The Rarotongans (1-20)

West. Monte went west. I guess he had to find out what happened to Glendon, but I really wanted him to go home to Susannah and Redstart. I think he was showing his new braver, more adventurous self by starting out for parts unknown all by his lonesome. And I was thrilled that he found Glendon relatively easily.

Poor Glendon. I understand Blue’s position completely but I do feel sorry for the guy. I think he’s kind of soft hearted for an outlaw. Blue doesn’t have to forgive him, but stringing him along so that he can work her orchard for her? That’s a little cold-hearted.

I do like Claudio, of course, and I enjoyed the interaction between Monte and Claudio. In the end I thought it was totally fitting that Monte should move his family to the orchard and work there alongside Blue. It just seemed fitting. They had nothing waiting for them back in Minnesota and there is still a beautiful river to live beside in California.

Monte becoming a boat builder (is there a technical term for that, like ‘barketer’ or something?) seems fitting also. He always admired boats and owned one. He loved his time on the boat with Glendon and later helping him make them. Of course the side benefit being that not worrying about writing allowed a story to come to him…his own story or adventure.

If I have to admit it, Glendon willingly going away with Siringo is probably fitting too. He accomplished his purpose (apologizing to Blue) and no longer had to fear being locked up. He could pay for his crimes with a clear conscience. I guess that is all he really wanted. I have the feeling that Siringo dumped him at the nearest sheriff’s office and then drove out in to the dessert and dropped dead. I think he was only living long enough to see Glendon in custody. He’s walking up to those black gates by now, I’d bet.

So why is the book entitled “So Brave, Young and Handsome”? Is it all in reference to Hood Roberts? He seems to be too minor a character to warrant a title. Although when you look at the book as written by Monte about his adventure you have to remember that Hood meant a lot to Monte and weighed heavily on his mind. Maybe Monte sees the whole trip as he and Glendon both reaching their destinations but Hood, the brave, young and handsome one, coming to a tragic end. I don’t know.

Maybe he is referring to the deeds of the brave, young and handsome. Glendon, Siringo, Hood, and even Ern all had crazy and exciting lives (when they were brave, young and handsome) that ultimately led to sorrow. Maybe this is the chronicle of what happens to the brave, young and handsome ones later on. Monte of course was young once but I don’t think he was either brave or handsome…at least not until he reached California and started building boats. Then he had developed a spine and some character. Maybe he should be glad it came to him later in life when he was capable of making good decisions…unlike the others in the story. What do you think?

Overall, I loved the book; maybe not as much as “Peace Like a River” but it was close. I’d gladly read anything else Enger writes. Now I’m moving on to something else from my list and I’m starting a real life, in person book club too. I hope to see some of you there.

Fiery Siringo (1-20)

Well! All I can say is that Glendon should have been a little less cryptic when he told Monte to “stay out of Siringo’s grip”. We should have known the old geezer wasn’t as feeble as he pretended. And yet, even with a bitten hand and a broken finger why wouldn’t Monte just leave him along the side of the road? I knew that over-active sense of duty would come back to bite Monte in the end. If only he could be as cold-hearted as Siringo he could be back home with Susannah by now. But would Susannah want him in that condition or would she cease to see him as Siringo’s wife had?

So now Monte is traveling with Siringo, aiding him in his hot pursuit of Glendon or Hood Roberts or both. Who saw that coming? Certainly not me. I do admire his half-hearted attempts at escape and his refusal to stoop to the tactics of his captor. Unfortunately, Siringo can read Monte like a book. Even when the poor guy manages to convince the bank teller that despite his manacles he is not a fugitive but a kidnapping victim, Siringo is one step ahead of him already signing books and spinning tales with the local law enforcement. At that moment I thought Monte might cry. I felt so sorry for him.

More than dislocating his finger, or biting his hand, or popping his finger back in to place, or breaking his collar bone I think Siringo caused Monte more pain by telling him about his visit to the Davies’ and Emma’s subsequent disappointment in Monte and hurling of his book. I think that crushed Monte’s spirits more than anything else.

Enger seems to be examining the themes of life and death, heaven and hell again. He describes Ern Swilling’s death as his “turn at the infinite”. Then in this section Monte wonders if Siringo…

“…had died already, during the night, and was up anyway, making coffee in the normal fashion, and that I would be compelled for some time to be the companion of a dead fellow who refused to acknowledge his condition.”

Siringo acknowledges the fact himself when he says,

“I was human but now I think I am changing. It’s a change for the better. I can sleep or not as I will. I feel no anger. I am not thirsty. Hot and cold have no purchase on me.”

