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    So Brave, Young and Handsome
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    So Brave, Young and Handsome
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    So Brave, Young and Handsome
    Audiobook8 hours

    So Brave, Young and Handsome

    Written by Leif Enger

    Narrated by Dan Woren

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    One of Time magazine's top-five novels of the year and a New York Times bestseller, Leif Enger's first novel, Peace Like a River, captured readers' hearts around the nation. His new novel is a stunning successor–a touching, nimble, and rugged story of an aging train robber on a quest to reconcile the claims of love and judgment on his life, and the failed writer who goes with him.

    In 1915 Minnesota, Monte Becket has lost his sense of purpose. His only success long behind him, Monte lives a simple life with his loving wife and whipsmart son. But when he befriends outlaw Glendon Hale, a new world of opportunity and experience presents itself.

    Glendon has spent years in obscurity, but the guilt he harbors for abandoning his wife, Blue, over two decades ago, has finally lured him from hiding. As the modern age marches swiftly forward, Glendon aims to travel back into his past–heading to California to seek Blue's forgiveness. Beguiled and inspired, Monte soon finds himself leaving behind his own family to embark for the unruly West with his fugitive guide–a journey that will test the depth of his loyalties, the inviolability of his morals, and the strength of his resolve. As they flee from the relentless Charles Siringo, an ex-Pinkerton who's been hunting Glendon for years, Monte falls ever further from his family and the law, to be tempered by a fiery adventure from which he may never get home.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 22, 2008
    ISBN9780739369234
    Author

    Leif Enger

    Leif Enger was raised in Osakis, Minnesota and has worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio since 1984. He lives on a farm in Minnesota with his wife and two sons.

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    Reviews for So Brave, Young and Handsome

    3.5/5

    330 ratings35 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      In the early 1900's, Monte Becket lives in Minnesota with his wife and son. After one successful novel, his career has come to a standstill due to his inability to produce. Monte then meets Glendon Hale in a curious manner and the adventure begins.I did not read Peace Like a River, but have only heard positive comments, so I had hoped this second novel of Enger would be a winner. Apparently it is for others, but I didn't find anything all that good or all that bad about it. I didn't like the plot or the characters, but I didn't dislike them either. Everything just seemed to be okay. Unfortunately, Peace Like a River is going to be pushed down the TBR list, because this read didn't encourage me to pick it up. (3/5)Originally posted on: "Thoughts of Joy...
    • 4/5
      This novel combines a big Western story with characters and themes that you'll want to spend time mulling over. I really liked it, better than Peace Like a River which is an excellent book but I thought it was a little too sad much of the time.
    • 4/5
      Such a story! A story! This is exactly the sort of book I think of when I'm looking for a book to read. The writing is fine - not in the "okay, it'll do" sense, but in the "one of the finer things that is well crafted but not overdone" sense.

