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    Peace Like a River
    Peace Like a River
    Peace Like a River
    Audiobook11 hours

    Peace Like a River

    Written by Leif Enger

    Narrated by Chad Lowe

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Born with no air in his lungs, it was only when Reuben Land's father, Jeremiah, picked him up and commanded him to breathe that Reuben's lungs filled. Reuben struggles with debilitating asthma from then on, making him a boy who knows firsthand that life is a gift, and also one who suspects that his father is touched by God and can overturn the laws of nature.

    The quiet 1960's midwestern life of the Lands is upended when Reuben's brother Davy kills two marauders who have come to harm the family. The morning of his sentencing, Davy—a hero to some, a cold-blooded murderer to others—escapes from his cell, and the Lands set out in search of him. Their journey is touched by serendipity and the kindness of strangers, and they cover territory far more extraordinary than even the Badlands where they search for Davy from their Airstream trailer.

    Sprinkled with playful nods to Biblical tales, beloved classics such as Huckleberry Finn, the adventure stories of Robert Louis Stevenson, and the westerns of Zane Grey, Peace Like A River is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 1, 2005
    ISBN9780060884192
    Author

    Leif Enger

    Leif Enger was raised in Osakis, Minnesota and has worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio since 1984. He lives on a farm in Minnesota with his wife and two sons.

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    Reviews for Peace Like a River