I agree with Monte that Siringo is describing death. His own death. At least the death of his soul if not his person. I think we’ll see him dead before the end of the novel. At least I hope so…and hopefully before he kills Hood and/or Glendon. Somehow I’m not afraid for Monte. I think he’ll make it home to his wife and son again. Despite his many faults, Siringo won’t harm the innocent. Of course, that’s assuming Monte stays innocent.

I guess I’m glad that Monte didn’t shoot Siringo when he had the chance. At least he was brave enough to fire the gun and give Hood a fair warning. Why am I rooting for the bad guys here? Even though Hood didn’t murder Swilling he still stole a car and food and a horse and a mule. He even burnt down an entire town and killed a man in the process. I have no idea what crime, if any, he was running from in the beginning when he joined up with Monte and Glendon, but I’m almost positive there was one. He is a “bad guy”, and yet I want him to escape cleanly to Mexico with his pretty girlfriend. Well, that is if he didn’t kill Ericcson. If he murdered Ericcson in cold blood than I’m afraid I can’t be on his side anymore.

I still want Glendon to escape though. Maybe it’s because he seems genuinely remorseful for his life of crime. He doesn’t claim that he would do things any differently given the chance, but at least he seems sorry that it turned out this way. He wants to make amends with Blue. He wants to help out Darlys again. (By the way I think it is hilarious that Glendon uses Siringo’s money to pay for Darlys’ trip.) He even wants to go after Hood and prevent him from make some of the same tragic choices that Glendon himself made in younger days. He is a caring and gentle outlaw, that’s for sure.

How nice it would have been if this sentence were true.

“And so it came down to a farmhouse. As it so often does!”

But, it didn’t come down to a farmhouse, after all. Hood escaped…again! I couldn’t have been happier. I like it anytime something happens that Siringo isn’t planning on and doesn’t like. But, of course it couldn’t last. It was so sad and anti-climatic that Hood just walked in to the street and right in to the face of Charles Siringo. Siringo shot him and he died. It was awful. I think the dramatic farmhouse show down would have been better; more appropriate for a romantic boy like Hood.

“Death arrived easy as a train; Hood just climbed aboard, like the capable traveler he was.”

Blanks. Blanks. Of course, it had to be blanks, but I wanted to believe that Siringo was bullet-proof, rather than face the knowledge that Hood had stood no chance from the beginning. How ludicrous that he would go back in to town for a pastry! A cinnamon doughnut? You’ve got to be kidding me. To think that he got killed for a doughnut. What a sad ending for him.

At least Siringo suffers a little bit from his encounter with Hood. He has a stroke, apparently. That's fitting, but I'm sure it won't kill him. At least Monte finally decides to leave him behind. But is he going home or on to find Glendon? East or West? Somehow I don't think he can go home at this point. I'm not sure I would either...knowing Glendon isn't the letter writing type.

I'm anxious to finish the last section "The Rarotongans". What in the world, or who in the world, is a rarotongan? I have no idea, but I'm eager to find out. I'll post my final thoughts on the book tomorrow.

Until then I leave you with me new favorite phrase that I picked up from good old Charlie.

“I think I’ll pass on that bag of snakes.”

The Hundred and One (1-16)

I love Enger’s descriptions of The Hundred and One. If you’ve ever seen the Broadway musical “Annie Get Your Gun” or the more recent movie “Hildalgo” then you know what the old west shows were reported to be like. Apparently The Hundred and One was just such a show; sharp shooters, monkeys and elephants, saloon brawls and indian attacks at 6 pm nightly. What a place! No wonder Hood was determined to get there.

Speaking of Hood….why is he using an alias? And how old is he? Do we know? Did I miss that line? At first I thought he was 13 or so, but I don’t think they would’ve taken someone that young with them. Maybe he’s 16. I don’t know. He’s obviously old enough to be a skilled mechanic and old enough to fall in love. But he’s immature in many ways too. His desire for praise, his sullenness and his amazing ability to lie without compunction or premeditation show his youth.

I can imagine how exciting that underwater ride in front of his girl and all of the vaqueros must have been for Hood. What teenage boy wouldn’t want to pull off the most dramatic feat in Hundred and One history? How quickly he went from hero to goat after that, though. Why did he run after punching Ern Swilling? No one would have accused him of murder had he stayed. They all saw the action and knew that the fall, not the punch, broke Ern’s neck. Maybe he ran because he was already running from something else?

Poor Ern. I love these lines about the ill-fated German actor.