      The characters are new and interesting. And the story. Let's just say, there's a frustrated writer, a boat, a turtle, a car, a mysterious boy, a cameo by an elephant, a determined old man, and a search for love ... what more is there, really?
    • 3/5
      I don't think I would have picked up this book from the description alone, but since I read "Peace Like a River" and enjoyed it, I thought I'd give this one a shot (no pun intended). Interesting, engaging characters. Eloquent writing. Plot moved at a good pace and held my attention.
    • 4/5
      What makes this book really good is all the layers - the West and cowboys and outlaws and writing and the pursuit and love and redemption. It's all mixed in there and told with a deft hand. The story is told in a curious mix of formality and preciseness and unique turn of phrase ("been shot to moist rags" was one that caught my imagination). I particularly liked the journey Monte makes - caught up in events, he continues on - risking everything to figure out who exactly he is when measured in a different kind of life.
    • 4/5
      Good character development. Enjoyed the journey and time period.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book. Enger's writing is refreshing and different. It was not as good as his first novel, Peace Like A River, but worth reading all the same.
    • 4/5
      I liked the way this book loped along like the period of history--or at least a reconstruction of the period of history--that it chronicles. The set up is one part buddy movie and one part road movie. The main structure of the plot is predictable, but with enough surprises to satisfy. I liked the characters. And it reminded me of driving west when I was a kid.
    • 4/5
      I started this book annoyed. I did NOT like the pseudoformal English that the author posits regular people used a century ago, felt it was such a cutesy way of making the story feel "authentic" and so contrived as to make me want to smack the perpetrator.I got over it. Glendon the train robber completely seduced me, just like he did the narrator, the narrator's wife, the narrator's son, and so many, many others along his twisty path.This is a tale about Truth, not truth, and the author shows us that from the get-go with the very narrative voice I found so irksome at first. There is Truth in the world, often to be found shoved behind elaborate scrims of lies, where the facts that tell the truth are woven into the most fantastical beasts of falsehood it's amazing.Leif Enger knows this, and tells us this amazing and important and underappreciated piece of knowledge in the voice of a man whose grasp of the facts is imperfect but whose knowledge of the Truth guides him and saves him from a wasted, useless life.Very, very worth reading. I say grit your teeth at the narrative voice and charge into the story full tilt. You will be very glad you got to know these characters. They do remain characters, though; some essential *oomph* is missing that's necessary to launch them into full personhood. Still, they're good readin'. Go to it, unfettered by fear of disappointment.
    • 3/5
      Leif Enger's first book, "Peace Like a River", is one of my all time favorite novels. Imagine my delighted surprise when I stumbled across his newest novel in CD form at the library. I wasn't even aware he'd published a new book, although I'd checked every now and then. It's been quite a while in between books.The funny thing is the main character of the book is a "One hit wonder" author who is struggling to write a second novel. I have to wonder if Leif Enger struggled with this himself? I like it so far, although it doesn't seem to have captivated me in quite the same way as his first novel. ********************Overall, I was disappointed with this book. It didn't live up to my expectations after his first novel and really, three stars is being generous just because I did like the first one so much. I found the plot tedious, and a bit baffling. Time and time again the main character found himself in circumstances where he didn't want to be; why didn't he just walk away? I know, I know; He was on a life journey. A totally predictable life journey.
    • 4/5
      This rollicking tale of the old west is one enjoyable yarn. Monte is a writer who is afraid his brief success and subsequent writers block have made him a failure to his family. His friend Glendon entices him to accompany him on a trip to find Glendon's long lost love, Blue. What seems to be a simple trip south turns out to become an adventure, where Monte and Glendon are dodging the Pinkerton agent Charles Siringo who is after Glendon--who turns out to be a former train robber. Monte becomes aquainted with the true west (albeit the fading one) as they survive squalls, fires, floods, gunfights, and the like. Monte is an introspective narrator, so expect plenty of rumination along with the adventure. I enjoyed listening to this tale for the unforgettable characters, larger than life adventures, and it's contemplation of the human condition. The narrator did a bang up job, having different enough voices for each character so that I could follow the story easily and varying the pace to suit the story.
    • 5/5
