Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse ***

I Cheerfully Refuse feels like a writer of paperback thrillers attempting a literary novel. From the first page, Enger's writing style reminded me of plot-driven mysteries, something about the way he introduces characters and sketches their quirks. Frequent references to Don Quixote, Odysseus, and Orpheus suggest ambitions beyond a ripping yarn. The fictional work that provides the title says "our job always and forever was to refuse Apocalypse in all its forms and work cheerfully against it."

The plot kept me guessing. Its lack of predictability carried me past the many things that irked me. The story takes place after a societal collapse whose details remain hazy. The narrator blithely pulls into strange harbors without considering potential dangers. He sailed once fifteen years ago, yet shows remarkable skill when he escapes onto Lake Superior in a pocket cruiser. The author introduces MacGuffins (the author Molly Thorn and the suicide drug Willow) only to forget about them.

As the story approaches its climax, Enger even seems to forget about the themes he raised in the first 100 pages. The book becomes the action movie it was always destined to be.