So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel Reviews

• Incredible Road Trip, Odd Grace

  
  By A1TXD4O7Z15FY4 on 2008-03-28
  Monte Becket should have been happy, with a doting wife, adventuresome little boy, and a place by the river. Not to mention a bestselling novel to his credit. But something's missing and he can't seem to write a second. Then Glendon Hale shows up--courtly, charming, talented, and a self-confessed rascal--a man who walked out on his wife, the love of his life, many years before. Now he envisions a quixotic journey of redemption--to find his lost wife and apologize--and he asks Monte to go with him. So begins the road trip to end all road trips. Monte gets in deeper than he ever expected, and soon runs afoul of Charles Siringo, the detective/bounty hunter who has been pursuing Glendon for many years. Will they ever find the long lost Mrs. Hale? Will Glendon receive forgiveness? Wlll Monte ever make it home again? Or will both men end up in jail? Or worse?
  
  Of course, I won't tell you what happens, only that this trip becomes longer, darker, and more costly than Monte could ever have dreamed. And that both men suffer and lose a lot, and that they end up touched by an odd kind of grace.
  
  Leif Enger is an amazing writer. He brings this improbable yarn to life so richly, so delightfully, that you keep turning the pages, want to or not. He has an absolutely stunning gift for making his characters real and this absurd adventure profoundly believable. I enjoyed Enger's first book--Peace Like A River--but this one is much better. You simply have to drop what you're doing and get a copy. Now. I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.
  
  

• A Throwback Romantic "Western"

  
  By A1RMHZSWZ7ZEQO on 2008-04-04
  First, I was not a big fan of "Peace Like a River" so I came to this with less than an open mind. I ended up truly enjoying it.
  
  The narrator is a postman turned author. He wrote a best-selling romantic action western. He quit the post office to become an author. Unfortunately, despite starting seven new novels, he can not duplicate his best-selling feat - few books get finished and none published.
  
  He then befriends a mysterious new neighbor and the fun begins. Although he can not write another romantic western, he lives it - or at least as close as one can during the Taft administration long after the west was won. All of the action comes from following the neighbor who, he comes to learn, has had a rollicking past. He then gets swept away by a charismatic Pinkerton detective and new adventures follow. All while romance in the old western style plays along.
  
  The writing is clean and crisp, although it dragged a bit in the middle (nothing to make you want to put the book down). The story is believeable as told, even if it does, purposely, have elements of the spaghetti western or dime western set in the 20th century. The premise of the western when the west is not only done but out of the public's imagination in favor of industrialization and urbanization is clever and amusing.
  
  The characters are terrific and memorable, particularly the neighbor. His past deeds are not revealed until the pair is on the road, and then it only comes out in bits and pieces. There are some very good supporting cast members who enhance the narrator's travels as well.
  
  This is a very enjoyable and amusing novel. There's a bit of Zane Gray, Don Quixote and Buffalo Bill all rolled into one and Enger makes the mixture work for a book easy to recommend.
  
  

• relatively amiable but pallid novel

  
  By AFN32PGTZ31MV on 2008-04-23
  So Brave isn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination. In some ways, it manages to be a good book. But it's mostly just pleasantly passable. It's that TV show you "watch" while you do your work, that kid you don't mind playing with when your best friends aren't around, that pizza you get because it's conveniently across the street as opposed to that really good place that takes so long to deliver. It doesn't really bore you or annoy you or make you swear off this particular author, but in the end you sort of wonder why you bothered with it and a few days later you've forgotten that you did.
  It opens with Monte Becket, an author whose never been able to recapture the spark of that first surprise hit novel about a Pony Express adventurer and who has just given up on his seventh failed attempt to do so, a fact he'll withhold for some time from his confident and supportive wife. As he sits on his dock, an odd apparition appears in the fog paddling a boat by the dock--his new neighbor Glendon, who builds boats and has a mysterious past. This meeting develops into a strange friendship that eventually leads to Monte joining Glendon on his quest to apologize to the wife he left long ago in Mexico, a quest that is quickly interrupted when Glendon is recognized as a notorious train robber. The two are split then rejoin as for reasons even unknown to himself Monte keeps following Glendon further West. Along the way he picks up with a young man who shifts from mechanic to cowboy to modern-day bandit/fugitive and an inspector Javier-like former Pinkerton--Charles Siringo who is tracking Glendon.
  There are several reasons the book is solid but unimpressive. The main one is quite simple; it just isn't all that compelling in either plot or character. Monte is relatively passive, always a dangerous trait for a narrator, and when he does act, it's almost always with a sense of numb bemusement or confusion. Glendon should be much more interesting than he is, but his relatively unexplored past and single-minded focus on apologizing makes him less than enthralling. Robert Hood, the young man, has potential, but at first he's not really a full character and when he starts to become one he goes off-stage and we hear about him third-hand. The only truly interesting character is Siringo, who doesn't appear for far too long. Things pick up when he's on the page, but that doesn't last long enough.
  The time setting, the cusp between horses and cars, old and new west, is touched upon, but again, too much is left on the table. And though they travel cross-country, it feels a bit like a stage set from Hollywood. And finally, the end devolves a bit into sentimentality, or at least, too much so for my liking.
  In the end, as mentioned, there isn't really much to dislike about the book (save one particular irksome way a character shrugs off an injury) but there also isn't much to really like. Either one would be an intensity of emotion the book just doesn't provoke. And so I can't really recommend it as there are so many other books out there that will provoke a strong (positive) response.
  
