Cover Image: Virgil Wander

Virgil Wander

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Virgil Wander lives in Greenstone, Minnesota, a town that has seen better days. Jobs are scarce and the residents who remain are barely hanging on. Virgil owns the Empress Theater, a place where the sale of 5 tickets is a big night. He is a reserved man who is profoundly changed when his car plunges into Lake Superior and he suffers a brain injury. When he is released from the hospital, his apartment and even his clothes seem unfamiliar in many ways, almost as if he has been brought home to the wrong place. He struggles with his memory and words(especially adjectives)elude him.
Things change dramatically when he meets a kite flying stranger named Rune. Rune has come to Greenstone to meet the son he never knew he had and is devastated to learn that he vanished many years ago and is presumed dead. But Rune's kites, seem magical as those who fly them feel a sense of joy. Virgil and Rune become friends and not only does Virgil begin to heal, he also starts to see his town and himself in a different way. There were so many quirky characters in Greenstone and each one had me laughing at their actions at times and feeling sympathy for what they had suffered.
There were many aspects I enjoyed about Virgil Wander. The author described Greenstone in such wonderful detail that I felt as though I was in this fading town. I could picture the abandoned buildings and sense the failure that was waiting around every corner. I could feel the string in my hand as well as the childlike joy of flying a kite. I wasn't furiously flipping pages and I didn't stay up all night to finish. I savored a few chapters at a time and thought about the author's words before reading more. It is my first Leif Enger book and I thought his writing style was pure magic.
I received an ARC from Grove Atlantic through NetGalley.

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I read "Peace like a River" a long time ago and really enjoyed the writing so I was excited to see Enger had a new book (what took him so long?!). This book did not disappoint. The writing is simple, but beautiful. Set in a small Minnesota town past it's glory days, the story follows Virgil Wander as he recovers from an accident and discovers that life can and will continue to surprise you. The characters are well developed and there's a little bit of mystery to keep things interesting.

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This book delivered what it promised - a book about a character in a small town who had a life-changing experience. What made it a book I would recommend is the way the author placed this character in a town full of people who were also trying to survive their own life-changing experiences. The various layers of feelings explored by the author were initially presented as complex, but ultimately simple in nature. What I got from this book - sometimes life is only as complicated as you make it.

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3.5
This book reminded me so much on books by Richard Russo and Fredrick Backman. It's one of the books you either love or find boring, just because it's not about the style, which always is beautiful, but the story and whether or not you relate to the main character. It either grabs you or it doesn't. For me it was 50:50 but I don't think that counts: this is a book everyone has to give a try and make up their own mind because I'm pretty sure it's a gem for many, many readers.
And now I go looking for Enger's first and so high-praised book!
Thanks to the publisher for providing a free copy and make me aware of another amazing author.

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Virgil Wander is a wonderful character (starting with his name!) Well-plotted and engaging - I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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It started so well, with a nice premise and wonderful writing. However the story just seem to lose its drive and direction very quickly, so much felt plodding and flat after about 4 chapters in.

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Thanks to the publisher and Net galley for the review copy.
I loved this book for the reason I love Jan karon books for the quirky characters and the charming town.
It felt a lot like the town I grew up in and a warm hug from a loving aunt.

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“During my brief theological misery, Orry sent me a Western Union telegram saying, “Existence is great but don’t read so much into it.”’

Virgil Wander begins when the title character is released from the hospital following a dramatic car accident and traumatic brain injury. Virgil is mostly ok, all things considered, but he’s lost his adjectives and begins to feel like a stranger in his own home. Thus begins his journey through his life, small eccentric town, and the quirky characters in it.

‘“Wander—what a name. It’s almost a calling. You’ve had some adventures, with a name like that.”’

I love this quote, because Virgil teaches us that adventure awaits us, even if you don’t stray far from home. True adventure lies in new experience, falling in love, and discovering the depths of the humans you share your existence with. To have it you only have to change your perspective.

I loved so many things about this book, and I’ve clearly missed the boat not having read Leif Enger’s other novels (a faux pas I will be fixing soon). Mr. Enger’s writing is poetry in motion. This novel demands that we feel more, deepen our relationships, and change our perspective to look beneath the surface.

Also posted on Instagram @NovelNotes

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Once again Leif Enger has delivered. Beautifully and evocatively written, Enger tells the story of Virgil, a man whose life - and his perception of his reality - changes after a near death experience. Despite this leaving him feeling more alone, his changed circumstances bring him closer to friends old and new, and changes that are put in motion provide a place of healing for an entire town. It was exactly what I look for in a book - I couldn't read it fast enough, and I never wanted it to end.

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Thank You Net Galley for the free ARC.
I loved Peace like a River and this takes me back to that in writing style. Virgil has a concussion and though his slightly off-kilter view we see the town he lives in and help in solving the mystery of the disappearance of Rune's son. Typical for Enger in the description and backstories of the denizens in this small town, which is why I like his writing.