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      It’s funny, to read such a beautiful and poetic book and come away with no words describe it. If you want to go on an adventure of imagination then you want to read this book. You won’t regret it.
    • 5/5
      Wow. Just wow. There’s so much to say about the excellence of this book. The way the author invites the reader in through Reuben’s little asides, how he helps you see adult situations and faith through the eyes of an 11 year old, how he makes you feel all that Reuben feels by drawing in each bodily sense - it’s all fantastic. You feel the love and admiration that Reuben has for his family, especially his father, the moral dilemmas he faces as he missteps into dishonesty and betrayal, the discomfort he feels around characters like Jape, the disappointment in his own weakness as he is faced with choices. He does this even with the little details, such as inviting the reader to all but taste the cinnamon rolls. I even found myself catching my breath during descriptions of Reuben’s struggles to breathe. Everything felt so real. The way that the author paints faith is beautiful. It isn’t a preachy, wooden gospel presentation, but rather a very real picture of the reality of walking with the Lord. The way that we must all face our own depravity, recognize our need for forgiveness, and turn to a loving God who sees all and knows all so much better than we do. He reveals the difficulties of not understanding why God doesn’t do things that we want Him to, and yet His sovereign providence in it all. He shows the nature of sacrificial love that reflects the Father’s love for those He saves. I found this profound and lovely, and very authentic. Enger truly understands the true, the good, and the beautiful and has a talent for putting it down on paper. What a blessing this book was.
    • 5/5
      5 stars and a &#10084Think Scout Finch and Montana 1948, in this novel about family loyalty vs the law. Reuben (11 years old) narrates a family story revolving around brother Davy's murdering two intruders bent on hurting the family. Their father is a deeply religious man who, per Reuben, can perform miracles. The writing is glorious. There are many biblical references (some subtle). Our book club found much to discuss in this novel. His writing is so evocative of place (the Badlands of South Dakota). A very good book (though I think it could have ended at the penultimate chapter).I will definitely read more of his works. P.S. I had the opportunity to sit with Mr Enger for the Milwaukee Public Library's Spring Literary Luncheon in May 2009. He is an incredibly nice man. Re-read this in August 2010. Still in love with Enger's writing. I flagged so many passages my book sprouted a Mohawk of neon yellow, green, and pink sticky notes. And I appreciate the closure provided by the last chapter.
    • 5/5
      One of the best stories I've read/listened to in a long time. I was sad when it ended. I came to know and love the Land family.
    • 5/5
      Literary fiction so it’s slow moving but I love the language and how it is written. This is my second time reading it. The first was probably over 10 years ago. I had forgotten the ending and then wondered how I could have forgotten it!
    • 4/5
      Peace Like A River is a story of faith, family, and an extraordinary journey. But before you get the idea that it's a warm-fuzzy kind of book, one of the main characters guns down two teens in cold blood, the miracles that happen are more terrifyingly inexplicable than comforting, and there is no idyllic ending, no easy way out. Enger moves between happy (though complex) family scenes to abusive, appalling relationships, from visionaries to madmen. Please note that there will be spoilers in this review.The story is narrated by twelve-year-old Reuben Land, who suffers from severe asthma. His family — father Jeremiah, older brother Davy, and younger sister Swede — live on the edge of poverty in a small town in the Midwest. There has always been something different about Reuben's father, who gave up a promising career as a doctor to be a school janitor after a near-death experience in a tornado. Quiet, unassuming Mr. Land can do miracles. Not on demand, and sometimes he doesn't even know he is doing them, but Reuben sees them. His father's quiet faith and integrity make him the cornerstone of the novel, much like Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.In terms of style and tone, this book begs to be compared to Mockingbird. Early on I felt that the similarities were striking, but as the story developed I realized how different the two really are. Sure, they share a courtroom drama, a precocious child narrator, a quietly strong father, and complex family relationships, but the underlying ideas driving the story are so different. I guess you could say that both stories treat vigilante justice, but in one case you're decidedly opposed to it and in the other, you're divided (if not supportive). Both books have their share of eccentric characters and small-town gossip. But while Mockingbird is primarily concerned with innocence and racism, Peace Like A River is about miracles, physical infirmity, and the mystique of outlawry. Enger's book is very much its own story despite the irresistible comparisons to Lee's novel.At the end we get to the unstated struggle within Reuben that has been hinted at throughout the story. If his father will heal others — even hateful people who don't deserve his help and aren't grateful afterward — why won't he heal his own son's asthma? The unspoken question is there every time a miracle occurs. I wonder if this aspect of the story is a parallel to the story of God's sacrifice of Himself in Christ. If God is good and powerful, why doesn't He withhold pain and suffering from His children? Why doesn't He heal all our diseases and alleviate all our struggles, if He really does care? Why do