This book is a stunner from Leif Enger—it rattled my bones, in a good way. Published in 2024, I’m not one of the first readers, but it came to me in a way that felt fresh to the world. It was in my Amazon cart, and, like many things in that cart, I no longer knew why it was there. I am known to buy a book on occasion, and I decided to buy it because I honestly thought it was the newest book by Frederik Backman, My Friends. This is also something I can’t explain since none of the words match, but let’s just let that go, shall we?
I cracked the book and the first page was so beguiling that it had me. I can see how this book would turn some readers off. It’s a little bit magic, a little bit apocalyptic, and a little bit literary fantasty. But, if you know me, you know that combination is going to grab me and not let go. The thing is that the book is not about the plot—it’s about the characters and their relationships. If you need the plot to be tidy, you will be disappointed. Nothing is resolved, exactly.
But against the horrors of a broken-down society, you see countless glimmers of hope, beautifully crafted. Enger’s sentences are like elixir. And his characters are timeless and endless and perfectly now all at the same time. I loved it.
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Read it if: You’re in the mood for something fanciful and gorgeously written that moves at a strange pace and pushes you to confront your perceptions of reality.
Stear clear if: You have no patience right now for a story that meanders and leaves you to imagine the context. Or if you hate sailing. There’s a lot of sailing.
Photo by leah hetteberg on Unsplash