools he needs, and a prodigal son returned to town with big-city connections and plans to revive the town’s economy.

I love character-driven novels and this one perfectly fits the bill. I love Enger’s way with words, the way he paints the landscape and draws his characters who so perfectly fit the scenario he gives us. Enger’s town is small, but the people in it are larger than life. There is a spirituality, or mysticism about Enger’s story-telling that captures my attention as well. In his recovery, Virgil spends a lot of time thinking and reflecting – on life, on the town, on love, on death, on friendship. He feels he is a changed man and refers to his pre-accident self as “the previous tenant.” Virgil seems to be more open now – to possibilities, to enjoying life, to finding love.

There are moments of humor and tenderness, and some evil and tragedy as well. All the elements of any life – the life of a person or of a town. However, the overall feeling is one of hope and resilience and of looking forward to the future, whatever it may bring.

MacLeod Andrews does a marvelous job performing the audio edition. He uses a Minnesota accent that sounds spot on to this Wisconsin resident. show less

I didn't know what to expect when I started this novel, and happily it turned out to check off all my boxes: small town, quirky characters, family and community, an ironic and humorous narrator, a little intrigue, and a feel-good story. This is a well-written book that took me to a woebegone small town and introduced me to a variety of distinctive residents, all seen through the slightly skewed lens of the likable yet eccentric Virgil Wander. I enjoyed the element of magic realism that increased the depth and meaning of this brilliant novel, which includes a memorable theme of redemption.

I discovered Leif Enger's first book, Peace Like A River on the bargain table outside the discount bookshop that used to be in the same mall as a cinema I ran, and it soon became one of my all-time favourite books. I sought out other books by the author, but there did not seem to be any. Until ten years later, Virgil Wander appeared on bookstore shelves.

You better believe I snapped up a copy as soon as I saw it. Especially when I discovered Virgil lives above a fading and failing movie theatre.

Set in a small midwestern town, Virgil Wander begins with its titular protagonist being rescued from the frigid waters of Lake Superior after his car plunges from a bridge. Concussed, Virgil has problems with speech and memory even after he goes show more home from the hospital. Because of this, the narrative has a slightly dream-like, fractured quality. We're never quite sure what Virgil is actually experiencing, and what might be the result of his damaged brain.

So when a kite-flying stranger shows up in town to try and discover that happened to his missing son, we're not sure if he is real.

The book features an eccentric cast of characters that reminded me somewhat of the residents of Fannie Flag's Elmwood Springs. Like that fictional town, this one is also fading and down at the heels, the population largely aging as the younger people depart for opportunities in bigger, more exciting locales. The people here are stoic and survive the best they can, but can't help reminiscing about the days in which the town thrived and grew.

It is a town more accustomed to people leaving, than those arriving, so when Rune arrives with his kites and zest for life, and the wealthy film producer whose house has long stood abandoned both turn up, the community begins to feel the whisper of change and new life.

I really enjoyed this book despite the fact it's very quiet. The characters are delightful and so well drawn I felt like they could be my neighbors by the end of it. It would be so easy to make fun of these simple people and their simple lives, but Enger has such obvious affection for them that it's impossible to.

I would definitely recommend this one. show less

VIRGIL WANDER is about inhabitants of Greenstone, Minnesota and about Greenstone, itself, narrated by Virgil Wander. While it is a novel, I wouldn’t call it so much a story as stories about each character. I usually give this type of construction a poor review, but in the hands of Leif Enger, it shines. His writing is delightful. There is no better adjective. And you’ll see the store Virgil Wander puts in good adjectives.

VIRGIL WANDER begins with Virgil’s accident, when he and his car end up in Lake Superior. From there he gives example upon example of how this has made him a changed person. You’ll delight in his descriptions of the “new" Virgil Wander's interactions with the people of Greenstone and in each one of their stories.

I thoroughly enjoyed this quiet, rich book about characters in Greenstone, a small dying mining town not far from Lake Superior, told in first person POV by Virgil Wander, a man approaching middle age. It reminds me a bit in tone of A MAN CALLED OVE, though Virgil is more cheerful and almost childlike at times in his openness to the world and to others. One day Virgil drives his car off the road, to find himself rescued but with a concussion that has changed him. He runs the old movie theater, the Empress (made me think of that movie, *Cinema Paradiso*), where he still plays films from reels. The characters are carefully drawn, unusual and interesting--Rune, the man who flies kites and is in search of the truth about his missing son show more Alec; Nadine, the beauty for whom Virgil has carried a torch for years, based on a flawed memory; the teenage boys Bjorn and Galen who do the weird things we expect of teenage boys. One strong point of this book was, for me, the nuanced and delicate language, the perfect turns of phrase. Sentences are never as powerful when taken out of context, but here are a few of the many I underlined: "For more than twenty years I'd felt at home, in my home. Now I stood weirdly slack in the middle of my kitchen ... The evidence of my life lay before me, and I was unconvinced." "I moved here largely because of the inland sea ... Who could resist that wide throw of horizon, the columns of morning steam?" "He had a hundred merry crinkles at his eyes and a long-haul sadness in his shoulders." "A scatter of sparrows surfed along in the torrent, dipped and spun, and were gone." I was sorry to have this book end. show less