  
  

• siringo steals the show

  
  By A34ZMJ0W0206GQ on 2008-03-29
  The period from about 1890 to World War I was one of transition in the American West. There have been a number of fine books and movies about this transition, including The Wild Bunch, The Grey Fox, Days of Heaven, Heartland, Mari Sandoz' quintessential novel Slogum House, and Charles Siringo's A Cowboy Detective. Old-time gun hands may still be around, but life has passed them by. There are fabulous scenes in movies--such as in Wild Bunch where the gang talks about rumors of how people can fly, and in Grey Fox where Bill Minor is released from prison after many years, and finds that all the familiar things are gone. So Brave, Young, and Handsome is set in this same period, and two of the central figures are relics--one real (Charles Siringo), one fictional (Glendon Hale).
  
  There are four main characters in this book: Monte Becket, a writer who cannot recapture the essence and success of his first novel about a daring Pony Express rider and his adventures with Indians, Glendon Hale, who paddles past Becket's house, and later Hood Roberts, an ill-fated young man, and Charles Siringo, a 60-year-old former detective from the Pinkerton Agency. Siringo is the only one of these people who is non-fictional: his character in the book is drawn with a wonderfully rich detail and flair. I have the feeling that Enger found Siringo to be much more interesting than the other 3 main people, and Siringo certainly steals the show in the book. If I were assigning ratings to each character based on how well drawn that person is, I'd give Roberts 2 stars, Hale and Becket 3 stars each, and Siringo a solid 5 stars. Hale travels with Becket and sometimes Roberts as well: Siringo is chasing Hale, who the law has been after for many years. For much of the novel, Hale and Roberts are on the run, and Siringo travels after them with Becket in tow: this is by far the most enjoyable and best-written part of the novel.
  
  There are some elements which are almost surrealistic: the grizzled wiry Siringo is like a hellhound on Hale's trail, and seems to have an uncanny way of tracking Hale across thousands of miles. This same element was also present in Enger's previous work, the fine novel Peace Like a River, where the lawman relentlessly tracked Davy. So what you'll get here is a very good sense of time and place, of a land and life in transition, particularly so as Siringo and Becket drive into the small dusty towns in west Texas and New Mexico. The book may seem a bit slow at times when Siringo isn't present, but when Siringo is there, you get great storytelling.
  
  

• Meek - Mild - and meekly and mildly fun

  
  By A3G8L4U5W9XMEI on 2008-04-20
  Leif Enger's So Brave, Young, and Handsome is one of those books that you would like to like, but it just lacks the muscle and heft that is essential for a book set in the post-twilight of the American West. The story is told by its narrator and principle character. It is the very meekness of this character that works against the potential power of the story. He someone who is ceaselessly nice and always a little frightened of the new and dangerous world he tends to find himself. This mousy character acts as a drag to what would have been otherwise, a fun and engaging story.
  I also had the misfortune of reading this book just after finishing Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. One could not experience such a massive contrast in writing and approach between two authors dealing with "western" materials. Where McCarthy is allegorical, pretentious, sadistic, Enger is straight-forward, humble, and bloodless. Where McCarthy glorifies violence, Enger is terrified by it.
  In summary, this is a small work that makes for a generally fun read, but for me, it just failed to grab my imagination.
  
  
• Mysticism and charm of PEACE LIKE A RIVER are missing
  By A359U0JFFZ0Q04 on 2008-05-07
  Swede, the little girl in PEACE LIKE A RIVER who wrote Robert Service-inspired poems, made that book what it was. At the beginning of SO BRAVE, YOUNG, AND HANDSOME I thought we might be in store for another young hero in Redstart, the narrator's mischievous son, but he quickly disappears from the story.
  
  Another candidate for the Swede role was Hood Roberts, the young auto mechanic turned bronk-buster, turned outlaw, but just as we get to know him a little, he's gone as well.
  
  The closest we come to a compelling character is Charles Siringo, the former Pinkerton detective (Based on the real-life outlaw, Pinkerton detective and author). The narrator, author Monte Becket, befriends an old outlaw and boat-builder named Glendon Hale, and for some reason agrees to accompany him to California to apologize to Hale's former wife, Blue, whom he had deserted as a young man. About the only motivation Leif Enger supplies is that Becket is suffering from writers' block, and his wife urges him to go. Almost immediately a porter on the train recognizes Hale as a train robber who killed a man. Siringo, who has been tracking Hale for thirty years, is soon hot on Hale's trail.
  
  As far as I could tell, Hood Roberts, who accidentally kills a man during a brawl, is supposed to be a sort of alter-ego for Glendon Hale. He's in love with the idea of being a cowboy and is quite good at it until he breaks a man's neck defending a friend. Siringo takes a detour, shanghaiing Becket in the process, and begins to hunt Roberts down. Monte Becket takes a liking to Hood Roberts, mainly because he reminds him of his son Redstart, but Becket is such a milktoast the most he can come up with is firing a warning shot when Siringo has Hood and his Mexican girlfriend cornered.
  
  There are also parallels between Glendon Hale and Siringo. Both abandoned their lovers as young men. Both were outlaws at the Hole in the Wall, Butch Cassidy's hideout. The difference is that Hale still loves his wife; Siringo loves himself as his numerous memoirs show.
  
  Enger doesn't seem to know what kind of book he wants to write. Is it about redemption? Is it a quest novel? Is it a coming of age novel centering on Monte Becket? Apparently the title has to do with Glendon Hale, not Hood Roberts, as Hale never stops growing and has a sort of happy/unhappy resolution to his character arc. In case you're wondering about that title, it's from "The Cowboy's Lament" a song Enger loved as a child. And that's as close to the charm and mysticism we found in PEACE LIKE A RIVER as we're going to get.
  
  
• Autobiographical?
  By A13RB0U9EQ46KS on 2008-06-21
  I loved Leif Enger's first book, and was so excited to finally see the new novel. I put my other books aside and jumped right into So Brave, Young and Handsome. Maybe my anticipation is what led to my ultimate disappointment, but I couldn't separate the protagonist in the novel from the books author. Both wrote highly acclaimed and surprisingly successful debut novels, and while the book's main character was in the midst of struggling to write his sophomore effort, Leif Enger's second book seems to have risen from similar internal heartache. The story had promise at points, but ultimately it was so forgetful, that when a friend asked two days later what I'd been reading, I couldn't even remember.
  
