Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Peace Like a River Enger Leif's 'Peace like a river' Enger Leif's 'Peace like a river' essentially revolves around the famous 60s theme of loss of innocence. How Americans lost a part of their innocence with hippie culture and western hooliganism is the issue addressed in this book, however with less darker undertones than some other novels in the same genre.

For those of us who can like and appreciate a good story without dwelling on its flaws, 'Peace like a river' is a great novel that might help restore your faith in the healing power of storytelling. But for the rest of us, Leif's book has its fair share of flaws that leave a few loopholes here and there and you might end up wishing that the author had paid closer attention to some details and problems.

Critically speaking, the book is worth treading a few times for some amazing lines and some truly original observation and comments, however it would have turned out a better book had the author concentrated on creation of right ambience and setting as much as the story itself. Briefly, the story goes like this: set in 1960s, the story is told from the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy Reuben whose older brother Davy kills two street thugs and ends up running away from police and his own family.

In an attempt to save his son and the entire Land clan, Jeremiah leaves his hometown for Montana. Basically this is the plot of the novel which few would call original. Not only is the plot rather stale, the treatment given to it is also anything but fresh or unique. However the story does have its moments especially the climax and few interesting lines here and there.

For example in the beginning of the novel, Reuben says something about miracles which is quite good if not original: Real miracles bother people. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave -- now there's a miracle, and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time. When a person dies, the earth is generally unwilling to cough him back up. A miracle contradicts the will of earth.

My sister Swede, who often sees the nub, offered this: People fear miracles because they fear being changed - though ignoring them will change you also." (Page 4) Miracles appear to be the second most important theme of the book. The author sheds light on the power of miracles and how they play an important role in our lives.

Faith is another important subject in the book and Enger appears to suggests that everyone has the power to create miracles in their daily lives provided they have faith in their ability to do so. From the day Rueben was born, we see his father performing small miracles. However what is rather frustrating is the utter lack of predictability and order.

When would Jeremiah perform a miracle and why wouldn't he do so when his son was killing the thugs or escaping from police are some of the questions that keep bothering the reader. If he was so good at miracle making, why couldn't he use his powers when they were needed the most? The novel is set in 1960s, however it sounds more contemporary because of stark absence of anything-60s such as the Beatles (Thomas, 2001), or beats generation or Charlie parker.

Something purely from the 60s would have given that much needed 60s-feel to the novel. The author probably wanted to concentrate primarily on the adventure-filled life of the Land family. While Enger probably paid more attention to the development of Rueben's character, it is Jeremiah's character that draws our attention more because of the numerous bizarre contradictions that his character exhibits.

The man was deeply religious so much so that he leaves his worldly job but how is starving your family connected with being religious is something that puzzles most readers. The brilliance and the main strength of the book lie in its depiction of the main theme of loss of innocence. The treatment given the plot is not exactly worth mentioning but the way the author has tackled the.