Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

For the longest time—I swear, it must have been years—if you called the Publisher’s Group West customer service number and waited on hold, you would hear a pitch for the book Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. I listened to that recording so many times that eventually the last thing I wanted was to read the book. It’s an ongoing problem I have: if a book is too popular (an Oprah book, or on the NYT Bestseller list), I lose all interest in reading it. I’m sure many of these are great books, and luckily I do read some of them before they become popular. I know, it’s a personal failing of mine.

Recently, however, I found a copy of Peace Like a River at my parents’ house, which is strange because my parents get all their books through me and I don’t remember ever seeing it before. And then shortly after that, a bookseller and fellow member of the NCCBA recommended it as a great crossover book for teens. She couldn’t express how much she loved the book. I decided to give it a try.

I did enjoy this book very much. For a while, I thought it might even go on my favorites of 2007 list. It was certainly beautifully written. I loved the narrative voice and the landscapes of Middle America of the 1960’s. Each character had a distinctive being that was so clear and sharp, and I loved each and every one. There was just enough mystery and wonderment infused into the story while still being true and real in the deepest way that fiction can be true.

Booklist’s description reads,

“What readers will appreciate first in Enger's marvelous novel is the language. His limpid sentences are composed with the clarity and richness for which poets strive…"We all hold history differently inside us," says narrator Reuben, who was an adolescent in Minnesota in the 1960s, when his brother, Davy, shot and killed two young men who were harassing the family. Rueben's father--in Rueben's estimation fully capable of performing miracles even though the outside world believed him to be lost in the clouds--packs Reuben and his sister up and follows the trail Davy has left in his flight from the law. Their journey comprises the action in the novel, but this is not really a book about adventures on the road. Rather, it is a story of relationships in which the exploration of character takes precedence over incident.”

Yes, yes. And yet… after I finished, a few things began to bother me. For one thing, I decided I wasn’t that happy with the ending (which I will not reveal here). Then, I began to think about what the meaning of the non-so-subtle religious subtext might be, and given the ending, it turned a bit into something less wondrous and pure than it had been before. Perhaps I would feel differently if I was a religious person, but maybe not. I get the feeling that Enger takes things just a little too far at the end.

One of the blurbs in the front pages struck a chord with me. It reads, “It is Enger’s gift that he has made their extraordinary world credible.” That is exactly how I felt until things became a bit too incredible and I lost that feeling of wonderment at witnessing the mysterious and unexplainable. It’s a shame, because I really thought it was a great book.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Tags: book reviews bestsellers Leif Enger