I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger and I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Two books this week.  Let's start with I Cheerfully Refuse as it was the better of the two I read.

Rainy is a musician living with Lark, a women he loved before he saw her face. He would hear her read aloud to others at a library and this introduced him to reading classics. Lark brought the stories to life for him. They have a good life and while money was tight thay made ends meet - he playing his bass guitar in a band and Lark forming a library and book store for those who still care about reading. Apparently in this dystopian time there are those who protest the shop, thinking reading is an evil thing. Geez....a little close to what some folks think today with the book banning. (Scary)

 

There are numerous passages I bookmarked in this dystopian/apocalyptic novel by Leif Enger.  In spite of society collapsing, there were still very good people, just ordinary people who didn't know wealth or privilege, going that extra mile to help others.

The early part sets the scene with Rainy describing a ruined road.  

Driving down the road that was described as level once it is now full of holes, shoulders of the pavement sagging into a ditch. There’s a spot where two flash floods in a month blew out a culvert. Technically, it’s still a state highway , but the state ignores their compliance saying they were going to “allocate funds“ but they never did repair it. 

Here is an example of people helping others when they didn’t have to:

“After more than a year, a pair of loggers, a basement contractor, and a retired mining engineer showed up with their skidders and chainsaws and cement truck and they rebuilt the missing section with pine logs and concrete.”  

A helping hand for those who didn't have the skills.  A small segment of the society who looked out for each other, helped when needed and knew they could count on their neighbors when they needed something.

In the beginning Rainy and Lark took in a boarder named Kellan.  He had his own secrets as he had escaped a “medicine ship."  People willingly signed on to live on the pharmaceutical ship  to be used for drug/medicine experiments.  They were working on a cure for something obscure, never quite sure what it was exactly.  After so much time they were allowed to leave and return to their families. You did what you had to for survival.  Apparently the trials were so bad that some people escaped and this was Kellan's situation.  That and some drugs he absconded with which meant....some one would come looking.

 Kellan warned Rainey about this mythical bad man named Werryck and true to form, Werryck was definitely one bad guy to be avoided. He warned Rainy, “You think he won’t come but he will. You’re big and strong? Doesn’t matter. Listen to me. When you see him standing in your kitchen, you slip out the back. Be quiet, be quick. Don’t hunt for your wallet. Don’t grab a coat. Go out the window if you have to.” 

Werryck did arrive and brought destruction, crushed Rainy's dreams and life, causing our narrator to flee in a ship he and Lark had once sailed.  The story takes us on a voyage across Lake Superior with Rainy doing what he can to survive, helping others even when it puts him in danger, giving hope to the humanity left when they choose to accept it.

The lake itself seemed like a character on it's own with the vivid descriptions of waves, the storms, the unpredictability of the weather and how a man can challenge it and still survive.

I would read more by this author. 4 stars

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This book - I Let You Go - is a hard one to rate.  I have enjoyed previous books by Clare Mackintosh and while this wasn't boring or dull it did deal with the death of child in the beginning. The settings are Bristol England and coastal Wales.  

Jenna is walking five year old Jacob home from school on a rainy evening.  While they are happily chattering away, despite the rain and cold, it seems like an ideal evening is in store for them.  Then he says, "race you home" and pulls away from her hand, running straight into the path of a car.  Every parents nightmare.  This is not a spoiler as it's stated in the book description straight away.

 

Jenna moves away from Bristol to a place she has never been to start over and leave memories behind.  She arrives in a remote town in Wales with zero possessions and rents a cottage well off the beaten track.  Meanwhile the police in Bristol are frantically searching for her as she was the only witness.  There is quite a bit more to the plot and story but suffice it to say, she is hiding a big secret.  It's sort of like Gone Girl where you read the first part of the story then go over the waterfall with all this information falling into place very quickly.  Themes of domestic abuse could be triggers for some readers.  As I said, I have enjoyed her other books but this wasn't my favorite. Rounded to 3 stars.

Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon. and Joy's Book Blog for Britsh Isles Friday for Long Island and The Life Impossible.