      I found this book entertaining, beautifully written and evocative of this country's frontier past. What really stands out is the realistic nature of the main character...you keep wondering "why doesn't he go home to his family?" but yet you realize that this is the human predicament, why we often do things that make no sense, or are not the "right" thing to do. We do these things because we want to see what will happen next.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book. Leif Enger, author of "Peace Like River" tells a beautiful tale. In this instance he combines two stories. The first, the story of what an author must live with after his first success, and I have to wonder if this is partly autobiographical. I enjoy reading about the way authors must live within and alongside their characters while they are writing. The second story is a wonderful, poignant, horrifying adventure, something of a latter day Odyssey or Huck Finn tall tale. It is about love, honesty, character, and respect. I think that when one of the characters, a Pinkerton agent, tells the protagonist that he will outlast them all, it is really a reference to an earlier statement to the effect that an author's dream is to write one piece which will live on beyond him. I believe both of Enger's novels will do so.
    • 5/5
      This book was more than just a nice story line. For me it was more about the voice of the narrarator and how he and his traveling companion expressed themselves and the words they chose. I enjoyed the language of this book, the way the prose of it took me to a simpler time and place. The most important element of a book for me is the way the author expresses his/her story; how their word choice makes me feel, the mood of the language. The plot is a very small part of the joy of reading for me. I love a book that takes me away with a unique voice. This book did that for me and I put it on my favorites list for that reason. Also, with 3 - 4 page chapters it moved along nicely. I highly recommend this book.
    • 2/5
      This is my first experience with Leif Enger, but I have heard such wonderful things about Peace Like a River that I thought I would give this one a chance. I picked this audiobook up at the library so we could listen to it as we were driving to my son's college graduation. I've found that audiobooks really help to pass the time when you are trapped in a car!The main character, Monte Becket, has written a very successful novel, but now finds himself struggling as he tries to continue his writing career. When Glendon comes into Monte's life, he starts to re-evaluate everything that has become important to him. He feels that maybe he is starting to head down the wrong path so he decides to take a journey across the Wild West with his new friend Glendon.There are many things that happen along their cross-country trip that strengthen their friendship and test their loyalty to each other. I think the part of the journey that I recall most vividly is when they were travelling down a river on a raft and encountered a snapping turtle. Some unruly characters decided that they would take control of the raft for themselves, but with the help of the snapping turtle that did not happen. If you use your imagination I think you will get the idea!Since Monte left his family at home in Minnesota to follow Glendon across the country, he takes special care to write a letter to his wife from almost every town that they stop in. While writing these letters, Monte finds himself reflecting on his life and relationship with his wife, thinking that they have somehow grown apart over the years. Along this journey Monte learns what is missing from his life and what he must do to bring back the man that his wife first fell in love with.I really was hoping that I would enjoy this story more than I did. I loved the fact that while Monte was off trying to figure out his life that he remained loyal to his wife and family. He could have just disappeared off the face of the earth and made many immoral decisions knowing that his wife would never know, but he didn't. I didn't really enjoy this one as an audiobook, but I may have enjoyed it better had I read it. I had a real hard time staying focused on this story and I think the narrator actually made me tired, so please keep in mind that my rating pertains to the Audiobook.
    • 3/5
      For the most part this was a good story. The ending was kind of easy to see coming from page one. But my biggest aggravation with the author's writing style came in his need to constantly ruin his own plot line. To say that he over used foreshadowing is an understatement, he flat out would tell you key parts of the upcoming plot line which would have been better to discover when they actually were happening than to read about 20 pages before they happened. For instance, "How would I know he was indeed to take flight, and very soon, and that it would be I, and not Redstart, who went with him?" If lines like this had not been unnecessarily thrown into the plot line, the book would have had better surprises. But instead just as soon as you made a guess as to what would happen 50 pages from now, he would just tell you instead of letting you find out on your own. It was almost like having someone there making comments about a book that they already read but you are just starting, and thereby ruining the whole story for you.
    • 2/5