  
• One is young, but none are brave or handsome
  By A2TC8FD170FC2Q on 2008-05-07
  I so wanted to like this book. I loved Peace Like a River, and with all the glowing reviews, I had high expectations for this one. So I kept on reading, expecting it to get better, even though I was not enjoying it. None of the main characters are sympathetic. It's a trite road story. The ending made no sense to me. I wish I had trusted my gut and bailed at about page 50.
  
  
• Plodding and Predictable
  By AAIL33CYCT47J on 2008-05-12
  At the beginning of Leif Enger's second novel, following the success of his debut, Peace Like a River, one must wonder how much of the plot of "So Brave, Young, and Handsome" was inspired by real life. In the beginning, you see, we meet Monte Becket, who has quit his job at the post office after publishing a surprisingly successful novel. Emboldened by success, Becket begins calling himself a writer and quickly agrees to write a follow-up novel for the publisher who is now eager to capitalize on his success, only to become crippled by a serious case of writer's block. His attempts to create something that will not only live up to his debut but surpass it feel weak and uninspired, leaving Becket to wonder if he actually has a second novel in him at all.
  
  Enter Glendon Hale, an outlaw who endears himself to the Becket family before deciding to head off for Mexico to make things right with the wife he abandoned years earlier. The deep friendship between Becket and Glendon is inexplicably instant, just one of many plot contrivances that the reader of "So Brave, Young, and Handsome" will have to shrug off in the course of the novel. That Becket is so terrified by the rut his new career is stuck in and what it could potentially mean for his family that he decides to follow Glendon to the ends of the earth if necessary is another. So off they go on a creaky-metaphor laden trip through the dying old west, caught in that perilous time where the modern age is still lingering on the horizon, threatening to take over everything that people like Becket and Glendon hold dear, and the old ways of life are steadily disappearing into the distance.
  
  Complicating matters is the almost instant arrival of Charles Siringo, a corrupt former Pinkerton whose desire for revenge on Glendon is only equaled by his desire to recapture his former glory. Also throwing a wrench into the works is Hood Roberts, a sweet young auto mechanic who hitches a ride with Glendon and Becket only to end up on the lam with a beautiful girl at his side (his jarring evolution from naïve wannabe-cowboy to in-too-deep-outlaw is yet another of those plot contrivances the reader will just have to shrug along with). And therein lies the ultimate problem with "So Brave, Young, and Handsome": its plot is nothing more than a series of forced twists and turns that never feels organic or realistic in any way. The metaphors that Enger utilizes feel obvious and hackneyed. Even his foreshadowing is contrived (a distant storm gathers in force and intensity - and just as it explodes rain and thunder all over our heroes - you guessed it! - Siringo shows up and the plot gets shaken up yet again!).
  
  All of which might have been more forgivable had the characters been more compelling, the plot been less plodding and contemplative (Enger's attempts at philosophical musings fall flat), and the final pages been less predictable. I have never read "Peace Like a River," and after this experience I would be very hesitant to do so.
  
  Grade: D
  
  
• Wonderful second novel from Enger
  By AVOCNUFOXUCA6 on 2008-04-28
  "So Brave, Young and Handsome" is a novel about three men who are none of these things - failed author Monte Becket (who is the least brave of the three), retired train robber Glendon Hale (no longer as young as he was), and aging detective Charles Siringo (not young or particularly handsome as the book proceeds). While they may not be brave, young and handsome, they are interesting and well-drawn characters, amiable companions during a novel of medium length.
  
  Like "Peace Like a River," a significant part of the novel takes place on the road, as Becket and Hale travel by boat, car, foot and horse from Minnesota to California, in search of the wife Hale hasn't seen in 30 years. They are pursued by Siringo, written as the classic tenacious and omniscient detective, Terminator-like in his dogged pursuit of Hale, the one who got away years ago. However, the pursuit is not the entirety of, nor the point of, the novel, nor is this an adventure or genre novel. At its core, it is the story of two men at the end of their lives, and a middle-aged man who is caught between them.
  
  While not as playful as, and without the supernatural elements of, "Peace Like a River," "So Brave, Young and Handsome" manages to deliver an interesting, literary story with a light touch. At times, I thought that Enger wrote Monte Becket as a quasi-autobiographical character, particularly in describing Becket's difficulty in following up his unexpectedly-popular first novel.
  
  Those who loved "Peace Like a River" will not be disappointed in "So Brave, Young and Handsome." Indeed, I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes good writing. You will be pleased with this even as a blind purchase. If you don't want to spend the money, seek this out at your local library. You will be glad you did.
  
  
• Is it autobiographical? Perhaps.
  By A1TWTULVD6F22O on 2008-06-21
  Generally, you're either a fan of Leif Enger's first novel, "Peace Like a River", or you hated it. Narrated through the eyes of a child, in the Midwest in the early 60's, "Peace" dabbled in religious mysticism. There's no denying, however, that "Peace Like a River" turned into a juggernaut. Having been picked at least 15 times as the subject for a "One Book Reading Promotion" subject, Enger's work of mystical redemption has been read by communities from Massachutsetts to Pasadena, California. An employee of Minnesota Public Radio (ah, to walk in the footprints of Garrison Keillor!), Enger gave birth to his first novel, which was published in 2001. To his amazement, the book became one of Time's top 5 novels of 2001, and Enger was drawn (reluctantly?) into the life of a full-time writer. It has taken 7 years for his sophomore effort to come to print.
  
  "So Brave, Young and Handsome" is almost an ironic twist on Enger's second cast of characters.
  
