Peace Like a River

I read this for a local book club. Enger is a major name in Minnesota literature, and I was glad to have an excuse to pick up this debut of his, right as his new release is getting a lot of buzz. I must say--dang, this man can write. The Land family is mesmerizing in their complexity. The book is dark and sinister yet profoundly hopeful, ardently Christian yet not the sort to ever be marketed in a Christian bookstore. The main character is Reuben Land, an 11-year-old asthmatic, the middle child in a loving family that features an honorable, religious father who performs the occasional miracle, an older brother who is sometimes too ancient and callous for a teenager, and a younger sister, Swede, who I adore for her precocious, obsessive show more western-themed poetry. When older brother Davey defends the family against home invaders, he flees from the American justice system, and the family soon sets off in pursuit. The mood of the book is, at times, dream-like and weird, not tidy at all, and the end is not something that can be predicted.

I would love to read more of Enger's work and absorb some of his mastery of prose. show less

Once upon a time there was a young boy who was born with asthma. That is, he almost died, as his birth was something like a miracle; maybe it was one. Thus the story of Reuben Land, as narrated by himself, begins. His story and that of his family is one filled with miracles and stories within the story. It is both the story of the rite of passage of the young boy and his journey from young life through adventures that are in many ways as magical as a fairy tale.

Peace Like a River is a strange but pleasing book, containing echoes of the picaresque novel and the archetypal quest, with passing references to Homer, the Bible, and historical figures of the American West. The author immediately establishes a winning voice for his show more eleven-year-old narrator, Reuben Land, which alternates with the adult Reuben’s omniscient but equally relaxed voice. He is a perceptive character, although admittedly self-critical, “beyond my depth and knowing it, yet unable to shut up.” He reminded me of one of my favorite literary narrators, David Copperfield.

To begin with, Reuben was born “a little clay boy” with ominously swampy lungs, unable to draw breath until his father, Jeremiah, rushed into the hospital room and commanded him to breathe. Even though the infant was without oxygen for twelve minutes, he miraculously suffered no brain damage; but his lungs remain weak into adolescence. Ironically, while Reuben has watched his father walk on air and heal a man’s raw face with a single touch, his own asthma remains uncured. Jeremiah can only steam him with salt and baking soda or thump his back to loosen the congestion. Reuben fully believes he has survived such an inauspicious beginning in order to bear witness to his father’s unexplainable miracles, since “no miracle happens without a witness.” He does not use the word “miracle” lightly, for real miracles bother people. He is never certain whether his father prays for miracles or whether they just happen.

His father works as a school janitor in the small town of Roofing, Minnesota, and is plagued by frequent headaches. A mild man of conscience, he reads his Bible daily, silently, and without ostentation. A man of prayer and intense conversation with God, he at one point literally wrestles with the Almighty. Davy, Jeremiah’s older son, is in some respects already an adult at sixteen, but unfortunately he is hot-tempered and unlike his father, he prefers to act rather than wait. He is very protective of their little sister, known only as Swede, a precocious and endearing young girl. She is a widely read and literate child but blunt with the artlessness of childhood. A passionate fan of Western novels, Swede is in love with the legendary Old West. Her real-life hero is the young Teddy Roosevelt, who ranched in North Dakota before becoming president. Reuben, too, admires and envies Roosevelt for his triumph over asthma.

Two young thugs attack Swede and later provoke Davy, and when they break into his home with a baseball bat, Davy shoots them both. Although he is arrested and jailed for murder, he refuses to plead self-defense, insisting that he intended to shoot. Reacting to the scandal, the school superintendent decides to “scour that janitor’s teeth” by first humiliating Jeremiah and then publicly firing him in in front of a lunchroom full of children. At Davy’s trial, a reluctant Reuben testifies as an eyewitness to the shootings until, carried away by self-importance, he unintentionally strengthens the case against his brother. There is little hope that the jury will release Davy, who promptly breaks out of jail, escaping with a horse and a revolver. No one knows where he has gone.

On Christmas Eve they receive a mixed blessing—word that an acquaintance has died, bequeathing his brand new Airstream trailer to Jeremiah. After a friend in North Dakota reports that Davy has been seen, the Lands determine to find him. The rest of the story becomes a modern odyssey. They tow the shiny Airstream trailer with their old station wagon and the novel expands its mythic dimensions. A detective follows them across the Great Plains in bitter winter weather to a small city park, where a severe headache forces Jeremiah to camp overnight. . Well into the Badlands, a notorious area of bleak buttes and mesas in the western part of the state, they come to a farmhouse with two gasoline pumps in front and a propane tank. The self-reliant owner, Roxanna Cawley, greets them with a newborn goat in her arms. Earth mother and impressive cook, she soon offers them a place to stay the night. As it turns out Davy is holed up with another fugitive, Jape Waltzer, not too far away. The denouement of the story, however, yields some twists that were surprising for this reader.