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Writing: 5+ Story: 5 Characters: 5

A wonderful book — perfect for fans of Kent Haruf, Ivan Doig, and Wallace Stegner. I hope that it is nominated for (and wins!) the Pulitzer Prize. It is that good.

The story takes place in Greenstone, Minnesota — a fading town in the Northern wilds of Minnesota, near Lake Superior. It is the story of the fading town, the fading men in it, and the opportunity of redemption and resurrection for both. While there are strong, interesting, female characters as well, the real focus is on the men — not the stereotype of men, but real individuals at different stages of life with their own internal struggles and desires. I loved the insight into each and every one of these characters.

Virgil Wander, the eponymous protagonist, is a fading man himself. He describes himself as “a Midwestern male cruising at medium altitude, aspiring vaguely to decency, contributing to PBS, moderate in all things including romantic forays, and doing unto others more or less reciprocally.” He runs the town’s Majestic theater — badly in need of a new roof and a more significant audience. The story opens when his car takes a dive off a bridge and he sails into the frigid water. Rescued by happenstance, he is a teetering, tottering, slightly damaged version of himself. He doesn’t recognize his clothes, has trouble finding the right words, and has inexplicably lost his fear of speaking up. He has become “impervious to sarcasm.”

It is full of wonderful characters such as Rune, a kite-flying, pixie of an elderly man from Tromso, who arrives to find out more about the son he never knew he had; Tom Beaman, the Samoan journalist and owner of the local paper (and Genghis, a pet raccoon); Shad Pea, an elderly fisherman with a wife in care and a disturbed son; Nadine and her son Bjorn, the wife and son of the missing Alec Sandstrom, and Adam Leer, son of the town’s original founder who made good in Hollywood, but has somehow come to embody all that is negative in the town — a smiling predator.

The language is beautiful — the description of places, people, and the things that are important to them (fishing, kite-flying, baseball) is suffused with a kind of magic that captures their very essence in just a few choice words. Every page is delightful with both despair and hope somehow tangled together.

Great lines:

“Yet it was also true he had a headful of spiders which woke now and then and altered his personal scenery.”

“It was disconcerting to think it might’ve shown itself at last, only to be swaddled in the bubble-wrap of concussion.”

“What I suddenly missed as Bjorn talked away, was the easy arrival of interests. Of obsessions.”

“ He had the heartening bulk of the aging athlete defeated by pastry”

“His gentle baritone came at me like elbows.”

“Within weeks certain prodigal words started filtering home. They came one at a time or in shy small groups.”

“He had a hundred merry crinkles at his eyes and a long-haul sadness in his shoulders.”

“I appear briefly as a ‘sun-deprived projectionist’ with ‘a degree of forbearance approaching perpetual defeat.’ “

“It’s never been hard for me to fall in love, a quality that has yet to simplify one single day of my life.”

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Leif Enger is a damn fine writer and I’m glad he’s written this book, because it’s been 10 years since his last one. A small town on the shore of Lake Superior in upper Minnesota is peopled with unforgettable characters, including the title protagonist, all wounded but most hardy, and a plot line that’s both true and imaginative simultaneously. I miss Greenstone already.

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This character driven book, set in northern Minnesota, is good for fans of A Man Called Ove. When the story starts, Virgil Wander has just survived a life-threatening car accident and is just beginning to mend. We meet the different townspeople who all aid in his recovery as he works to reconnect with his life and to move forward in a more meaningful way.

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This book touched me in a way that surprised me. As I first began reading I felt felt disjointed and a little confused, but then clarity set it. I believe that was the intention of the author. Virgil's car goes over a cliff into frigid Lake Superior, but he is rescued. The trauma to his body was relatively minor in comparison to what could have happened. He is more concerned with his decreased vocabulary. He finds himself searching for adjectives and is dis-satisfied with his ability to retrieve them as needed. So starts Virgil's recovery. As the story proceeds, my confusion receded, and as the story advances, Virgil's vocabulary and clarity increase. I fell a little in love with Virgil and the quirky characters of Greenstone, MN.

If I had to assign a theme or genre to this novel I am not sure I could. It is the story of life in a dying, small town in the upper mid-west. The characters are unique, yet hearty, not ready to throw in the towel and abandon their sleepy town where nothing much happens. There is a mystery around Mr. Leer and how those who come in contact with him suffer tragically. There is budding romance, teen angst, and every day life and living. As I was reading I was reminded of Larry McMurtury's book Texasville (a book I truly adore); Dwayne and Virgil seem cut from the same cloth. It's a whole lot of living told in small details and all about the small moments that make up lives. It's a story of how we get caught up in something we never meant to happen, but also, how tragedy and loss can be turned around and how life can be a miracle all in itself.