  In this book, narration is for adults, and the adult in question, is an author who used to be a postman and gave it up for the life of a full-time writer. Becket cannot seem to write a second novel, although he doesn't lack for trying. Since his success was in writing the western, when his neighbor Glendon Hale proposes a junket out west (in pre-WWI America), Monte Becket goes, with permission of his spouse. They are seeking the past love and abandoned wife of the mysterious Hale... by train, by riverboat, by car and on foot, the duo make their way to California to find out what happened to Glendon's love, to seek his redemption. Along the way, the book's best character, the ex-Detective Charles Siringo (straight out of the musings of Larry McMurty) begins his single-minded pursuit of Glendon, the crook who got away.
  
  Playing Sancho to Glendon's Don Quixote has its drawbacks, and the author takes a short but illuminating trip into what happens when the duo meets Hood Roberts - down on his luck and perhaps presented as Becket's own Sancho.
  
  I'm enamored of Enger's incorporation of Siringo, who is non-fictional, an author in his own right and a Pinkerton agent at this time in history, into the story. Siringo was a pioneer of the "undercover cop" method, and infiltrated the Butch Cassidy gang, later a pivotal character in why Butch and the Kid emigrated to Bolivia to avoid capture. Basing his writing on such a colorful real-life character seems to breathe life into a story that might have otherwise bogged down. Enger has a lighter touch in this novel than in "Peace" and the small ironies and joking moments that pierce the heart of his travelogue as he brings it to its hopeful ending, are much welcomed.
  
  You'll recognize the beauty of some of his prose, especially when surrounded by homespun simplicity that is the backdrop of Enger's Midwestern roots. Indeed, his prose is what makes this rather ordinary plot into a fine read:
  
  "You can't explain grace, anyway, especially when it arrives almost despite yourself. I didn't ask for it, yet somehow it breached and began to work. I suppose grace was pouring over Glendon, who had sought it so had, and some spilled down on me."
  
  With a worthy follow up to an amazing first novel, Leif Enger continues to show promise as a great American contemporary novelist.
  
  
  
• So Brave, Young and Handsome
  By A2F5YQN9UGS4BV on 2008-08-15
  I was so very disappointed with this novel. After reading Enger's debut novel, Peace Like a River, I had high expectations for his new work. Unfortunately, I found it to be a dull read. It was disjointed, the characters were not compelling and the fine craftsmanship evident in his initial novel were simply missing. I slogged my way through the book, hoping for the best, but it actually got worse as I continued. What an incredible disappointment!
  
  
• A Meandering Tale with Depth
  By AE61FFT0GUD2G on 2008-04-16
  Although this is not a book I normally would have bought, I enjoyed it tremendously. The story meanders across the country, and through the lives of the people involved. It recalls a simpler time, which is only enhanced by the author's use of period writing. While at first blush this is simply a story of the travels of several men, it has a deeper meaning that provides a dose of wisdom for all. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Yes, there is a country for old men...or old writers
  By A1ZCYC0RHTRMZF on 2008-04-25
  The author mentions "The Cowboy's Lament" in the afterword. I recommend listening to The Sons of the Pioneers The Essential Collection ( The Sons of The Pioneers) and Country Classics Country Classics, Vol. 2 when you read this poetic love letter to the Western.
  
  This book, like many of the finest stories, is about the quest for redemption. To the list of classic dusty-trail duos, Leif Enger adds the team of the anguished one-hit wonder author Monte Becket and the ex-train robber Glendon Hale (who travel in a Packard for much of the trip). In 1915 Minnesota, Monte lives a comfortable life with his wife and son, hiding his failed novels and his despair, at least until Glendon Hale rows into his life down the Cannon River. Glendon has a past and a wife he regrets abandoning. He seeks her forgiveness, and like most writers attempting to live up to past successes, Monte would rather brave pursuit by an ex-Pinkerton detective, a flood, a fire, and all the mythic obstacles any hero must confront --- after all, a shootout is less terrifying than a blank page, or several pages of prose that you know with dead certainty are going nowhere.
  
  The characters are wonderfully drawn, especially Glendon Hale, the antagonist Charles Siringo, Glendon's former wife Blue/Arandano (and her new husband Claudio), Monte's wife Susannah (who interestingly lacks a physical description other than the mention of an orange skirt) encourages him on this adventure rather than telling him to go back to work at the post office, Monte's son Redstart, and the enigmatic rogue youth Hood Roberts who aids and complicates Monte and Glendon's journey. Charles Siringo is a villain worth of Joel and Ethan Coen, crossed with Detective Javert.
  
  For people who found "No Country For Old Men" too intense, this is a delightful counterpoint and a moving story of love and friendship in a vanished age. Enger does a marvelous job of capturing early twentieth-century America.
  
  
• So Short, Quick, and Small.
  By AYGEP8I4BQ3CK on 2008-05-22
  First, I tried to read Enger's first book when it was out a few years ago and frankly couldn't get very far into it. The main problem was the fairly tired plot of the wrongly imprisoned. Still I approached "So Brave, Young, and Handsome" with an open mind. Even so I found it fairly easy, but insubstantial investment. It's the kind of book you read waiting for a plane because you have nothing else to do.
  
  The main character Beckett is an aspiring writer whose first book sold well, but he has had little luck with his second book. So much so that when he and his son befriend a neighbor, Glendon, with a dark past and this neighbor invites him west to find his long lost love, Becket needs only a little prodding from his wife to go.
  I have to wonder if Becket's character isn't based om Enger. After all Peace Like a River received so much attention, every book he writes will be compared to that one favorably or not. I found Beckett just mildly interesting and sometimes bordering upon being a flat character. He reminds me of Enger's fellow Minnesota writer/NPR celebrity Garrison Keillor, though less witty. This flatness can be said for many of the characters, especially as they come and go. The short chapters are strange, as if the actions and scenes didn't merit more description or the characters more thought. It also serves as a sly way to eat up pages, leaving many half full. I could live with these brief sections if the story was interesting. I felt that the chase had a stop and go quality that was regularly predictable and some of the encounters like the old circus were just to keep the plot from wrapping up too quickly and to make something, anything happen. If you want well developed, interesting characters, with a more complicated plot readers will have to look elsewhere.
  