Enger’s vivid imagery is an attractive feature of Peace Like a River. There are also Reuben's dreams and mythic legends. The book describes some of literature’ s most accurate and claustrophobic descriptions of severe asthma. As Reuben explains, “Sometimes when the breathing goes it goes like that—like smoke filling a closet. . . Your breaths are sips, couldn’t blow out the candle on a baby’s cake.” In lyrical passages, Enger evokes autumn and winter on the Great Plains (“skies so cold frost paisleyed the gunbarrels”). Here the land itself is always a presence, a sharp reminder of a power far beyond human limitations—immense sky, sweeping prairie, the cold, clean Dakota wind—even the boundless desolation of the fabled Badlands, where the ground is eternally on fire.

One might be tempted to allegorize this novel, for it could easily slide into abstraction: Jeremiah as the good Christian, a saint; Davy as the archetypal rebel, beloved even as he sins; the fugitive Jape Waltzer, who is always accompanied by the odor of sulfur, as the Devil. To limit the book in this way would be doing it a disservice, for its very human characters are beautifully drawn. While there are many motifs in Leif Enger's Peace like a River, three of them are consistent, unmistakable, and connected. The first motif is breathing, and the other two—miracles and dreams—At its center it revolves around the nature and power of love—divine, human, and brotherly love, perfect and imperfect—the love that binds this small family together. show less

Once in a great while, we encounter a novel in our voluminous reading that begs to be read aloud. Leif Enger's debut, Peace Like a River, is one such work. His richly evocative novel, narrated by an asthmatic 11-year-old named Reuben Land, is the story of Reuben's unusual family and their journey across the frozen Badlands of the Dakotas in search of his fugitive older brother. Charged with the murder of two locals who terrorized their family, Davy has fled, understanding that the scales of justice will not weigh in his favor. But Reuben, his father, Jeremiah—a man of faith so deep he has been known to produce miracles—and Reuben's little sister, Swede, follow closely behind the fleeing Davy.

Affecting and dynamic, Peace Like a River show more is at once a tragedy, a romance, and an unflagging exploration into the spirituality and magic possible in the everyday world, and in that of the world awaiting us on the other side of life. In Enger's superb debut effort, we witness a wondrous celebration of family, faith, and spirit, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long, long time—and the birth of a classic work of literature. show less

“No miracle happens without a witness. Someone to declare, here’s what I saw. Here’s how it went. Make of it what you will.” – Leif Enger, Peace Like a River

In 1962, single dad Jeremiah Land and his three children, Davy, Reuben, and Swede, live in Roofing, Minnesota. Jeremiah is a devout Christian who relies on divine guidance. Reuben, the story’s eleven-year-old narrator, believes his father performs miracles. He suffers from asthma and wonders why his father’s miracles have never cured him. After two bullies assault Davy’s girlfriend, kidnap Swede, and break into their house, Davy shoots them. He is arrested but escapes jail. The family and a federal agent pursue him to the Badlands of North Dakota.

This is the story show more of a family. They want to love and protect Davy while realizing there should be consequences to his actions. Reuben’s character is particularly well developed. His young age enables him to recount events with a tenderness and vulnerability. It is violent and gruesome in places. As the story proceeds, there are several surprises in store for the reader.

Themes include ramifications of decisions, faith, loss of innocence, and family loyalty. It functions as an allegory, a tragedy, and a western-themed adventure. It explores questions of ethics that do not have clear-cut answers. I particularly enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of the landscapes and the caring interactions between the father and his children. show less

I've been on a bit of a tear lately, reading all of Leif Enger's novel and ending with this, his first.

What a tale! Laced with biblical imagery and all the energy of youth, the story grabbed me not by its plot, but by its characters. Each of them are fully developed and fleshed out. The language was shot through with poetry and Mr. Enger does know how to turn a phrase.

But that goddamned Jape Waltzer is still out there....

Leif Enger’s writing is, in a word, delightful. A simple story of a boy and his younger sister and father searching for his outlaw brother becomes so much more in Enger's hands.

PEACE LIKE A RIVER, narrated by 11-year-old Reuben Land, begins when he is born, and a miracle occurs. First he appears to be dead. Even the doctor has given up on him. But his father orders him to breathe. He does and lives to tell the tale. He continues to witness and hear about other miracles his father is responsible for.

Now it is 1962. Two high school boys continually cause trouble for the Land family after Reuben's father, a janitor at the high school, catches those two boys starting to rape a girl. One day when the Lands are all in bed and sleeping, the show more two boys break into their home. But when they get to the bedroom that Reuben shares with his 16-year-old brother, Davy, Davy is ready for them. He shoots them both but more times than is necessary.

So Davy ends up in jail. But he breaks out and goes on the run. And the Lands, including Reuben's little sister, Swede, go looking for him.

PEACE LIKE A RIVER is about their adventures. Reuben's descriptions, especially those of his father and Swede, deserve my highest praise.

I'm still trying to figure out, though, how Swede, three years younger than Reuben, has the vocabulary and writing abilities of a college graduate. show less

What a gorgeous book. I found myself rationing chapters to make it last longer and thinking about the really difficult situations and personal struggles this book brings up. I'm not a religious person, but this book almost could make me find religion. I highly recommend giving it a try.