So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel by
Leif EngerMy review
rating: 2 of 5 stars
I really wanted to like this book. I just really didn't. It has nothing to do with Leif Enger as a writer. His elegant prose is just stunning. I just really didn't like the story.
The novel follows the travels of two men from Minnesota via Texas and then onto to California in the early 1900s. Monte is trying to escape his troubles since he has a wife and kid, and he's been lying to them for five years about writing a novel that isn't happening. Dobie is going to apologize for leaving his love since he had to run away from her because the fuzz found him and he used to be a train robber. Along the way, they run into a Javert-like character and pick up a nightmare kid.
Now which one of those characters are you going to root for?
Also, there is something about the way Enger has used women in
Peace Like a River and this book that really bugs me. They are either MIA, act like men, are ugly, or act pathetic. (We must not also forget there has to be a good cinnamon roll baking woman in there too.) There is actually one female character in this book I liked. However, it took me 240 of the 272 pages to finally meet her.
I'm not sure why I kept at it. It helped that each chapter is only 4 pages long. Still, I wish Enger would write something more...well, different.