This story is full of bleak situations and settings, in a waterlogged apocalyptic-adjacent future, yet somehow remains optimistic throughout. It reminded me of a video game where you are on an adventure to find someone who is missing, lots of interesting characters to meet along the journey, not all of them friendly. I think maybe something was lost a bit in listening to this on audiobook, but it was enjoyable, and with a near perfect ending.

A dream world set in a climate dystopia that feels both futuristic and rooted in the past. I really loved our proteagonist Rainey and his meandering thoughts about the world around him.

rollickingly gorgeous, with a sense of charm and passion that penetrates everything in this gorgeous, fun book

TW: suicide, murder, death of a child, depression.

“Its taken all my life to learn protection is the promise you can’t make It sounds absolute, and you mean it and believe it, but that vow is provisional and makeshift and no G-d ever lived who could keep it half the time”.

What a beautiful dystopian tale of a life maybe not too far past current times, with a the majority of wealth and corporate ownership accumulated amongst the hands of the few ‘astronaut’ families, the majority of the population on the outskirts reverting back to bartering and good will, and the further normalisation of people selling their bodies and time for medical trials in return for meagre salaries. The only solutions? Keeping the faith for better days, or suicide.

“It wasn’t suicide he said. It was exploration. He said Earth was all but done and they wanted to see if another world existed as some claimed."

I loved the style of writing - it was so simple and yet it spoke to my soul. The book had the perfect sci-fi balance whereby it related to current day events many experience, including the struggle of surviving on just a 9-5 salary and the exploitation of those in more privileged positions. Most interestingly, the book touched onto the idea that ‘there’s nothing left here anymore, lets try somewhere new’, a premise I hear often from people considering moving abroad away from national politics concerns and cost of living crises. The hints to a better reality, without the full development within the story, allows the reader the richness to build out the potential in their own mind during, and after the story finishes.

“It’s not easy to make a friend let alone lose one”.

I can’t lie, the somewhat happy ending threw me, but the complex relationships explored and the navigation of how to treat others after betrayal were second to none. Bravo Enger.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc.

This reminded me of The Ferryman but I liked the Ferryman better.

Dystopian, Lake Superior setting was a slam dunk for me, but the book felt aimless at times and I felt like I wanted more details into the culture/political climate.

So much happens in this book and it all felt fast paced with surface level detail.

I Cheerfully Refuse was a great novel in the climate fiction genre. I loved the exploration of the characters and would definitely read more of Enger's work in the future.

Reading this felt a bit like watching "Beau is Afraid" but if it was a bit more focused. This story follows the main character and narrator, Rainy, on a journey through Lake Superior after he loses his wife.

I don't feel like the description accurately prepared me for what this book is, but I was pleasantly surprised. The world Enger paints is bleak, but somehow there are still moments of very honest hope and joy. I was really emotionally impacted by this book, even though it's a bit hard to follow at times. This story is not particularly concerned with world-building or adding narrative fluff. I think it accomplishes exactly what it wants to, and does a very effective job. I'll definitely look to reread this in the future.

Also, such a stunning cover for a gorgeous book.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I hesitate to rate this book at all as I DNF but going on his previous books I think a 3 is fine. The timing was off for me as this book was not clicking with me. I put it down several times coming back to it in hopes it would gel but nope.

This isn’t what I was expecting from Leif Enger, but I Ioved it nonetheless. I enjoy dystopian fiction and I was pleased to see that Enger brought his keen understanding of human nature to a genre that tends to focus on plot. Enger’s prose was lovely, as usual, and the result was a reflective novel with enough plot to keep things moving.

It seems that more and more authors are trying sci-fi or cli-fi for the first time. While I appreciate the new and varied takes, it is obvious in this case that the author mostly had a western/historical fiction in mind and then used Find-Replace to make it something different. I was not impressed with the result - incredibly slow with tedious characters written in chaos.

I have to say that after reading Peace Like a River last year, which became one of my favorite books, I was excited Leif Enger had a new one and had high expectations, but was underwhelmed. It certainly didn't help that the novel caught me during an intense reading slump. So I blame that too, partially.

