I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enter has taken the top spot on my list of favorites this year. The writing is so good, fluid and muscular and perfectly paced. The story takes place in a not-too-distant period of our currently declining world, and we are given just enough of the new-world building to carry us into this story of one man’s quest to regain a lost love. I love that Lake Superior figures so prominently in the story, is in reality a character, and the mystery of this inland sea colors every word. There are some brutal scenes, some hard-to-take attitudes and actions, but they are more than compensated for with Rainy’s huge, good heart. A favorite quote from the novel says “Words are one way we leave tracks in the world,” and Enger’s tracks are ones I follow eagerly.

I'm sure this book is great, it's just not for me.
The title and cover of the book immediately caught my eye, and when I read the description, I was even more hooked. It's about a man sailing a sentient lake and surviving dangers untold in search of his wife. I was so excited to read this which is why I'm so sad that the writing style just wasn't for me, meaning that, despite my best efforts, I couldn't get too far into the book.
Lark's character feels very 2D. Her character felt somewhat incomplete. We learned things that she liked but didn't really get a sense of her motivations as a character. If you take away Rainier, she doesn't feel like her own separate character.
I really enjoyed the start of the book—reading the book title, and then moving to the title of the chapter and then the first line, I could feel my smile growing and growing—but the way Rainier talked about Lark in the second chapter made it hard to read. I stopped partway through the third chapter because of the way Rainier and Kellan were interacting. Character interactions are a key part of many books. If the characters act in weird or unnatural ways, it becomes somewhat offputting.
I really wished I enjoyed the characters more because I really loved where the plot was going.

Leif Enger does a great job in writing this novel, it had everything that I was looking for in the description. I enjoyed how good the characters worked in the story and in the genre. It had a great story that was told.

A great human story that takes place sometime in the future when things have gone horribly
wrong in America. A mournful musician sets sail looking for his dead wife in a world tuned
upside down and the people good and bad he meets along the way. Just an excellent book.

The story opens in the town of Icebridge on the shores of Lake Superior, somewhere northeast of Duluth. It is set in a dystopian future where there is a wealthy class that cares little for others, except as they may prove useful. The necessary details gradually unfold, but the larger world is mostly ignored.

The story is told to us by Rainy, a large and mostly gentle man who loves his wife Lark, books, and his bass guitar.

Most of the beginning of the novel is about a life that is, given the circumstances, rather idyllic. But then a stranger comes to town who is befriended by Rainy and Lark.

This leads to tragedies that force Rainy to leave Icebridge, as he tries to find someone or something that may not even exist.

Enger’s prose is wonderful. It is descriptive and lyrical, and it is as good as any found in his previous novels: Peace Like a River (2000), So Brave, Young and Handsome (2008), and my favorite Virgil Wander (2018).

Four favorite quotes from this novel:
• Nothing sinks your spirit like your own cruelty.
• Words are one way we leave tracks in the world
• The best futures are unforeseen
• Maybe it was just how she stood there silent in full view like something from an ancient story none of them knew yet each somehow remembered.

Simply put, this book is about a man who's trying to find someone he'd lost, encountering unexpected things and people along the way, after having to go away from a place that can be considered a small pocket of goodness in a world that is quickly unraveling.

This book takes place in the not so distant future, in various places around Lake Superior. I like how the worldbuilding is vague, not a lot is explained about the hows and whys of the current state of the world, because they're not necessary information.

I also liked the story's peaceful beginning, which doesn't really have a strong hook, but i kept reading anyway, partly because of the beautifully lyrical prose, and also because of the main character and one of the side characters, both are written really compellingly, which I can't really say about the other characters.

I think the ending of the book is one that might seem anticlimactic to some, but it fits really well. However, a lot of the things between the great beginning and end of the book left much to be desired, or maybe I'm just not the target audience of the book. The middle part of the story often felt aimless, with wandering plot lines that don't seem to go anywhere. Which causes the book to feel much longer than it actually is. I just kept reading because of the prose mostly. In a similar way, a lot of the side characters just don't feel very real so it's difficult for me to connect to them.

I can see why people would love this book, but I'm certainly not among them, if you're looking for a more low key dystopian read with slow pacing and well written prose, you should consider picking up this one.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel — so much so — I immediately re-read “Peace Like A River” (listened to the audiobook this time around).
Not being able to get enough of Leif Enger …. (in the same way I feel about Wallace Stegner)….
I then read “So Brave, Young and Handsome”.
Having also read “Virgil Wander” too, I noticed the audiobook is free right now to Audible members. Lucky us! Lucky me!
So — I plan to have a second ‘listen’ to “Virgil Wander” again too.

I finished “I Cheerfully Refuse” (don’t you just love the title?/!) weeks ago ….
I never take this long to write a review— but I was still so busy reading or listening to everything *Leif Enger* …. sharing about his books with friends …. I had actually (almost) forgotten to write one.