  
• So brave, young, handsome AND BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  By A17RB4JE6VRH7X on 2008-06-29
  If you like inane tales where characters just pop up here and there and blah, blah, blah.....then go ahead, slog through it.
  
  
• What are they smoking?
  By AOXS6R1FIOAOX on 2008-07-01
  What are they smoking at those independent bookstores and households that raved over this? Enger's "Peace Like a River" is a great novel, without qualification. Mysticism aside, it has great characters and a narrative drive, to say nothing of E's wonderful prose, power of observation, and turn of a rural phrase. "So Brave" is well written and decorated here and there with a nutty phrase, but otherwise a limp dishrag of a novel, pocked with absurd coincidences, peopled by half-people, meandering in plot, and generally unnecessary as one of the failed manuscripts of its sappy protagonist. Oddly, it takes a turn for the better in the last ten-twenty pages. A gross disappointment.
  
  Robert Eisner
  NYTBR and elsewhere
  
  
• The Ultimate Wimp
  By A2DY6JBFJWK1GY on 2008-08-09
  This book starts out with the lure that action and drama will follow. It is interesting and eloquent. Then, at about page 140, it flat-lines, as in dies. The character who narrates the story becomes boring, letting people treat him like dirt for...whatever reason. He's a wimp, I guess. He just can't defend himself, even verbally. The eloquence becomes tiring, just a bunch of strained metaphors. Coincidences occur, seemingly in an effort to juice up the story. It never gets juiced. It drags along for another 150 pages, to an unpredictable but uninteresting ending.
  
  
• time between times
  By A2AC6GQ24S45GA on 2008-04-10
  "I said, 'Most men never have the chance to be both things at once, the hero and the devil.'
  
  'That is ignorant. Most men are hero and devil. All men. That is what ruins it with wives.'
  
  'She wanted just the hero?'
  
  'Bad men or good she would've had me either way. She couldn't endure both, however. She said to pick one and to be that thing only so that she might trust me until the day of Jesus.'"
  
  There is a perspective in some ancient cultures about in-between places and times. Dawn and dusk, which lie between night and day. The seashore, that lies between water and land. Halloween, that time in which the spirit world and the physical world are perilously close. During these moments, in these places, it is both and neither all at once, indistinct and undefined. So too human life encounters these moments in identity. People are often caught in this nebulous middle, seeming one thing and another all at once. Sometimes this is being caught between their actions and their ideals, or their sin and their virtue. They are half-people of a sort, unrealized and unformed, without an identity of their own.
  
  Some stay in this place their whole lives, never becoming, and never discovering themselves for who they really are. Others cast off from the dock, refusing to settle any longer for what was, and yet not yet knowing who they can or should be. It is a journey of becoming a whole person.
  
  So Brave, Young, and Handsome is this story told of three primary characters, with a few others thrown in along the way. It is a road story telling of a physical journey that brings out the metaphysical of each of the characters, but not in a mushy, spiritualistic, heavy-laden way. And that's what is so brilliant about the book. It's not philosophy. It's a great tale in the tradition of great American writers from decades past.
  
  This is a book about in between times and in between people drawn with immense clarity and insight, while retaining a direct and sparse prose. Enger tells us of an era and certain characters, a story not a message. It is in this story, however, that we see so much of real life as it so often is: in between.
  
  We are between the old and the new, the good and the bad, the honest and the false, the artist and the laborer, the young and the aged, the adventurous an the prosaic. The characters hope, but don't know how to find this hope. What they do is carry on, having tasted something of who they know themselves to be they won't let themselves go back. As Enger says in his acknowledgments, "Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic."
  
  What I like so much about Enger's work is that it is so hopeful. Absolutely honest, mind you, there's no false hope to be found here or sentimentalism seeking to manipulate our emotions. These are real people, faults and all. But unlike so much contemporary literature and film Enger doesn't feel a need to obsess with corruption or ruin. His is a book that shows people who are not handsome, or young, and rarely brave. But they want to be, and be such in ways that matter to them, not to others around them. They are seeking wholeness for themselves.
  
  Not all succeed. Some do, but not in the expected ways.
  
  "For at the same time he lost everything--the very direction of his own steps--he won the thing he held so precious he wouldn't approach it in words."
  
  It is a story of real life. Not gritty, corrupted, malformed caricatures. Real people, or at least characters who are desperate to become real people, who learn what it is to be a real person.
  
  With all this depth and insight it might sound ponderous. But it's not. It's very gentle and easy-going. It moves along at a varied pace, with enough movement to never seem tiresome and enough twists to never seem predictable. My only slight irritation is that sometimes Enger jumps ahead a bit and is so eager to bring a slight twist that he breaks the moment with unnecessary foreshadowing, sort of a "you'll love what comes next!" moments. I wish he just let us experience the story as it happened a bit more. But this is a minor qualm and he does even this within the contexts of a fitting narration.
  
  It's a brilliant book, in craft and theme and insight. It's the best work of contemporary fiction I've read in a very long time and guess it will be my favorite book of 2008.
  