      In 1915 Minnesota, Monte Becket, a novelist, joins Glendon Hale, an outlaw intent on reconciling with his family, whom he had abandoned more than two decades earlier, but on their journey Becket leaves his own family behind and Glendon Hale is pursued by Charles Siringo, a relentless former Pinkerton agent.I had a hard time with this book. Much of the book didn't ring true to me. Most of the characters and many of the situations seemed contrived. By the end of the book, I didn't really care what happened to any of them.
    • 4/5
      It is 1915 and the days of the Wild West are almost over, but the oddball characters in this rambling story don't seem to know it. Becket is a washed-up writer who, instead of going back to his old job, decides to accompany his newfound friend Glendon on a trip to Mexico in search of the wife he had abandoned years before. Glendon turns out to be a wanted outlaw--which makes their trip a lot more challenging, or one might even say, life-changing.Set against a stark background, this book is written in Enger's beautiful prose and has a fine cast of characters who slowly reveal themselves following their own quests. There is humor as the pursuer becomes a sidekick, along with gunfights and a story of friendship and perseverance. It may not be another Peace Like A River, but it is a very worthwhile read.
    • 3/5
      Not nearly as good as his first novel, Peace Like a River. I muddled through a story that seemed unrealistic and slightly pedantic for a seemingly long while, until I realized that it simply wasn't going to get better. Not wanting to let the book get the better of me, I did finish it, but didn't feel any the more justified for having finished. It seemed that he was experimenting more than creating, and the end result left a bad taste in my mouth.
    • 3/5
      his is Leif Enger's second book. His first, Peace Like a River, would be a hard act to follow as it was a practically perfect book. I enjoyed So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel, but I didn't love it.Monte Beckett is a one-shot author. He wrote one best-selling book, quit his day-job at the post office and then flailed about. He is the sort of man I do not like, a man who lets life circumstances form his choices, as opposed to making choices that form his life circumstances. Fortunately for him, he married a woman not like me at all.The book opens with Monte notices a man floating past him on the river. Though not immediately, Monte joins the man on his venture. His new companion is an outlaw, trying to go make amends with an abandoned wife before the law catches up with him.Twas a good, though not great, read. I'd recommend putting it on hold at the library rather than running into town to purchase it. I'm sorry Mr. Enger. I loved Peace Like a River so much that I feel sad to not be able to rave over this one.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written, with an engaging, if somewhat meandering, storyline. Unlike so many books of this type that start of strong and just sort of end, this ending is one of the better ones I have read recently. A strong read.
    • 5/5
      A great adventure story when novelist Monte Becket throws his lot in with former desperado Glendon Hale, as he tries to make amends with a lost love. Chased by a former Pinkerton agent, the men make their way to the orchards of California with dazzling tidbits of the Old West interspered thoughout the story.
    • 4/5
      Not as good as "Peace Like a River" which touched my soul. This one reminded me a little of Van Reid's books--interesting characters in a historical setting, where the book is successful creating its own "legends".
    • 4/5
      Enger's second novel gracefully tells a very American tale of identify and redemption, uncoiling with an almost Homeric, profound cadence, but in the end telling us less than I'd like. Sometimes what you look for in a book are the slight edges of imperfection. Sometimes when reading something classic, something fully planed flat and careful, we lose our way and are unable to feel enough. Perhaps that's what happened to me here. No little burrs of emotion snagged into my soul.It's 1915. Monte Becket, a flailing, possibly dilettante writer with a rather too-lovely, whipsmart little family up in Minnesota (and obvious latent wanderlust), decides to tail along with Glendon, a fugitive felon whose crimes include...well, pretty much everything. But Glendon is good at making boats. And drinking.What follows is an adventure tale that has that heavy, attractive feel of that underpinning of adventure stories that has been with us since prehistory. And it echoes the masters who have wielded the brush of this kind of adventure. Sections of river travel smack of Mark Twain. High plains and western happenings have shadows of (softer) Cormac McCarthy, Kent Haruf, Ivan Doig. Even the occasional burp of Steinbeck, especially towards the end of the novel.Parts are downright appealing. The river-floating and turtle-catching center of the country now lost to modernity. Cowboys with depravities. Floods and shooting. It is a fun read, full of crisp and hearty language.Characters speak in off-the-cuff, just-then-coined, beautiful proverbs. The countryside is dashed off in a few words or sentences that leave no doubt, and leave the reader room to roam the textures of the characters and the plots. But some things--the bigger pieces--don't