So Brave, Young, and Handsome: A Novel
by Leif Enger
Book Summary Information
Author: Leif EngerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-08
ISBN: 0802144179
Number of pages: 286
Publisher: Grove Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780802144171
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of So Brave, Young, and Handsome: A Novel
Book Review: On the road with the last of the Old West
Summary: 5 Stars
"That is how you want to be remembered, my friends. Take a picture in your moment of conquest, when your luck is high and bullets still bounce off. That will do for the ages." - Monte Becket
Monte Becket lives with wife and young son in rural Minnesota along the Cannon River during the second decade of the 20th century. To date, Becket's one claim to wealth and fame is his wildly popular pulp Western, MARTIN BLIGH. His publisher wants more, but, lately, Monte's muse has failed him. Becket is drifting and anticipating failure as a writer, husband and father. Then one day, out of the fog on the river, a white-haired old man paddles his boat past. Enter into Monte's life boat-builder Glendon Hale, formerly Glen Dobie of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang.
Hale was once married to a Mexican girl named Blue. But, sought by the Federales, Glendon deserted her never to return. Now, years later, he desires to go back and apologize to the woman he truly loved. He invites Monte to accompany him on the journey, and the latter, fearing the stagnation in his life, accepts. Along the way appears Charles Siringo, also once of the Hole-in-the-Wall, but now a self-anointed lawman of some legend, mostly constructed from books that he himself has written. Charles, now an old man himself, is in relentless pursuit of Glen Dobie for past crimes.
SO BRAVE, YOUNG AND HANDSOME is a coming-of-maturation story by Leif Enger. Its characterizations and narrative pace are reminiscent of Larry McMurtry's novels of the West, e.g. the superlative Lonesome Dove. Here, Becket rediscovers not only himself and the talents within, but also learns something about the nature of honor, friendship, love and public fame.
In the McMurtry style, the plot of Enger's book doesn't evolve to a climactic and dramatic ending. Rather, random and relatively mundane events accumulate over time to give meaning to the protagonist's life, much as they do in the real lives of you and me. Enger's writing talent enables him to tell his tale with sympathy for each of the characters and a keen eye for the story's time and place. What results is not a thriller in the popular sense, but still a book that I couldn't put down. Like Lonesome Dove [1989], it could translate to an intelligent and absorbing film of high emotional impact.
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