It seems like bad things all happen in a bunch. In our house it was recession, job loss, winter and the holidays. The holidays are usually not a bad thing unless you’ve paired it with the previous 3 like we have. What is needed at a time like this is a great book to remind us of what we have to be thankful for.
Leif Enger’s 2001 masterpiece “Peace Like a River” is just that type of book. It is set in 1962 in a Midwest winter. It is hard times for the Land family with Jeremiah trying to raise his 3 children alone on a custodian’s salary. Things get even worse when trouble strikes the family and they take to the road in order to keep the family together. Leif Enger uses 11 year old Reuben Land as his narrator too breathtaking effects allowing us to see this world through a child’s eyes.
Jeremiah Land is a religious man but in a calm and sure way rather than in a loudly and proudly kind of way. An incident in his young adult life gives him a faith that is difficult to comprehend and has repercussions in his life and the lives of his children. Small miracles occur when he is around and his son Reuben considers his own existence on the planet to be the result of his father’s intervention during his birth.
As the family makes their way West they meet a cast of characters that burrow themselves into the story as neatly as raisins in bread. Their friends August and Birdie, their nemesis Andreeson and their savior Roxanna all provide a backdrop as the Lands struggle to reunite with older brother Davy and keep the family together. The trip provides adventures and challenges while testing their love and loyalty for each other.
If this story doesn’t haunt you for a few days then your imagination is in need of charging up. This story made me wonder about the seen and the unseen, faith, love, and loyalty. It also struck a chord with me because it expresses that sacrifice for another is really the ultimate nobility of mankind.
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