I Cheerfully Refuse
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Narrated by:
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David Aaron Baker
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Written by:
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Leif Enger
About this listen
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 BooksYou may also enjoy...
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What listeners say about I Cheerfully Refuse
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Jane Turner
- 2024-11-16
The magic of books - and a marriage
I haven't finished the book yet. I am drawing it out slowly and relistening in places. I have no doubt I'll read it again when I'm done. It's a story of dystopian times reduced to the sphere of a marriage. Rainy and Lark are two unique voices in literature. I don't want to say more to spoil it, but the narrator raises this work to breathtaking beauty and heartache. I will be seeking more from this author and narrator soon. You don't want to miss either of them.
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- Gary McAuley
- 2024-09-18
BRILLIANT !
This is a true delight I wanted this story to go on and on. Listening to Baker can be mesmerizing, at times brings back memories of Odd Thomas. I will be listening to this book more than once.
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- Budb
- 2024-09-17
Fantastic!
I loved this book from beginning to end. Many high and low emotions. I like a story that makes me feel something and this one really delivered.
It continues to amaze me how much the performer can add or detract from an audio book. David Aaron Baker is one of the best!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Loralee
- 2024-09-28
Boring
So boring I can't finish it. Very little plot. Wish I could get a refund.
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