Here’s the thing…. If you like Leif Enger’s other books — you certainly will this one too!!
Enger does a ‘brilliant’ job of showing us the affects his characters have on other people. Plus … his storytelling,
vision, descriptive writing,
tragedy, adventure, is so engaging from the start, I was in ‘cozy-reading-heaven’ — excited and fascinated to see where this novel would take us.
….It’s full of love, kindness, and humanity.
….The characters are rich, complex and plausible.
….The prose is marvelous.
….Our narrator (Rainy) is a big bear of wonderful splendorous.
….So….
….those unfamiliar with Enger, settle in and get ready for a human drama told at an easygoing unrushed pace.
….It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year ….
(I feel desire - ‘but’ am ‘leery’ of sharing too much).
I went in blind as I deeply trusted the author. Enger, not only didn’t disappoint— he outdid himself!

So rather than say more — I’ll share a few excerpts (out of context) -but enough - to ‘tease’. 🤗

“Sometimes, I just disremember, he said, ever since my injury. He held his ruined hand up in the light to glint”.
“I didn’t buy it, but once you begin excusing someone, it’s easy to continue”.

“In one sequence, during a three-song set where the blues evolve to balladry then exuberant rock ‘n’ roll, I had the briefest glimpse of us launching the old sailboat on a day when the sea had put away her crown of lightning, and I startled the band by laughing into a live mic, a sudden soft bark. I laugh when I am happy and getting home that night I laughed again, for Lark was waiting up to show me a series of sketches Kellan had done that evening—of people he’d seen on the pier, of thirsty Grabo and looming Apeknuckle, which Lark giggled over, even though she felt bad about his knee, and finally one of Lark herself, a fine-lined sketch in variegated ink, light sepia at the edges darkening to coffee. He’d captured her joy and untamable hair, and even the scarlet grandeur of her cheekbone birthmark—it had a gentle S curve like a river glyph. Some saw the mark as a flaw or deformity but Kellan obviously loved it as I did”.

“Lark said, Sometimes your friends choose you”.

“People say, happiness is overrated, but Lark and I were happy and I don’t think it is”.

“It’s taken all my life to learn protection is a promise you can’t make. It sounds absolute, and you mean it, and believe it, but that vow is provisional and makeshift, and no God ever lived, who could keep it half the time”.

Every sentence, every word, every paragraph, every page, every tale and experience . . . was vividly felt.

It was with a bit of trepidation that I first began “I Cheerfully Refuse.” Nowadays, fiction that takes place in a not too distant and broken future can hit me quite fiercely, leaving me simultaneously impressed by quality writing yet also in a funk from a dystopian or even semi-dystopian narrative.

I was spared from such an experience here in part due to Enger’s decision to set his tale out on the margins of this imagined future. There’s enough information provided in the narrative to give one a decent sense of what’s become of the United States, but overall the world I encountered is a rather limited, almost intimate place centered around Lake Superior. It was helpful in that it kept me from being overwhelmed by the state of this fictional world.

However, what was admittedly much more helpful, and what in fact made this book shine brightly, is the humanity that anchors the core of “I Cheerfully Refuse.” The grand majority of the heart is shouldered by its first-person protagonist, Rainy. But he’s no mere single light in the dark - kindness, generosity, resilience, and more can be found in others all throughout, and often in honestly surprising places. So much so in fact that as I write this, I find myself questioning my initial descriptions of this book dystopian. But whereas that aspect of the book is very much in question, what isn’t debatable (at least in my opinion) is this - “I Cheerfully Refuse” is a remarkably spirit-lifting read.

This novel sees our narrator Rainy taking to the water in a boat after the death of his wife – pursued by his grief and nefarious individuals. Set in a declining world the novel features themes of survival and the role of art.
Generally, I somewhat enjoyed this novel. It was an interesting premise that I feel did not quite work out. It was very readable and digestible but I had some issues.

The prose was nice - lyrical but readable, strong but not flashy. I enjoyed the first 30% of the novel and found the scene setting of a declining world to be effective and not too obvious. This section of the novel is more slice of life which I generally enjoyed, allowing the reader to be slowly immersed in the world.

This novel has my least favourite literary trope of all time – violently killing a women for cheap emotion and as impetus for a man’s journey. This was a particularly egregious example – it was not softened or subverted in any way. This is a tired, lazy, misogynistic trope that I would be happy to never read again. Before her death, I found Lark flat which may be a factor of the narration – she seemed to mostly exist as an extension of Rainy. I found Sol’s characterization to be similar.

The novel was very generous to the narrator and it was easy to like the narrative voice, almost a little too easy. Then novel seemed to be going out of its way to make Rainy endearing in a way that occasionally strained. I also couldn’t shake the feeling that the plot was straining to hit narrative beats.

What I keep coming back to in this novel is that it felt unnatural and mostly focused on forcing an emotional reaction. Themes were introduced but not explored with great depth.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.