Some readers find that Brave, Young and Handsome is a poor man's cousin to Peace Like A River. The former is a book about faith, the latter about family. I wasn't ready to embrace a novel about the West and train robbers and the Pinkertons but somehow, along the journey, I found myself intrigued by Darlys Dafoe and Hood Roberts and Charles Siringo. I could have spent a little less time with Charles Siringo. The dude just would NOT go away.
More than anything, Enger does an AMAZING job giving voice to his storyteller. I felt that Monte Becket was a member of my family . . . I knew him so well. I found myself drawn to Glendon Hale's character most of all and kept wishing Monte would find him again in the story. At the same time, I wanted Monte to just go home already. I was frustrated by the long journey to find himself. I have to admit that I was shocked by the ending. I should have seen it coming. I really didn't.
My favorite passage is on page 271 when Susannah discovers that Monte has encountered grace. "You seemed afraid before you left - and now you don't." I do think that Monte Becket experienced a tremendous amount of growth throughout the book but then again who doesn't find happiness (at the end of the rainbow) on an orange grove in California? I mean, really . . . anyone could be happy there.
Interesting that "So Brave" is Leif's second book and it took seven years to create. In "So Brave," he describes "Peace" as a novel that was trashed for not being good enough. And Leif has stated in interviews that he read every sentence of his novels to his wife Robin during their inception. Just like Monte Becket shares with Susannah when he writes his 1000 words. You wonder how much of the novel and its themes are autobiographical.
Favorite quote - "Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic."
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