Peace Like a River

Peace like a River, by Leif Enger


Loved it. I'm so glad I read this one. I actually started it a long time ago... Whenever I was at my friends Drew and Jessi's house, I would invariably nurse baby Violet upstairs in their office, where they keep their books. And of course, I would read. After all, I was stuck there for at least 30 minutes, so I worked through the first few chapters of "Peace Like a River" over several months. I liked what I read, but I didn't complete the book until this summer. I had an unused audible.com credit which I redeemed for our vacation this summer. I tried really hard to pick something my honey would like, too, but he hasn't read (or rather, listened to) this one yet. His loss--I'm sure he will love it, too.

The story is set in rural Minnesota in 1962. The narrator is a 10 year old boy named Reuben, and he describes his imaginative, honor-bound little sister, Swede; his father, whose prayer life is so alive, and whose King James Bible is so worn, that genuine miracles accompany his humble circumstances; and his 16-year brother Davy, who seems more like his father's equal than his own brother. Two bullies harass the family until Davy is provoked to violence that puts him in the town jail and the center of controversy. When Davy escapes, the remainder of his family sets out to search for him.

Their search echoes the poetry that Swede writes, epic battles of good and evil set in the American west. Swede brings plenty of allusions to "Riders of the Purple Sage," Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and Zorro. But then Rueben, in his foolish 10 year-old judgement, makes disastrous choices which affect even more people than their own family.

The writing was lyrical, and the characters were firmly anchored in a strong sense of place and time. My only quibble was that the ending was so beautiful, and so gut-wrenching, that it almost felt like cheating. I usually listen to audiobooks (or podcasts) when I'm doing chores like mopping or laundry, but when I got to the ending, I just sat on the couch and listened while tears streamed down my face. If you want to read a really good story, get this book.