Virgil Wander (Enger) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Enger’s first novel in 10 years marks him as a foremost stylist. His prose is rhapsodic, kaleidoscopic and — I’ll say it — enviable. Even more enviable is the rare feat of writing a comedic literary novel that is also a page-turner. He’s performing on a trapeze that not many others have even reached for.… Enger deserves to be mentioned alongside the likes of Richard Russo and Thomas McGuane. Virgil Wander is a lush crowd-pleaser about meaning and second chances and magic.
Nickolas Butler - New York Times Book Review


The well-meaning sad sack who narrates this poignant novel …has just driven his car into icy Lake Superior when the book opens.… Enger’s novel gives magical realism a homely Midwestern twist, and should have very broad appeal.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) With an unexpected dry wit, Enger pens a loosely woven plot about plucky Greenstone residents working to rejuvenate their town…. Surprises and delights throughout; definitely worth waiting for. —Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO
Library Journal


(Starred review) The focus of [Enger’s] bright and breathing third novel feels mostly like life itself, in all its smallness and bigness, and what it means to live a good one.
Booklist


[A] magical mystery tour of a fictional town on the shores of Lake Superior, near Duluth. [Enger's] first novel in a decade—perhaps his most ambitious. Or at least his most overstuffed.
Kirkus Reviews