|
|
Executive Times |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2008 Book Reviews |
|||
|
|
So Brave,
Young and Handsome by Leif Enger |
|||
|
Rating: |
*** |
|||
|
|
(Recommended) |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Click
on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Journey Leif
Enger enters perilous territory in his second novel, So Brave,
Young and Handsome. First, he’s writing a Western, set in 1915, and opens
himself up for comparison to a host of writers of classic westerns. Second,
he sets up the plot as a journey, and opens himself for comparison to the
host of literary works that entail a protagonist on a journey. Enger holds up
well to all comparisons: he’s written a classic Western in a fine literary
style, and the journey entails enlightenment into character and human
behavior. His characters are complex and well-developed, the dialogue is
realistic, and his descriptive prose places readers into settings that are
well-drawn. Here’s an excerpt, pp. 8-9: We didn't see our tipsy oarsman
for weeks I'd have forgotten him entirely if Redstart hadn't kept bringing
him up. "I bet he's a vagabond. Clive says they get a vagabond at the
door every week." Clive Hawkins was Redstart's
most stalwart friend. The two of them would spit on their hands and shake.
They were presently in agreement that vagabonds were the most alluring terror
locally available. "Vagabonds don't have
rowboats," I pointed out. "He might be a new
strain," Redstart said. "He might've stole that boat just before we
saw him. He was laughing about something, remember?" "Maybe he recalled a good
joke," I said —I am one of those people who can never remember a joke,
on the rare occasion I feel like telling one. "That wasn't a joke laugh.
It was a pleased laugh. He was pleased by something clever he'd done. He
probably stole that boat. Any vagabond would be happy to have a boat, after
walking for weeks and weeks." "Well, Red," said I,
but on he plunged into the imagined joys and dangers of the life unfettered.
What could I do but watch him talk? We'd named him for the vigorous
passerines so plentiful in the yard the day he was born, but there was never
a songbird as energetic as Redstart. One
evening he returned from a long ride on Chief, his oversized gelding. He'd
been gone since morning not unusual for that boy. He strolled into the house
hungry and self-important with a whippy weal on one cheek from galloping
through the trees. "Well,
I found the old boatman," he announced, as though it had been
Livingstone. "I went down to the river so Chief could drink and I could
swim, and here he came rowing. Standing up like before. He almost fell over.
His name is Glendon and he lives in a barn." "You
talked to him?" "Yes
sir I did." "Was
Glendon sober?" asked Susannah. She was at work on a painting—we never
thought she was listening while standing intent at her easel, but she always
was. "He
might of been," said Redstart, in a vague way. His
mother looked at him. "You kept your distance, I expect." I said,
"Well, let's have it. Is he a tramp, as you believed?" "No. He
makes boats. He made that boat he's always standing up
in. He lived in Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas and in Mexico by the
Sea of Cortez. He's coming here for breakfast tomorrow." It
was a fair haul of information. I was proud of Redstart.
"Breakfast?" said Susannah. "That's
right," said Redstart, "so you both get to meet him. I guess it's a
good thing I went riding today!" Susannah
set down her brush and came around the easel. She had a little stab of
burgundy on one cheek like a warning. "Did he agree to come for breakfast,
Red? Did he say he's coming?" "No,"
said Redstart, who ignored warnings of all kinds. "But I told him to
come, so I expect he will." "Unless
he resists being ordered about by fractious infants," I suggested. But
Redstart was adamant. "He told me his name. He didn't want to say it,
but I tricked him and out it came. You know what happens, once you get a
person's name." "Nope," I replied. "You'll
have to tell me." "Why,
then you have power over him," said Redstart. In So Brave,
Young and Handsome, writer Monte Becket can’t quite get a second novel out
of himself, so when a stranger, the criminal Glendon Hale, comes to town and
says he wants to head to Mexico to find his lost love, Monte is ready for an
adventure, and tags along. On their journey, they are tracked by Pinkerton
detective Charlie Siringo, who has been after Hale for years, and wants to
apprehend him. Enger’s story touches on many emotions, especially the power
of love. So Brave
Young and Handsome is a finely written novel that brings pleasure to many
readers. Steve
Hopkins, June 20, 2008 |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
Go to Executive Times Archives |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the July 2008 issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/So Brave Young and Handsome.htm For Reprint Permission, Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