“…nature had been ridiculously kind to Ern Swilling—besides his marquee appearance he was strong as a bear with the easy world-beater genetics we were
all to encounter in coming years.”

And then after the accident.

“…he got his first grip on the transformed world; on the fact that he was no longer a sought quantity or screen actor but a handsome young paralytic with no prospects whatever for fame or wealth or for that matter much of a lifespan.”

Medically speaking, I don’t quite understand the whole bit about helping someone breathe by tying a tube around their neck, but nevertheless I think we were all a little relieved when that tube slipped and Ern was released from a life of institutionalized agony.

The Hundred and One seems to have misfortune clinging to it. After Hood’s unfortunate accident and Ern’s untimely demise the entire place is flooded. Buildings are destroyed and livestock killed. Everyone is marooned inside the damp boarding house….including Charles Siringo.

I can’t say that I was surprised the he showed up, but I was shocked that he was Jip, Darlys’ old beau from the Hole in the Wall. How does Glendon keep running in to these people? Texas is a big place, but Glendon runs in to old friends every other day. Apparently he had (and maybe still has) a soft spot for Darlys and not much love for Jip. I don’t know if Siringo really doesn’t remember Darlys or if he does not want to reveal that he and Jip are one in the same. So is he really an outlaw that became a Pinkerton agent or a Pinkerton agent that was undercover as an outlaw named Jip? I don’t know but I suspect that he is 80% outlaw and 20% law man.

As a matter of fact, he isn’t a law man at all anymore. He has no authority whatsoever to arrest Glendon, but I doubt that makes Glendon any safer. Siringo probably wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him on sight, or at least detain him and turn him over to the local authorities in hopes of a large reward…or some major publicity. Maybe Glendon already knows this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does.

I wasn’t sad that Darlys shot Siringo and I love how the narrator (Monte) just assumes that we know Darlys was the shooter. I fervently hoped that he was dead, but I knew he wouldn’t be. I never suspected that Monte would become Siringo’s personal nurse though. In some ways I’m shocked that Monte could sit there day after day and care for the old man, but on the other hand I know that Monte has a big heart and an even bigger sense of duty and honor…almost to a fault.

That sense of duty leads him to even offer Siringo a ride to the train station. I can’t help but think that that is a big mistake. We’ll see.

Thoughts on “The Fiery Siringo” coming tomorrow.

Jack Waits (1-17)

Finally, a nice meaty section to examine.

Well, this time around we find out that Glendon was a foster child, for lack of a better term, and a thief.

"No, it's what I always was, it just weighs more, this time around."

Monte seems to want to believe that Glendon is a good person and can atone for all his former mistakes but Glendon keeps trying to make it clear to him that he is indeed not a good person at all. Monte is reluctant to give up his romantic notions about Glendon's past and his future. Maybe the fact that Glendon prays...even over stolen food, is what gives Monte hope.

In fact, the description of Glendon's "salvation" experience pretty much says it all.

"He [Glendon] uttered the prayer a number of times and cried several times, feeling the mercy of God pour out like a cleansing oil upon his limbs, and late in the day he arose and ate a sustaining meal of frijoles with side pork and rode out from the Hole with his friends and robbed the Union Pacific as it climbed the Wyoming foothills."

He wants to change but he feels powerless to do so. He is just one of many who are repentant but lack the real devotion to makeover their lives.

The series of events with the snapping turtle was interesting. First of all hauling a snapper around in a small boat, even if he is surrounded by rocks, does not sound like a smart thing to do. But I guess it paid off in the end, as the snapper drug one of their pursuers down to a watery grave. (And by the way who was that? Not Siringo. But who?) Maybe the snapper was paying them back for not cooking him alive (as Monte suggested) and giving him the chance to be free.

I loved it when, after seeing the "bad guy" drown in the river with the turtle pulling him down, Monte says,

"Belatedly it seemed my finest virtue was the distance I had maintained from
death; now I had this freight to carry and no place to lay it down."

I feel exactly the same way, although I didn't come to the realization belatedly. I've always known how blessed I was to never have experienced the death of someone close to me. My Dad's best friend was the closest person to me to have died (and young and tragically, at that). I always knew that I was, fortunately, missing out on a normal human experience. But when my Grandpa died last year I joined the club; the gang of people that travel the earth with only a portion of their hearts because some small (or maybe large) segment has already moved on to heaven. It is a weight to carry that can't be laid down and it makes death seem closer and ready to strike again at any minute.