  
  
• Excellent Follow Up To PEACE LIKE A RIVER
  By A2ZHH7AK83JB5G on 2008-04-16
  I really liked PEACE LIKE A RIVER and was thrilled when Amazon gave me a chance to read and review Leif Enger's new novel SO BRAVE, YOUNG AND HANDSOME before its publication date. I'm not usually a big reader of adventure type novels but this one really is superior and Enger is remarkable in capturing the style of writers like Zane Grey (albeit with much better plotting, description and characterization than those old dime novelists) in this well researched novel. The language of the novel is often deliberately old fashioned creating a major part of the novel's charm though the well developed characters (especially our narrator, Monte, an author of one successful novel suffering from a serious case of writer's block ) are what I will remember about the book. And as a former Oklahoma resident who is very fond of the remarkable but little known history of that unique state I really like the portion of the story that is set at the legendary "Hundred and One" ranch in Ponca City. Though this book is enjoyable for all ages I highly recommend it especially for older readers who grew up with this style of novel.
  
  
• A Turn-of-the-Century Original
  By A1CHM200OEN65X on 2008-04-23
  The mere thought of another Leif Enger novel had me salivating from the time I caught wind of it. "Peace Like a River" was a book of beauty, miracles, and finely wrought characters. What would Mr. Enger come up with this time?
  
  To his credit, Enger makes little attempt to recreate a similar magic, and instead stirs up a new sort of story that stands on its own two feet. Monte Becket, an author floundering through his second novel, finds himself caught up in a life of adventure when he hightails it with a local mystery man named Glen Dobie. He soon discovers Dobie's criminal past, and runs headlong into Dobie's nemesis, a detective intent on bringing the old man to justice. Along the way, Glen and Monte meet kindhearted souls and unsavory characters. They learn more about themselves and the landscape of 1915 America that is beginning to change around them.
  
  With Monte as our guileless narrator, it's hard not to be swept along in this book that borrows mood and tone from Miguel de Cervantes, Mark Twain, and Rick Bragg, yet never dips into imitation or forgery. This is a turn-of-the-century original, a story full of memorable people and believable motives, even when bordering on the verge of tall tale. Who can read "So Brave, Young, and Handsome" and not be caught up in the plight of Glen Dobie, or Jack Waits, or Hood Roberts? Who could ever like--or truly dislike--the fiery Siringo?
  
  If you're looking for pulse-pounding adventure, this may not be for you, but there's something immensely readable and even fast-paced in the unfurling of this story. Enger imbues each chapter with his wit, wisdom, and hints of grace. If I'm ever to go tilting windmills, I may request Mr. Leif Enger to ride alongside.
  
  
  
• If Jesus Were A Cowboy, He'd Wear A Black Hat
  By A139ZF7CJVVTJU on 2008-05-17
  If you know anything about Leif Enger, then you know that his first book, Peace Like a River, is a deeply spiritual journal of a family torn apart by revenge, regret, and the sometimes painful steps required for redemption. Filled with wild west sentimentality, and narrated with a genuinely funny and bittersweet simplicity, it is, in all ways, just a really really really good book. It won several awards, was on numerous bestseller lists, and I believe a movie version is slated for release next year (starring Billy Bob Thornton).
  
  Seven years later...
  
  Funny thing, the protagonist of SO BRAVE, novelist Monte Becket, also wrote a hugely popular book (MARTIN BLIGH), but, five years later, doesn't have a clue how to follow it up. He sits on his porch, encouraged by his well-meaning and precocious son and prodded by his lovely wife, as he brings to limping life seven different novels, only to cut them dead before they prove him to be, in fact, a one-hit wonder.
  
  Into his crumbling writer career floats Glendon Hale, an outlaw who has aged into obscurity, although not far enough in to escape the eyes of the law or the regrets of his past. When Hale befriends the Becket family and then decides to go on a journey to make right the wounds he created with his banditry, Monte comes along for the ride. One man is hoping to heal his history; the other man is trying to find a true path to his future.
  
  I want to compare SO BRAVE to Enger's wonderful first book, but I won't. It's easy to read between the lines and see that Enger, here, is worried about such comparisons proving to be unfavorable. I will say if you haven't read PEACE LIKE A RIVER, then you should wait, and read it second.
  
  Because SO BRAVE is a great book. Enger's uncanny ability to make the narration spool out with a dusky, western drawl is addictive. You may find yourself speaking to friends with a cowboy's twang after reading just a few of this book's very thin chapters. He certainly paints a vivid and absorbing world.
  
  The story, however, needs some reins. Enger, as evidenced by both books, seems to have a soft-spot in his heart for the well-meaning fugitive. For an author who unflinchingly wears his religion on his sleeve, it is interesting to see that the characters he seems to love the most are the ones who have the most to regret. Much like Jesus, who was his own kind of criminal in the days of the Saducees, Enger's heroes flaunt their world's laws, butting heads with convention in the hope of finding truth and salvation. Maybe not with as much selflessness as Jesus, though.
  
  As a result, SO BRAVE reads a lot like a grown man's HUCK FINN. Two lost souls (one with their mistakes behind, one looking at a world of mistakes ahead) float down rivers, jump off moving trains, get into high noon shoot-outs, and even endure a flood. It's an adventurous novel, but without adventure's sobering scope. Instead, Enger has given us a daisy chain of clever and creative events; some of them contribute to the novel's themes. Some of them are just fun or funny. Some of them (like the last five chapters), seem like giant, necessary anchors, dragging the whole thing to a creeping crawl. Even though the final chapters only take up about 14 pages of writing, and even though they are concisely used to tie up loose ends, it felt to me like Enger simply couldn't conceive of a way to bring the rest of the book's free-spirited aura into the events that were needed to bring it all to a satisfying close.
  
  In spite of this, I closed the cover with the bittersweet feeling that all great books impart. A delicious sense of closure, coupled by a sadness that the journey is over. Enger is a fantastic writer, and his sophomore effort only proves that he still has a lot left in him. Here's hoping both he and Monte find the words they need to keep the stories coming. And faster this time, Enger. Faster.
  
  
• A Fine and Galloping Tale
  By A2KWFYFNRO2EOJ on 2008-06-21
  This book is narrated by one Monte Becket, who sounds like Wallace Stegner, Mark Twain, and Gabby Hayes at different points in this wonderful adventure.
  
