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I Cheerfully Refuse

By: Leif Enger
Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
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Publisher's summary

A storyteller “of great humanity and huge heart” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), Leif Enger debuted in the literary world with Peace Like a River, which sold more than a million copies and captured audiences’ hearts around the globe. Now comes a new milestone in this boldly imaginative author’s body of work.

Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved and pursued musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. Rainy, an endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society. Amid the Gulliver-like challenges of life at sea and no safe landings, Rainy is lifted by physical beauty, surprising humor, generous strangers, and an unexpected companion in a young girl who comes aboard. And as his innate guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his strengthening wake.

I Cheerfully Refuse epitomizes the “musical, sometimes magical and deeply satisfying kind of storytelling” (Los Angeles Times) for which Leif Enger is cherished. A rollicking narrative in the most evocative of settings, this latest novel is a symphony against despair and a rallying cry for the future.

“A heart-racing ballad of escape, shot-through with villainy and dignity, humor and music. Like Mark Twain, Enger gives us a full accounting of the human soul, scene by scene, wave by wave.”—Josh Ritter, singer and author of The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All

©2024 Reuben Land Corporation (P)2024 Recorded Books
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What listeners say about I Cheerfully Refuse

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Great epic sweet story

An apocalyptic journey told from the perspective of a gentle and kind Everyman. Has elements of cormac McCarthy and the Iliad and maybe a little mad max. Loved it

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7 people found this helpful

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Epic Moving Story

I am so thankful to have found Leif Enger - to have been willingly lost in this epic story - and to emerge wiser, and hopeful, and grateful for the good we have and the need to tend to that good.

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beautiful sadness

Frighteningly close to us. Peaceful sadness that still offers hope. Gorgeous cadence while being read.

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8 people found this helpful

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Hard to stop listening to

The narrator was excellent and the book was written with such great use of language ….without over doing

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Terrific writing, wonderful descriptions.

The story itself was a little goofy for my taste. But the author’s ability to express things is amazing!

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8 people found this helpful

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I don’t recall ever crying at the end of a novel, but this one ended so beautifully, thoroughly, and complete.

The most beautiful prose. Reading this novel was like sliding on magic. Beautifully constructed and ending in a soft place of hope.

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4 people found this helpful

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Wonderful futuristic romp with heart

I loved this book. Engaging characters and story, interesting take on the future, wonderful writing. The narration is terrific, and I am really picky about narration. Speaking of my pickiness, absolutely my only quibble with the narration is that he mispronounces a lot of fairly common words, which is jarring. I noticed this multiple times, well over a dozen. It was odd. Otherwise it was fabulous. Highly recommended.

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A great book

Part Orpheus, Odysseus, Aeneas and Dante with Don Quixote. This book is a robust ode to a life jolly, cantankerous and free. It is a call to grow, to love truth and to love it with mercy, grace and cheer. A story of beauty. Unless you’ve fully realized a sense of home, acceptance, truth, joy and forgiveness, you should read this book

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3 people found this helpful

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Never a dull moment!

I truly enjoyed this book in a way many have not taken me. The Narrator was perfect. He filled the story telling even beyond the written words. He added just enough emotion to allow the listener to be in the moment along with him without whining or over acting. Well done to both writer and narrator!

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3 people found this helpful

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Delight unfurling

I’ve listened twice through already. Another gem from one of the best. Long may he write.

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2 people found this helpful