At the beginning of this section Monte says that he crossed the line when he stepped off the Davies dock to follow Glendon once again, but I disagree. I think at that point he was still just following his curiosity and was swept up in a sense of adventure. After all several times after that he considered turning back. I think it was when he saw his reflection in the window at Revival that he crossed the line. When he identified himself as someone who looked, "capable", "wary", and "of dubious intent", someone that Grace Hackle would admire instead of the "well-meaning failure, a pallid disappointer of persons, a man fading" he was hooked. He could never go back to be being a struggling author after seeing the fugitive outlaw hidden within himself.

As with any line written by Leif Enger there were several great descriptions in this section.

If you've ever driven through Kansas you immediately identified with these passages:

"Plain describes it nicely, both as grassy tableland and unadorned prospect. It's wide and there you have it. To one born amid forest and bluff on the upper Mississippi, Kansas is so wide and its sky so flat it's disturbing."


"I still hungered for a hillside or building to break the tedium. Sculptors call this relief and they are right. I learned to take pleasure in the windmills spinning bravely along the route, announcing farms."


"Before the windmill there wasn't no Kansas."

I'm uncomfortable with all of that open land too. And no radio stations for miles. I'm also uncomfortable with the dry West. Driving for miles and seeing only the smallest bit of dusty olive green in an endless see of brown is disconcerting. I need green in my life. Even in winter there is still some green around here.

I also loved the description of Siringo's demeanor.

"...[he] propped himself in the position of Visiting Bard and told stories."

So, who was in the boat that tried to run them down? What do you make of the name Jack Waits? How do you like the book so far?

Oh, I guess I didn't event mention Hood Roberts, but I like him and he's now my number one suspect for "so brave, young and handsome". What did you think of him?

The Old Desperate (1-6)

"Why was I a slave to sentiment when it failed me so reliably?"

Its kind of nice to hear a man feel this way. I feel like sentiment fails me daily because the people around me (mostly males) don't get it. It is sweet to see how much Monte and Susannah love each other.

I must say that I was pretty surprised when Franco recognized Glendon on the train and told the policeman. I thought they might get a little further on their journey before the law caught up with them. I had already assumed that Glendon was a former train robber from the riddle he told Redstart in the first section. He said that he had been on 10 (?) trains that had been robbed but he had never had a single thing stolen. That screams train robber to me.

I was equally surprised when Glendon jumped from the train and left Monte alone. I didn't see that coming. Nor did I imagine that Monte would go home with the detective and enjoy his time there. I see that we are getting a little of the same idea that was present in "Peace Like a River"; the idea of a policeman as someone that you naturally dislike and run from but the realization that they can be very charming and kind men if you just get to know them.

I loved Monte's review of "The Pestilence of Man".

"...a number of momentous ideas, namely that war is difficult, and that poverty
is difficult too; in fact, that much of human experience is marked by
difficulty. I don't remember who is at fault."

It sounds like a few books I've read; so preachy that at the end of it you can't even figure out where it all began and what you are supposed to do about it. It kind of makes me think of "The Grapes of Wrath". The basic point of that book seems to be that governments are cruel and life is crueler, with no hope of change. Sounds rosy doesn't it?

Well, that's it for this section. More on "Jack Waits" coming up soon....maybe tomorrow. Let me know what you thought.

Preview:

My sister already finished the book and said she liked it more the further along she read. She also said she didn't like Glendon's character and that the parts of the book that don't' involve him are the best parts. She also said she wasn't sure who "so brave, young, and handsome" refers to. So keep an eye out for those ideas as well.

A Thousand A Day (Chaps. 1-11)

By the end of the first paragraph I could tell this was a Leif Enger book. The voice coming out of the pages reminds me so much of the narrator of Peace Like a River. He even uses the word "pard", which I think came up several times in the cowboy story in that novel as well. And did this sound familiar to any of you who read Enger's first novel:

This [novel] was about a boy who shoots two intruders in the dead of night and straightaway flees the Law. I had it in mind that the boy become a dangerous western hero along the pattern of Tom Horn. His would be a life of wild horses, of slender escapes, of comrades laid in shallow graves!

I love Monte's descriptions of himself and simultaneous jabs at other authors who may indeed be living "in a hospital for the insane or on a tramp steamer or in Madrid", and therefore consider themselves more literary.

Common blots aside, I have none of the usual Big Artillery: I am not penniless, brilliant, or an orphan; have never been to war, suffered starvation or lashed myself to a mast.

It reminded me of that line in "Singin' in the Rain" where, upon learning that he is fired, Cosmo, the pianist, replies, "Oh good. Now I can start suffering and go out and write that symphony."

