Peace Like a River

"And so I sound like a man making the most marginal sense - as if I were describing one of those dreams that seemed so genuine at the time." - Reuben

Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger was exactly that, a story of marginal sense.  It was clouded and confusing as some dreams are, and I yearned for when I would wake.  

The story of the unfortunate Land family is set in the cold, bleak, wintry world of North Dakota and Minnesota.  Hardship and faith are the cornerstones of the family's foundation.  Their ability to cling to one while enduring the other is what constitutes most of the book.

Reuben, a sickly eleven year old boy is the young narrator of the story.  He tells of his family's struggles and strength with a boyishness that is aptly written.  He is witness to many strange miracles done at the hands of his devout father, a school janitor, yet does not question or doubt their happening.  He also witnesses two boys get shot to death at the hands of his brother, yet blindly continues to worship him.  

The frequent episodes of the seemingly insignificant miracles do little to offer hope or salvation for any of the Lands, or to the book.  I thought the strong characters like Swede (the sister) and Davy (the brother) were as infirm as Reuben's asthmatic lungs, not allowed to fully develop in the story.  The weak characters, (everyone else) were as numerous and as paltry as the miracles.  The power of the prophetic father, as a single parent, and a healer was thrown away to Reuben's fleeting attention span and naive grasp on the tragedies befalling their family.  I felt there could have been so much more depth and interest to the story if we had been offered another point of view.  

There were redeeming factors in Enger's writing and imagination, but for the most part I thought Peace like a River was as bland and bleak as the scenery so expertly described.