good people suffer while bad people seem to do just fine? Part of the answer is that He never withholds pain from Himself either. He doesn't give us an easy road, but He has given us something infinitely better: Himself. At the end of this book, Reuben is healed, but not through a "small" and unobtrusive miracle like the others. The father sacrifices himself; only in the father's death can the child live.This is a book that will leave you with questions, but for me they aren't just about the miracles. The questions about faith and justice and family loyalty are so profound, played out in the lives of characters I came to really care about. Add to all this richness of theme Enger's smooth narrative voice and it's no wonder this book has garnered all kinds of rave reviews and critical acclaim.Near the end, Enger's beautifully drawn characters and faultless prose earn him the right to take us to this uncomfortable truth, right before it becomes real to Reuben:At that moment there was nothing—no valiant history or hopeful future—half worth my sister's pardon. Listening to Dad's guitar, halting yet lovely in the search for phrasing, I thought: Fair is whatever God wants to do. (294)Mmm.
    • 5/5
      Poetically written and a story that keeps drawing you in
    • 3/5
      I appreciated Enger's ability to describe things so well and yet in comparisons I wouldn't have thought to use. His dad's faith in God and nonresistance to his enemies I also appreciated.
    • 5/5
      Great story
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written, such a tender story that brought tears to my eyes.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I have ever read. The prose is a thing of beauty.
    • 3/5
      I would never have picked this book up based on the cover. In fact I thought it to be religious or spiritual propaganda at first glance! (woops) But thank goodness it was a gift, and I was able to get past my prejudices and read it. This is a story of an eleven year old boy, his brother and sister and dad. The older brother is jailed for a shooting that was committed in defense of his sister who was at threat of violence. He ends up escaping prison and the family goes in search of him. The story unfolds slowly, very slowly, and with a lot of description that to me seemed superfluous. Very close to the end of the book, the story picks up and gets very exciting, yet for some reason this section is rushed through. Perhaps the author wanted to keep focussed on family relationships which is what dominates the first 4/5 of the book. I found the slow pace made it difficult for me to keep interested, and I was really pleased when the story shifted gear close to the end. However, it was too close to the end that that happened for me to consider this book an excellent read. If I was editor I would have cut quite a few scenes from the book, including most of the epic poem the sister was working on throughout the book. (Yes, it paralleled the story we were reading, but to me was too much a distraction.) But: even though I found some of the phrasing irritating, it all added up to a rounded picture of the life of the family searching for their son/brother, a strong sense of place and the rollicking ending was exciting and worth the reading to that point.
    • 5/5
      What an amazingly written and powerfully protraied piece of masterful literature! Must listen!!!
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. The writing is fresh and unique. The characters are wonderfully drawn. It doesn’t hurt that it has a plot that spurred me on. The use of the supernatural - call it maybe a form of magic realism - might not suit everyone, but it worked fine for me.
    • 5/5
      Even better the second time. Not a huge fan of the reader for the audio though
    • 5/5
      A unique book, beyond genres, beautifully and sensitively written. An experience to remember
    • 5/5
      A near perfect book and a truly American book. You will love Reuben Land, his sister Swede, and their father. Told through the lenses of Western stories, quest tales, and a raw kind of mysticism, Enger shows us true miracles. I loved it and cannot recommend it highly enough.
    • 4/5
      3.5*Our narrator is 11 yr old Reuben Land.Our time frame is the 1960's."This is the story of Reuben's unusual family and their journey across the frozen Badlands of the Dakotas in search of his fugitive older brother.Charged with the murder of two locals who terrorized their family, Davy has fled."My main difficulty was identifying with the 1960's they present.It's unlike any thoughts I may have of the 1960's in the USA.Biblical illusions abound.To enumerate fully would be considered "a spoiler"This was a group read for my ABC reading group
    • 5/5
      What an engaging story! So thought provoking and inspiring. Thank you!
    • 4/5
      Reuben Land is an eleven-year-old asthmatic boy with a loving family. His younger sister, Swede, is an aspiring writer, his older brother Davy a passionate man and an accomplished game hunter, his dad...a man of miracles. But when the town bullies begin a feud between themselves and the Land family, the war is taken too far and Davy sentences himself to the life of an outlaw. With Davy gone, the Land family must find a way to recover, and Reuben and Swede are determined to find their older brother, who's escaped to the Dakota Badlands.This book was required reading for my Advanced Creative Writing class because of its masterful use of description and word choice. I had my doubts before picking up this book, but before I knew it, the humorous and literary writing style of Leif Enger had kidnapped me into his world of outlaws, road trips, and of course the Dakota Badlands. Its setting I particularly enjoyed because of a family road trip we took ourselves through the Badlands a couple years ago, so that's always a plus.Enger does a masterful job at weaving his words into an