  As Monte takes off with the somewhat dubious character, Glendon, Monte rolls into more trouble than he has ever dreamed up in his one-hit wonder of a fiction career.
  
  All manner of swindlers, desperados, sweet ladies, and troublesome, dear animals, not to mention a dogged detective, come their way as Monte and Glendon traverse the US by river, on foot, on horseback, and in broken-down cars.
  
  "The willing suspension of disbelief" is required, but toss your cynical self aside and enjoy.
  
  This is my favorite sentence by the talented Leif Enger: "Death arrived easy as the train; [he] just climbed aboard, like the capable traveler he was." (amended to prevent a spoiler)
  
  It's a terrific book. When was the last time you found sympathy for a snapping turtle?
  
  
• Gilead Meets Huckleberry Finn
  By A1VWSR1H2Y67UD on 2008-07-10
  Monte Beckett used to be a postman. Now he's an author, with one famous adventure novel behind him and seven stalled sophomore attempts balled up and dead at various stages. His plan seemed wise: one thousand words a day, no matter what. The page count is dwindling though; so is the Beckett's money.
  
  What does not wane is the faith of Beckett's beautiful artist wife, the curiosity of his young son, Redstart or the intrigue of Glendon Hale, the strange neighbor who rows his boat standing up. When Redstart befriends Hale and invites him to dinner, Beckett is drawn to the man too. A boat maker by trade, Hale has some secrets of his own and a nagging guilt about leaving his wife, Blue, years before. This guilt and the consent of Beckett's loving wife, set the two men off on an adventure that will change everything--but not as quickly as they hope.
  
  Once on the train, Hale is recognized by the porter as a train robber. Beckett's new friend recommends the author return home and he jumps off the train. An unlikely adventurer, Beckett finds himself under the eyes of the law and an aging Pinkerton agent, Charles Siringo. When his path crosses with Glendon again, Beckett leaves his clothes and for a time his life to commit totally to a journey of redemption with a man who has spent his life running from justice.
  
  Beckett meets up with a brave turtle, wily outlaws, a wannabe cowboy, a dead actor, a flooded horseranch, kidnap by an old man in a rackety Packard, pursuit of a young outlaw en route to catch an old one and the shaking of his faith in everything noble and good. In the end though, a community is birthed from his efforts and justice and beauty bring what he'd forgotten to expect--one beautiful sentence from his pen.
  
  
• Heroism -- Patience, Curiosity, and a Refusal to Panic
  By A33H0WC9MI8OVW on 2008-04-06
  Monte Becket, a postman, writer of a Western adventure, a husband and father, has just about run out of words. His is a settled life, living vicariously through the protagonists of his one successful novel and string of attempted novels. He has run out of fresh ideas, stalled churning out words, yet no stories.
  
  Along comes a mysterious man rowing a boat, standing up, on a misty river. Monte is intrigued and befriends the reclusive Glendon Hale who starts coming over for dinner, and one night, reveals that he once had a wife, and he wishes to seek her out to ask her forgiveness. Glendon thinks she is in Mexico, and asks Monte to come along. Surprisingly enough, Monte's wife agrees to let him go, and off they go, on a roadtrip through the fading old West.
  
  The trip starts out ordinarily enough, until Glendon is recognized on the train by a porter. What he did not tell Becket is that he is an outlaw, wanted for many train robberies and even a murder. Becket gets drawn into helping Glendon escape the authorities, and in the process starts to experience life in all its fullblown color.
  
  As Glendon runs from one officer, slips away from another, Becket starts to worry what he has gotten into. Along the way, they befriend an accidental outlaw, meet up with a kaleidoscope of characters at the old Hundred and One, a ranch with circuses, shows and even a movie studio, and reacquaint with several of Glendon's old friends, meeting a relative of Glendon's wife who tells him where she is. But hounding them all the way is Charlie Siringo, a dogged, determined and renegade Pinkerton, whose death defying appearances trail Glendon (or Glen Dobie) like a haunting conscience.
  
  Glendon's ability to slip away and disappear in a spectral second leaves Monte Becket to be trapped by Charlie Siringo. The endless road turns into a horror for Becket. How does he extricate himself?
  
  The answer is in Leif Enger's definition of Heroism as patience, curiosity and a refusal to panic. Monte Becket, an ordinary man caught up in bewildering circumstances, yet keeping his peace, learns about life and more importantly himself, as he tries to survive and extricate himself from Siringo's clutches.
  
  Oh, and Glendon wins his ex-wife back too, but not by how you'd expect. Since I'm not going to tell you, I reckon you should go out and buy the book. I'm sure you'll enjoy the story and all the twists will keep you intrigued, curious and refreshed.
  
  
• How You Define a Family
  By A27OF4C6D2IMVD on 2008-04-13
  Peace Like a River, Enger's first novel, had simple, elegant writing and a believable, suspenseful plot that set the author loping comfortably between the literary buttes of Larry McMurtry and John Steinbeck. River felt like a classic before you were halfway through the book. So Brave, Young, and Handsome is set at the same pace, and holds to the same style of writing, and if that process seems now too easily reproduced, or too wash worn to stun us at second sight, the casualness of this appearance holds only until you strike upon a sentence remarkable for its strong characterization, and gracefully evocative of its captured time and place.
  
  If River was a book about faith, So Brave is a novel of family. But themes center also on that great western trope of identity, as defined by family, by action, by location, happenstance, and also by lie. Characters are carefully cast and perfectly named: Hood Roberts, Jack Waits, and Glendon Hale are born in the mind the moment you hear their names. The heart of the novel lay, as with all great stories, with its women, and though held to the perimeter for much of the story, is the their presence - Blue's, Susannah Becket's - that casts a horizon toward which all the men march.
  