I loved this book. I really did not want it to end. I am so grateful to Net Galley and Grove Press for the opportunity to read this book in advance. I have never read Leif Enger's books, but look forward to reading more. Thank you for this delightful book! #VirgilWander #NetGalley

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It’s been ten years since his last book, but Leif Enger fans won’t be disappointed in this character-driven novel set in a small Minnesota town. Virgil Wander is recovering from a traumatic brain injury received when he and his car went over a cliff. Wander is rescued from Lake Superior by—appropriately enough—the local salvage man. The injury led to some altered brain function for Wander, including some lost memories. Wander, who owns the local movie theater where he occasionally hosts private showings from his secret—probably illegal—stash of classics, gets help putting his life back together from an assortment eccentric characters. Enger’s depiction of a down-on-its-luck midwestern town is warm and funny and full of heart.

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Author's note: This review will appear online and in print in (Boone, NC) Mountain Times on Oct. 4, 2018:

Virgil Wander has lost the ability to modify his life, and for a man whose foundation is built on a staid lack of modification, that could be damning, indeed.

Before Virgil — the hero of Leif Enger’s tremendous new book, “Virgil Wander: A novel” (Grove Press) — plunges off the road and into icy Lake Superior, his life is on modification control, or as he describes it, “cruising along at medium altitude.”

After the accident, and after being plucked from the water by an unlikely savior who had no real reason, given the weather, for being where he was when he was, Virgil can no longer mentally form adjectives. While such a fate easily could be dooming to the protagonist of a novel, it becomes a running theme that Enger exploits beautifully. Because Virgil has to work so hard to find the right words to describe the small Midwestern town he inhabits, they are always spot-on, perfect descriptors.

In fact, part of the sheer joy of this book — Enger’s first in a decade, and only the second since his prize-winning book-of-the-year “Peace Like a River” — is reading the author’s gift for language and metaphor.

In the small town of Greenstone, Minn., there is a “bright hungry woman,” a “big specimen with translucent fuzz on his cheeks and Christmas yearning in his eyes,” a man with the “heartening bulk of the aging athlete defeated by pastry.”

That the author can gift us with throwaway lines such as “this he stated in a flattened voice like a wall hastily built to conceal ruins” or “my houseguest was an Arctic kite flyer who called up the wind like a take-out pizza” suggest the well is deep.

And, it is.

Just as deep is Enger’s story. Virgil, a city clerk cum movie theater owner and operator, is surrounded by characters who would feel most at home in a Roy Clarke novel. Largely downtrodden and dejected, Greenstone, as Virgil describes, is “filled with people who could make you sad just by strolling into view.” More telling, the narrator posits, “I realized I was one of them.”

For some it is lack of opportunity, for others simple bad luck compounded by bad choices. For Virgil, it is inertia. As he tells us, for someone of his name, he’s stayed an awful long time in the same place.

Yet, it is only amidst the broken that healing is necessary — or achievable. So it is, here: A colorful cast of characters complemented by the quotidian pleasures of small town life conspire to charm, welcome and teach us in that age-old way, through a story.

The lesson? There are so many, so lovingly given, but centering on this: “Don’t let anyone tell you that looking out for your vulnerable is less than a full-time deal. … The surface of everything is thinner than we know. A person can fall right through, without any warning at all.”

So, be warned. You will fall for Virgil and the others who bring Greenstone to life. You will learn to look at things differently — differently in the way only a person who has no words to describe them must look.

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A charming story of lives and loves, lost and found in a hard luck Midwestern town. With endearing characters and beautiful, unhurried writing, this novel, the author's first in ten years, is well worth the wait.

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Some books are page turners just to get to the end, some are just so good you can’t wait to get back to them, and then the mysteries you hurry to find the answers, but some are the special ones that you just need to sit back, relax, enjoy and take it in. This is that special kind of book by Leif Enger, it’s a wonderful ride to a little Midwestern town. We get to meet Virgil Wander, he’s had a life changing event, and then we meet a whole bunch of other characters that all have special stories that touch us. It’s like coming home to your home town. Everyone knows everyone else and they all get along for better or worse.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story, the writing is excellent, the storyline draws you in and you come to care about almost all of the characters. The descriptions are great, you can picture the Buick down in the bottom of the lake, the bicycle that has replaced it, the Audi that is dragging the ground and the movie theatre.
If you want a fast paced murder mystery this book is not for you, but if you want a story that will stay with you and you just want to actually sit back and read a well written novel to remind us of why we read in the first place, this one is for you. I loved it. Another great book by Leif Enger.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Grove Atlantic/Grove Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This one gets 5*****’s. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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This is a beautiful book that tells the story of a small town and the people in it. I loved it and hope the author doesn't wait another ten years to write a book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review of it.

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This is small town America. Gone are the days of busy main streets, today main street is mostly empty. Leif Enger brings us the people that remained as the town declined and they are characters. He wraps them around the town and tells their stories, weaving them together until you feel like you are there.

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