It was years and years and years ago that I first read Peace Like a River
. It was incredible! It managed to be spiritual without ever even mentioning God. Miracles were handled in such a casual way that there was no disbelief to suspend. And the storyline, about love and betrayal and just how far people will go for someone they love, well, there is nothing about this novel that I don’t love. Nothing. It’s one of the handful that I’ve carried in my heart through the years.
It came to my attention about two years ago that the author had finally written a second novel. I waffled. I mean, his first book was powerful, wonderful. Could his second measure up? Would it be as captivating? I mean, Peace Like a River was going to be a tough act to follow! I never could bring myself to purchase it. I loved his first book too much to risk it. Then I found a second hand copy and I bit the bullet and read So Brave, Young, and Handsome
.
The narrator is an author who wrote a wildly successful first book and, under pressure to duplicate his success with another best seller, is now having trouble coming up with a second story. (That part made me laugh; So Brave, Young, and Handsome was a LONG time coming.) The rest of it, though? No miracles. No wonder. No characters to fall in love with or even, really, to root for.
Like the narrator of his second novel, Leif Enger couldn’t pull off the second novel. It is utterly forgettable.
So now I have a hard cover copy of So Brave, Young, and Handsome in great condition, but I do not feel it is worthy of a spot on the bookshelf beside my beloved Peace Like a River If you haven’t read Peace Like a River, please do. You won’t be sorry. If you have and you, too, have been afraid to commit to this second, lesser novel, leave a comment. If I get more than one, we’ll have a drawing. If not, you’ll be the automatic winner. 
I loved Peace Like a River as well. But please don’t send me the other book. I didn’t even know it existed!
I LOVED Peace Like a River. I didn’t realize there was another novel or I would have been all over it. That’s disappointing to hear that it didn’t measure up. Did it follow where the last book left off or is it another novel altogether?
It’s another novel altogether, about an author who is trying and failing to write a second great novel and hooks up with a retired outlaw train robber living just down the river. They search for lost loves, meet an up-and-coming outlaw and have run-ins with the pinkerton agent who’s been searching for the train robber all these years. It’s not a bad read. I enjoyed it during the reading, especially the short chapters that made it convenient to read in snippets of time. It’s just not memorable.
Oh, and Andie is the one who brought it to my attention, but I don’t think she’s read it, either.
hmmm… i guess i want to enter? :-p
i’m always looking for a new read tho!