I also already like the relationship between father and son that is apparent in this novel as well. The name Redstart is certainly strange but I'm betting it will have a significance later on. It almost seems like an Indian name to me. We'll see if being named after a bird has any significance in the boy's life or not.

Why do you think Monte was so eager to talk to the man in the row boat? A complete stranger. Would you ever stop a complete stranger and let him in to your house? Or have supper with a complete stranger that your son brought home with him...a grown man at that? I can't say that I would ever consider such a thing, but maybe that's why I don't have a very adventurous life.

I was surprised to find that Monte had sold, and is still selling, a successful novel. He describes himself as such a...well...loser. Why was Martin Bligh such a success and why can't Monte repeat the process with a second book? I'm assuming we'll discover the answer to that as we travel along with Monte and Glendon.

It was interesting to see how easily Monte was swept in by fame and flattery from his publisher. (What does it mean that his diction was described by some to be "purple"? I didn't understand that.) I also found it ironic that one of the symbols of his success was his boat. Isn't that so true? People today think that owning a boat that they take out twice a year is a status symbol. Although, I doubt many of them are content with just a row boat, but the idea is the same.

Susannah and Monte seem to have such a nice relationship, but I was sad to find out that he was lying to her about his book. She seems like the type that would understand his writer's block. Why do we hide our failures from the people that we love the most...the people that will undoubtedly overlook them and love us anyway?

From reading the jacket of the book I knew that Monte would "run away" with Glendon but I was shocked that it was Susannah's idea. See? She did accept Monte and show him a way to get his writer's brain going again. I really like her. I hope the story continues to follow Susannah and Redstart as well as Monte and Glendon.

What do you think Glendon's vision of his wife on a horse across the river means? I'm sure it will have a significance later on, as will the boats. I actually think that rivers and boats are going to be very central to this story throughout, but I could be wrong.

Based on the dedication of the book "to the brightest colors I ever saw" and to Monte's description of Susannah's moods and their corresponding colors:

You should know this about my wife: colors are as strong spirits to her. Yellow makes her insouciant, reckless, caustic. The brighter tints of orange render her nearly dangerous. It it's a quiet, confiding talk you're after, by all means wait until her palette is stocked with cooler, more seafaring shades.

I think colors may be a recurring theme as well.

So let me know what you think about this first section and then let's read on and see what happens. A post on "The Old Desperate" coming in a couple of days.

It's Here

My copy of the book has arrived.

Review and discussion on "A Thousand a Day" (parts 1-11) coming later this week.

Stay tuned.

Speaking of Books......

I've been asked to start a book discussion on my blog by some eager readers.

I love reading and discussing books...so why not?

Starting next week (hopefully, if my copy comes in from the library) I will be hosting a weekly discussion of Leif Enger's latest book So Brave, Young and Handsome.

Here is an excerpt from the front jacket flap of the book:

One of Time magazines top-five novels of the year and a New York Times bestseller, Leif Enger’s first novel, Peace Like a River, captured reader’s hearts around the nation and sold over one million copies. 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—“a man fading, a disappointer of persons”—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—traveling 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 even further from his family and the law, to be tempered by a fiery adventure from which he may never get home.

With its smooth mix of romanticism and gritty reality, So Brave Young and Handsome often recalls the Old West’s greatest cowboy stories. But it is also about an ordinary man’s determination as he risks everything in order to understand what it’s all worth, and follows an unlikely dream in the hope it will lead him back home.

I chose this book because:

1. I've been wanting to read it.
2. I read Enger's first book, Peace Like a River, and absolutely loved it.
3. Everyone else I've talked to loved Enger's writing as well.
4. One of my eager readers wants to read it too.

So, if you are interested in joining us all you have to do is pick up the book at your local library or book store. You can purchase it for $8.22 at http://www.half.com/. If you live in my area there are approximately 15 copies available through interlibrary loan. There is also an audio book version out there if that is more your style.

Once you have the book...start reading. I'll post on each chapter and then the comments section will be open for you to add your own insights about the story. Feel free to make comments, pose questions or list favorite quotes. I will post at the rate I read...which is relatively fast....but you can read at your own pace and read the posts as you get to them. There is no rush. If you read faster than I do you are out of luck. Sorry.

Each post that is a book discussion post about So Brave, Young and Handsome will have this picture at the top.


This will let my regular readers (who are not joining in on the book discussion) know that they can skip this post and move on to the next one.

This is all just an experiment. I've participated in blog book discussions before but I've never hosted one, so we'll see how it goes. We may have to tweek things as we go.

I hope you can join us.