emotional journey for Reuben. With just a few short sentences, the reader will either fall in love with a character, or learn to loath him. Several characters in particular appear on scene and before they even step across the Land's front door threshold, you're already despising their very essence. One character comes to mind, as I remember him inviting himself over and thoughtlessly helping himself to the household's food supply. Although it was Swede's ninth birthday, she found herself obligated to cater to the obnoxious businessman instead of spending the evening with her family. #rude. Readers can almost taste Swede's indignance as it oozes from the pages.Another point I think Enger tackled quite well was the relationship between Reuben and his older brother and outlaw, Davy. As an upper teenager, to Reuben, the boy is beyond perfect, despite his reasons for turning outlaw. To Reuben and Swede, this dramatic adventure their brother has taken part of is just like the stories of cowboys and indians they love to read and/or write together. Reuben spends the entire book struggling over his opinion of his older brother as the fickle public eye sways back and forth with their favor. Enger manages to create a central tension in Reuben that resonates with the reader: we want them to find Davy, we want everything to work out. We ache to see that brother-brother reunion that we expect to get by the end of the book. Enger definitely had me fangirling pretty hardcore over this part of the plot. All the emotions are there. All the description is beautiful.With the exception of a few unrealistic elements (matters of self defense, breaking and entering, ages not matching up with personalities, etc), the main problem with this book is the climax. Ask anyone who's read this book, and you'll probably get the same answer: loved the book until the end. I'm not saying whether the book ends "happy" or not--that's not the issue. The issue was how the novel as a whole failed to come good on all its promises. Enger had several strong themes and subplots working for him, but only a handful were tied up at the end, which left me feeling somewhat cheated.It was almost as if the author got bored at the very end and hastily wrapped up the plot with a decently climatic ending and a hurried summary chapter. Characters changed abruptly at the end without reason. For example, one character in particular was introduced as loyal and willing to defend loved ones, but by the end of the book that same character didn't pull through when the others needed him the most.Another issue was its spiritual message. While Enger very clearly wrote this novel to be a Christian fiction, I felt as if the spiritual message of "believe in miracles" wasn't backed up in a meaningful way. Right at the beginning of the story, it's established that Reuben's dad is so connected to God that he actually as the ability to perform miracles. While this plot point certainly had potential, the reason for these miracles is only partially explained. Reuben believes in God, and at one point cries out to Him, but it feels as if this intended spiritual journey never fully comes to bloom.As I look back on the novel as a whole, my suspicion is that Leif Enger didn't write an outline, but instead wrote wherever and however his Muse led him. In an interview with the author, he said he "didn't think about the book commercially until [he] was over half done and [he] realized the book was going to have an end." It made me suspect that the narrative was more for a personal enjoyment than a carefully-crafted story. Based off the rest of the interview, that seems to be the case, which resulted in loose ends and themes that never got fully developed.As far as the writing craft itself goes, however, the book is a masterpiece. Every word is thought through carefully and nearly every character affects your emotions one way or another. After reading the novel, I was inspired to take up his writing style and attempt to conform my own story to Enger's voice, but unfortunately my vocabulary severely lacks in comparison to the author's wonderful word bank.Not to mention, the book has a little bit of everything: crime, adventure, western, romance.... It's truly impressive how the author has the ability to combine many of the genres we love into one beautifully written work.Things to Watch Out For:Sex/Romance: A couple is divorced and the man dates and eventually marries another woman. A fictional character in a collection of poetry kisses a woman that's not his wife and one of the characters takes offense. A female character is attacked by two boys in the women's locker room, but is rescued. A man wants to marry his adopted daughter.Language: NAViolence: Several characters are killed with moderate description, including several murders. Both men and boys are shot and killed. A boy struggles with asthma and occasionally has some health scares.Drugs: A teenaged boy smokes.Nudity: NAOther: A man can do miracles apparently on a whim, but these miracles usually don't do anything to point the characters affected to God or have any deep spiritual meaning.
    • 5/5
      Peace Like a River by Leif Enger; (5*)This one will definitely be one of my TOP TEN of 2017. Peace Like a River is written in the manner of a memoir in the voice of a young boy, aged 9 and growing up through his years. It tells the story of Reuben, his sister Swede, his brother Davey & their father
    • 4/5
      Enger kept my attention with near-poetic writing and the compelling voice of Rube the narrator.
    • 1/5
      This book completely disappointed me. It is labeled as Fiction. I call it Fantasy. The reason you might not call it Fantasy is because it is has very religious undertones and lets face it, we live in a very religious (Christian) society. I feel that this book bordered on propaganda and nothing more. As you will probably tell, I am not into this sort of genre at all.