I Cheerfully Refuse is the name of a novel within the novel, and it's relevant because of the emotional connection that exists between the book and one of the characters.

The story occurs in an intriguing dystopic world. And while it wasn't gripping enough for me, I enjoyed picturing that peculiar world. All the little towns, the lakes, the folk. In my mind it was always cloudy. It didn't seem too different from ours, but different enough to know it's not the one we live in. It felt like an alternate reality.

I like that this author writes stories about journeys far from home. At least the two I've read have that in common. It reminds me of a vivid dream I had years ago and have always wanted to put on paper. Here, there's a constant feeling that evil is looming and the plot will not resolve until it gets dealt with.

The writing is good, but overall I just don't think the story was strong enough. I'm sorry I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. Oh well.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, for this ARC!

I don't know why I chose to read another apocalyptic book (two in a row for me), but to be fair, the cover on this one is just so pretty, I hardly imagined it would include illiterate mobs bombing bookstores, or a population doped out on "compliance therapeutics". Ok, maybe that little fire off to the left should have clued me in, but still. In my defense, I chose the book because Leif Enger wrote it. If you read Peace Like a River or Virgil Wander, I'm sure you understand. If you didn't, take a moment and read them now. Ok, you're back? Good. Now enjoy this one.

As in his previous books, Enger writes with a tremendous sense of empathy and heart, rendering ordinary scenes in stunning detail. Though our hero (in that cute little boat on the cover) is faced with more than his share of rocky seas, it is Enger's great gift to help us appreciate quiet moments of peace and humanity in this otherwise fraught and perilous world.

It’s been ages since I approached a book review feeling inadequate to the task, but this review feels on par with the middle schooler who, assigned a book report on Orwell’s Animal Farm, led with, “I really liked the talking animals.” Having said that, I’m now free to say that Leif Enger’s beautiful writing and the intriguing and perilous setting made the complexity of I Cheerfully Refuse a delightful reading experience.

Enger’s protagonist, Rainy, described life together with his beloved Lark as “curious in the manner of those lucky so far,” but when “luck” runs out, Rainy takes to his boat in a quest with mythological overtones and a dystopian tone. As a reader, I felt from the beginning that something was “off” in Rainy’s world, and, sure enough, the story just kept confirming it with tales of lawlessness and failed infrastructure in a land where people had no use for books.

Even so, a book keeps popping up in the plot. Enger took his own book’s title from it, and it yields a cautionary tale in one of its characters, “a decent man who often mistook his worldview for the world, a common churchman’s error.”

Much of the story is set on the “fearsome sea”—which was actually Lake Superior. Rainy’s fear of the lake is well-founded with its unpredictable nature and rising corpses, so, while the water added to the book’s sense of foreboding, ironically, it carried Rainy to companionship, beauty, and the deepening and refining of his character. I enjoyed cheering for Rainy and found myself agreeing with Lark’s definition of true friendship as it revealed itself again and again throughout his quest. He proved himself to be “a man who stops and listens. If that’s not the definition of friendship, it’s close enough for now.”

Many thanks to Atlantic Grove Press and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

The characters in this dystopian tale—Rainy, Lark, and Sol—immediately pulled me into a tumultuous future dominated by the enigmatic Astronauts, a shadowy cabal whose malevolence is both unsettling and mysterious. In a world where reading is nearly extinct, Lark's bold decision to open a bookstore becomes a symbol of defiance and hope. Rainy, a gentle giant with a profound love for music, finds himself adrift after a devastating loss. His journey to a place rich with memories and the spirit of the rebellious author Molly Thorne becomes a quest for solace and new beginnings. The narrative's initial chaos mirrors Rainy's own emotional turmoil, offering a poignant reflection of our anxieties in an uncertain world.

Rainy's empathy, particularly towards the resilient young Sol, and Lark's steadfast passion for literature and life shine brightly amidst the darkness. Sol, embodying her namesake, brings a ray of hope into Rainy's grieving heart. This novel skillfully intertwines themes of love, resilience, and the enduring power of music and books amid dystopian despair. Despite the initial confusion, this intricately woven story captivated me with its unforgettable characters and eloquent prose, delivering a profound meditation on courage and optimism in the face of overwhelming adversity.

