Cox Commentaries: Peace Like a River

I just finished an incredible book last night: Leif Enger's debut novel, Peace Like a River. The reviews on the back praise Enger's prose as "tart and crisp as a Minnesota autumn" with "limpid sentences . . . composed with the clarity and richness for which poets strive." Said one reviewer: "There are passages so wondrous and wise you'll want to claw yourself with pleasure."

I admit when I read these reviews I was skeptical. I mean, claw myself with pleasure? Surely that was an exaggeration. However, it didn't take much dipping into the pages of the story for me to see what the reviewers meant. I was immediately taken in by the richness of the text, the honesty and humanity of the story. It was like gently swaying through a memory--a memory that is beautiful, notwithstanding the darkness and violence that marks it. Interwoven in the memory are themes of faith, miracles, violence, vengeance, suspense, right and wrong, loyalty, romance, growing up, hope, repentance, innocence, resilience. So believably and powerfully is the memory revealed that I was led to question more than once if these events really happened to Enger.

The story takes place in 1960s Minnesota, told from the perspective of Reuben Land sharing the life altering--as well as some of the mundane; after all, a bum can just be a bum--events of his twelfth year of life. I don't want to spoil the plot--it would be much more exciting for you to just pick up an copy of the book and let the plot unfold as you read it yourself, as I did. If you are worried about it being a "Mormon" book, it's not. Though there are Christian undertones, they are not pushy or overly sentimental. Instead the reader is invited to "make of it what you will."

I'm not sure how much I like the ending, but life doesn't always work out the way we want and the novel is about life, so the ending works. I imagine that further reading of the novel--along with its ending--will only endear me more to it.

Peace Like a River is just as it is titled, bringing a sense of flowing peace to the reader--a peace mixed with danger and hope, just like a river.