'So Brave, Young, and Handsome' is a journey of redemption

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By VICKI S. REYNOLDS / Lincoln Journal Star

(“So Brave, Young, and Handsome,” by Leif Enger, Atlantic Monthly Press, 285 pages, $24).

Those who read Leif Enger’s first novel, “Peace Like a River,” won’t be surprised to learn that his second, “So Brave, Young, and Handsome,” is another rich, lyrical story with a touch of the romance of the Old West.

Set just before the United States entered World War I, “So Brave” is narrated by author Monte Becket, for whom it has been five years since his first novel caught the public’s imagination. But Monte now is in the hopeless throes of an endless writer’s block, so when he sees a man rowing down the river one day — standing up in a skiff — his imagination is fired.

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He and his family soon befriend the erstwhile oarsman, Glendon Hale. Hale, it turns out, is a former outlaw — a “wanted article,” as he eventually tells Monte — who likes to make boats. But, decades before, he had abandoned his beloved wife in Mexico when the federales came after him.

Now Hale wants to seek out his wife in California and make his apologies, and he tries to talk Monte into accompanying him. Monte, who has been feeling as if he is disappearing, agrees, and the two set out.

However, Hale is recognized on the train west as a fugitive, and a police detective is tipped off to his presence. Hale leaps from the train, leaving Monte to deal with the policeman. But Monte soon meets up with Hale again, and the two continue on their journey of redemption, absolution and rebirth.

Along the way, they meet some colorful characters, including a 16-year-old boy who has a hankering to be a cowboy and a vicious, vainglorious and brutal Pinkerton agent.

Enger is at his best when writing of these characters and their interactions with each other. And the man sure knows how to turn a phrase. For example, in describing his horror of prison, Hale tells Monte that “a jail ain’t nothing but a collection of corners.” Monte, speaking of a woman whose forte lies in asking probing questions, says “she could squeeze a conversation to its rind.”

Enger also presents a discerning picture of a weak man trying to make good and a good man dealing with his weaknesses.

Readers fond of “Peace Like a River” will very much enjoy this tale of redemption sought and a journey made steeped in the romance of the Old West in the time just before its sentiments and precepts were changed forever.

And you’re never sure along the way just how it’s all going to end. As Enger said in an interview: “Part of the beauty of the Western myth is that it offers no guarantee — you might get a happy ending, or you might get a rattlesnake in your blanket.”

Reach Vicki S. Reynolds at 473-7322 or vreynolds@journalstar.com.