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger is an adventure set in the not-too-distant future. Lark is a used bookseller who buys and loves books in a world that both bans and burns them. Her husband Rainy is a bass player who shows the reader the healing power of music. They take in Kellan, an escaped indentured servant, who arrives at Lark’s shop with an advance copy of a mid-20th century unpublished manuscript, I Cheerfully Refuse, by her favorite poet/essayist. The foreshadowing in that title lets us know that these characters won’t readily give up what they consider essential.
This sailing adventure attacks the consequences of climate change and the threat of absolute rulers and their intoxicating temptations.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

I Cheerfully Refuse is a new kind of literary dystopian quest novel, in which a musician named Rainy leaves his comfortable home on the shores of Lake Superior to brave the wilds of the inland sea, in search of his beloved wife Lark. Along the way, he meets all kinds of people -- courageous, dangerous, eccentric -- who will change his life in ways great and small.

The world of Leif Enger's novel is at once well-wrought and ephemeral. Without explicitly stating how the world got to this point, he nevertheless paints a richly detailed picture of the ways society has crumbled: a society where books are treasonous, where indentured servitude is perfectly acceptable, where climate change has permanently altered the landscape, where individuals and sometimes entire families voluntarily ingest a fatal drug called Willow to end their lives of suffering. The result is a bleak, violent portrait -- but one that Enger injects with moments of beauty and humanity as he explores the soul-healing power of connecting with others and the importance of art, specifically music and literature. Another writer may not have been able to strike such a balance, but in Enger's able hands, it's both pensive and poignant.

The real strength of I Cheerfully Refuse is its characters, who are endearing and heartfelt and serve as a source of light in a narrative that goes to some very dark places. Even the "bad guys" are portrayed in interesting, nuanced ways. All in all, Enger's version of a post-apocalyptic novel is a thought-provoking, occasionally terrifying, but ultimately hopeful journey, led by an unforgettable gentle giant of a narrator.

Leif Enger's book always hurt me... in the best ways. I never expected him to give us a post-apocalyptic novel, but as is usually the case with Enger's books the setting was great and the characters were even better. I loved Rainy and his big bear, easygoing personality. I cried with him through some truly horrific situations and cheered for him as he became an unlikely hero. I loved Lark, his wife, who he goes on the run to find and Sol, the young girl he encounters along the way. Enger's writing is beautiful and painful and makes me feel in a way not all books can. The setting on Lake Superior was artfully described to the point where I was feeling the wind and chill of the waves along with Rainy. Another stunning story!

*I started this in print and switched to audio when I received a audio ARC from the publisher. Both formats worked well for me!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in return for a fair and honest review.

Very different from Peace like a river, more like a futuristic Odyssey. Rainy and Lara have a wonderful like together. A homeless young man arrives at Lara’s book shop with a book that she’s been searching for. She offers him a room at their home. One night he disappears and later someone murders her. Rainy realizes someone is now after him and he flees on his old boat and sails around Lake Superior. He meets various people on his travels, including a young girl named Sol. She travels with him, through storms fleeing from the “bad guys”. As always, I love his characters and storytelling.

"What scares me is the notion we are all one rotten moment, one crushed hope or hollow stomach from stuffing someone blameless in a cage."

Enger's writing is a brilliant literary volley of light and dark, both anthem and dirge. "I Cheerfully Refuse" is part dystopian thriller, part mystery, part nautical tale, part love story, part ode to books, and 100% magical. I can't recommend it highly enough. Move it to the top of your to read pile immediately!

I made it to 50% in this book and I just can't continue. I loved "Peace Like a River" and Mr. Enger is a wonderful writer.

I just could not get into this story. It seemed chaotic and confusing. I'm not a fan of apocalyptic novels but I love this writer. Nope it still didn't work for me.

I know this is probably a wonderful story and will find it's audience.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.