deliver fully. There's a pattering, heavily thumping sub-current of redemption. Glendon's nearsightedness and other characters' various types of blindness are emphasized. Without giving away plot points, I can say that the way these themes are handled and wrapped up left me cold. I found it hard to reconcile the motives of Becket in a few places, about two-thirds through the book--he left me exasperated. Additionally, the excitement and clarity of the structure and language in the book leave one expecting a swelling, memorable resolution and instead I feel blank.But! I think someone of different temperament, at a different emotional point than I am right at the moment, might find this book deeply moving. I can imagine it filling a particular shape of personal void. And, for Enger's admitted firm grasp on the language, and the enjoyability of the story, it still gets high marks.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable redemption story with well-developed characters. Don't let the title scare you off (sounded like a Harlequin romance to me). Mixture of western, true crime, and just a hint of romance. I haven't read Peace Like a River, so I can't compare. If it's better, I can't wait to read it.
    • 3/5
      Audiobook narrated by Dan Woren. Monte Becket has had one greatly successful novel published, but he cannot seem to write another book. He lives with his wife, Susanna, and son on a farm in Minnesota, and keeps promising his publisher that he’s working hard on the next novel. Then one day he notices a man rowing a boat while standing up. Spurred by his son, Monte befriends Glendon, and the older man confesses to regret at abandoning his wife some two decades previously. When Glendon decides that it is time for him to go back to Blue, he asks Monte to come along, and with Susanna’s guarded acquiescence, Monte agrees to go along.I was caught up in the road trip. The story takes place in 1915, when automobiles were scarce, and more people lived in the rural area of America. As Monte and Glendon head West and South, the landscape virtually becomes a character in the novel. I really like the relationship between these men. Glendon is an admitted outlaw, and even spent some time at Butch Cassidy’s Hole in the Wall retreat. But that was decades ago, and he’s spent years in relative hiding, building boats and living simply in a converted barn. Monte is drawn to Glendon, but disturbed when he learns the truth of his new friend’s background. And yet … when push comes to shove, his loyalties lie with the Glendon he has come to know on this journey. Enger gives the reader a relentless pursuer in Charles Siringo – a former Pinkerton detective who is determined to track Glendon down and bring him to justice. In many respects it reminds me of the old traditional Westerns. And I think it would do well translated to film. Dan Woren does a marvelous job of performing the audio book. I almost felt as if I were listening to a master storyteller around a campfire. Part of this is Enger’s way of writing the tale, but Woren’s narration really brought the story to life. I really liked the way he voiced the many characters, but particularly Monte and Glendon.
    • 2/5
      If a book doesn’t grab you by page 50, you shouldn’t feel bad for abandoning it. But SO BRAVE, YOUNG, AND HANDSOME should grab you right away with Leif Enger's typical writing style. However, I found that this book doesn’t live up to its promise.Monte Becket is an author. He has written a bestseller, and everyone is anticipating what comes next. But he doesn’t have it in him, whatever “it” is. So he leaves his ever loving wife and child to join his neighbor, Glendon Hale, who is headed for Mexico. Glendon wants to apologize to the wife he left there many years before, and Monte wants to find "it." What follows are chapter upon chapter upon chapter of unlikely events. This is how Monte gets from here to there, and the heck with his wife and child, who want him home. He ends up in California, where Glendon‘s wife has remarried and settled with her new husband. (It doesn’t spoil the story to tell you that.)The book bored me to tears. I did not care about any one character. The whole thing is just plain silly. It felt like reading a comic book.
    • 4/5
      In 1915 former train robber Glendon Hale undertakes a journey to escape his guilt and redeem himself. For his companion, he has convinced Monty, the story's witness and narrator, to accompany him, and he has a Pinkerton detective fast on his heels who is obsessed with capturing him. Throughout their encounters, along with Monty we are reminded of the complexities of a person's character. traits of good and evil.
    • 4/5
      The story begins in 1915 MinnesotaThe travels of "an aging train robber on a quest to reconcile the claims of love and judgment on his life, " and a struggling writer who goes with him.3.5 ★
    • 4/5
      This is a lovely, lyrical book filled with interesting, mysterious characters. It conveys a real feel of an older time. It reads like an old western yet has a modern touch, and includes adventure, outlaws and lawmen along with an artist and a writer. I liked this book even more than Peace Like A River, Enger's other novel and a previous One Book One Denver selection. In the end I think this book is about love, redemption and finding one's true path in life.