Like a warm quilt on a cold day, in "Virgil Wander," Leif Enger wraps up his reader in evocative language that makes them want to pull the book closer and hold tight for this imaginative tale.
Narrated by the well-liked eponymous film projectionist who finds himself still getting his bearings and memory back after his car soars into Lake Superior during a snowfall, as Virgil navigates his small town with new perspective, we get acquainted with the equally affable, unique characters who inhabit the “cursed” town of Greenstone, Minnesota.
A seemingly straightforward journey made all the more enchanting by the author's magnetic prose, “Virgil Wander” is stunning not only in its simplicity but by how masterfully Enger builds a strong foundation of characters you can relate to before seasoning his story with elements of Norwegian myth and fisherman's tall tales, which in his hands become Minnesota magic.
A highly recommended chronicle of small town life with much more on its mind, this gorgeously penned sleeper is one of my favorite novels of 2018.
Narrated by the well-liked eponymous film projectionist who finds himself still getting his bearings and memory back after his car soars into Lake Superior during a snowfall, as Virgil navigates his small town with new perspective, we get acquainted with the equally affable, unique characters who inhabit the “cursed” town of Greenstone, Minnesota.
A seemingly straightforward journey made all the more enchanting by the author's magnetic prose, “Virgil Wander” is stunning not only in its simplicity but by how masterfully Enger builds a strong foundation of characters you can relate to before seasoning his story with elements of Norwegian myth and fisherman's tall tales, which in his hands become Minnesota magic.
A highly recommended chronicle of small town life with much more on its mind, this gorgeously penned sleeper is one of my favorite novels of 2018.