  The only regret you'll have is that there are too few pages for characters so rich. But thankfully books like this are not chocolate; they are not a taste from which a person really ever grows sick.
  
  
• Review of So Brave, Young, and Handsome
  By A1IL6W1NK05UW9 on 2008-04-13
  Monte Becket is a former postman who hits it big with a one hit wonder of a novel. He seems to be living an idyllic life with a wife he clearly adores, a precocious son, and a nice house on a river. But he is unable to write another novel and there is clearly something he yearns for, but isn't quite sure what. Then along comes Glendon Hale, who turns out to be on the lam, and who Becket is strangely drawn to and befriends. Hale sticks around a while but decides he must go back to apologize to the wife he loved and abandoned decades ago, and suddenly springs the idea on Becket that he should accompany him on his travels from the bucolic Minnesota setting to California. Set in the early 1900's and the end of the "wild west" era, this sets off an unforgettable journey for Becket that completely changes his life. Along the way Beckett and Hale run into Charles Siringo, a former Pinkerton agent who has a long history with Hale and is determined to catch him. A series of unexpected events turns the trip into an unforgettable journey.
  
  This novel is very well written with a wry, witty sense of humor. Becket and Hale make unforgettable characters, as does Hood Roberts, a young lad of mysterious origin who they befriend on the way. The author deftly and subtly creates unique, compelling, conflicted, introspective characters and does so through their actions instead of boring us with long descriptions of their inner lives that so many authors must revert to. And the road trip that Beckett and Hale embark on has many twists and turns which keeps the reader turning the pages. The only thing that has be scratching my head about this novel is the title, which doesn't seem to fit too well with the story itself.
  
  Overall, this was enjoyable and well written novel and one I recommend.
  
  
• Fantastic book, a great read for anyone
  By A23GY2BFXCYHSD on 2008-04-15
  I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of this book. The characters were well developed, the plot moved steadily along and the ending well wrapped up. In fact, I can't think of a single portion of this book that I would change, given the opportunity and that's rare. It was a welcome relief to get such an amazing read after the past few disasters I've received from Vine.
  
  I'm looking forward to reading it again and will probably loan it around as well.
  
  
• The Redemption of Glendon Hale
  By A1N5FSCYN4796F on 2008-04-15
  Leif Enger has produced a fine novel of adventure and redemption. The story centers around a failed writer, Monte Becket, who joins up with an aging outlaw, Glendon Hale. After years on the run, Glendon sets out on a journey from Minnesota that will lead south through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas then west to California. Monte leaves his wife and son for what is supposed to be a six week journey to accompany Glendon on his quest for forgiveness from his own wife, Blue whom he abandoned some twenty years before. As you could imagine, it wouldn't be much of an adventure without the simple plan coming unraveled. Shortly into their trek, the ex-Pinkerton, Charles Siringo picks up their trail, and the story takes various twists and turns until reaching its climax on an orange grove in Southern California.
  
  The story moves at a quick pace as it is broken down into six major sections: A Thousand a Day, The Old Desperate, Jack Waits, The Hundred and One, The Fiery Siringo, and The Rarotongans. Each section is made up of chapters that average 4-5 pages making this a book that is very easy to read in spurts. Enger uses a good balance of dialog and description so that neither grows tiresome. His writing style is clean and upbeat. Even the "bad guys" and the darker parts of the story are presented in a very accessible way. Enger romanticizes the early 20th century in a way that made me long for the simpler times in which the story unfolds. Finally, the novel is also free of foul language, sex, and gratuitous violence.
  
  Enger does an overall good job of character development. Glendon is very believable as the repentant outlaw while Siringo is striking as the lawman that bends the law to serve his purpose when necessary. The remaining characters are pretty well done with the exception of Monte. He vacillates between a weak, timid doormat and a decisive risk taker; however, this really only struck me at a few specific points in the novel rather than being a nagging problem that runs throughout the entire novel.
  
  All in all, this is a nice, clean story of adventure and redemption. While I had not heard of Leif Enger prior, I intend to pick up his debut novel, Peace Like a River, to see how it compares.
  
  
• Unlikely friendship + wild adventure = great read!
  By A17GTGSS2E5QN0 on 2008-04-16
  What starts out as an unlikely friendship...a man standing up in a boat, passing by another man and his son...turns out to be a well-written tale about a camaraderie that develops as this adventure unfolds.
  
  Monte Becket is a writer who has given up his postal job to write because his first book did so well. He has started and stopped on seven different novels, but none really take.
  
  Instead, this man in the boat (Glendon) piques his curiosity, and he (Monte) follows him down the river. When his son invites Glendon to dinner again and again, Monte gets a bit more of a glimpse into this boat maker's life.
  
  Twenty years previous Glendon left the love of his life in Mexico, where he had met her and settled down with her. Recently, he has been plagued by dreams where she beckons to him, and Glendon feels he needs a sense of redemption from the whole situation.
  
  He decides to go down to Mexico to see her and invites Monte along. Although Monte struggles with being away from his family for 6 weeks, he likes the sound of the adventure in Mexico. With support from his wife, he is soon joining Glendon on this train journey.
  
  No sooner do they start on their train ride, then the waiter recognizes Glendon, and says that he must inform the police officers on this train.
  
  Glendon says he's been a free man, but this waiter has an obligation to fulfill. The news reporter who has started to tag along Monte and Glendon has eyes wide with excitement, but Monte doesn't have any information to give. Glendon jumps off the train before their next stop in Kansas City, and Monte is forced to tell the police officer on the train what he knows, which is little information at all.
  
  Through a funny twist of events, both Monte and Glendon meet up, again involving a river and a boat. For the second time, Monte follows Glendon down the river and this is where their real adventures begin.
  
  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I loved the way the story wound around these two men's lives and connected them. The ending was a treat, and I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a beach read or a curl-up-in-bed read.
  
  
  

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