      This book basically tells me one and only one story. God is bored. It is the story of a broken family. The Land family. Jeremiah (the father)(Yes we had to go with the biblical name because Sven just wouldn't fit or it was too late by the time we thought of the name Sven. Book was already in print.) Davy (eldest son) Swede (Daughter) and Rueben (youngest son). The story starts off nice enough, but right from the start, asks me to swallow the unbelievable as probable truth. When I read Tolkien or Eddings I have my mind set that all the magic that is used in those stories are fictitious and that is why the books are labled "Fantasy". Here, the impression is that with GOD "It could happen" so we get away with "Fiction". But I digress....

      The Land family starts off with advesaries. It seems that two of the boys from high school are after Jeremiah and his family because Jeremiah saved a young lady from their pleasure in the school locker rooms. So what do these two boys do? They break into the Land residence with the intention of causing bodily harm to any of the Land family members with a baseball bat.

      In my opinion, the true hero of this story is Davy Land. He gets up and decides that he has had enough and gets his father's hunting rifle and ends the matter, his way! Good for you Davy! Now he gets arrested and public opinion sides with the two boys that were murdered. I totally disagree with the author on the chain of events here. It seems that he is asking the reader to behave like the townspeople.

      Lets forget that these two kids have a rap sheet with the law a mile wide.
      Lets forget that these two losers committed breaking an entering.
      Lets forget that these two kidnapped Swede with the intent of doing her harm. (much earlier in the story).
      Lets forget that Davy Land never had an encounter with the law in his life.

      He gets busted really bad as if he were a hardned criminal.

      What ever happened to protection of property?
      What ever happened to Self Defense?

      Nope. The Author asks me the reader to be ignorant and not think of these things in order for the story to flow. Then...here it comes...another fantasy moment. Davy breaks out of jail. He was gone in a "puff of smoke" according to another inmate. The implication here is that it was God's Will that made Davy's escape possible. Earlier in the story Rueben gives an account of how he had to go to the bathroom in the woods but held it beyond all reason to watch his father walk on air "by the power of God" Again, if this were a fantasy novel, we would expect this as magic or witchcraft. But no, we are in a fiction novel, with the power of God - it could happen! Yeah right!

      Problem that I have with this is that there are many impressionable people reading this stuff. And the author tries to make an impact while proposing that because of faith, this could happen. Well, to me, this goes against all the almighty took the trouble to create. It just does not make sense that God would violate his own laws in order to directly intervene and help others. Doesn't he have better things to do? And what did he do before Homo Sapiens came on the scene? It must have been really boring with the Amoebas.

      The writing is kind of childish as well. Granted, the author was writing from the perspective of Rueben, the youngest child, but still....the descriptions were bland and you just wanted to skip paragraphs because you did not want to get caught up in all this meaningless descriptions of things.

      I guess one of the reasons I gave this book a low rating is because it was hyped up to me as such a great story. Now that I read it, I wanted to wretch like I had gotten the flu or something.

      So, in conclusion, if you are looking to renew your faith in God or if you just like a good "Go God Go" Rah Rah Rah God...type of book, you will find this highly entertaining. God can do no wrong and as long as you associate with him, his way you will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, you will be able to even perform some of the miracles described in this book. One rule does apply here. You MUST believe everything you read when it comes to God's miracles. If you don't, if you question (like I do), you will simply ruin the mood and the book will not be anywhere near as enjoyable....So, Don't listen to Eve, don't take a bite of the fruit!

      For those of us who have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and are free thinkers, you will struggle with this book. You will have difficulting accepting that there are some people in the world that have problems with original thinking and give God all the credit for building the airplane that allows us to fly and give no credit to the God within man that gave man the inspiration to create. In the end, it was Man who exercised his creativity and his free will to build the Airplane in order to fly. The seed came from God, the rest was up to man! (I am just waiting for all of the highly religious to come after me on this one).
    • 3/5
      Second reading. Since I am an atheist, I had problems with the god parts. The author does have a way with words.
    • 4/5
      I didn't realize until after the first chapter that I had read this before and liked it. It's just as good the 2nd time around.
    • 5/5
      A wonderfully moving book. I heard all the praise for this author for his latest work. I found a good used copy of this book and gave it a read. I had no idea what to expect so it took me about fifty pages to get into it. Well-written, wonderful characters, and a great story. I loved it.
    • 4/5
      Read for Book Club - I liked it way more than my other two book club members. Jeremiah Lamb - like an Old Testament prophet meek as Abraham, what a creat character. We discussed the ending and they were disappointed some how, but I liked it.
    • 4/5
      Once upon a time there was a young boy who was born with asthma. That is he was almost not born as his birth was something like a miracle; maybe it was one. Thus the story of Reuben Land, as narrated by himself, begins. His story and that of his family is one filled with miracles and stories within the story. It is both the story of the rite of passage of the young boy and his journey from young life through adventures that are in many ways as magical as a fairy tale.
    • 3/5
      Good story. Dragged out a bit In spots so I skimmed. Great characters; Swede and Rueben are marvelously written. Enger is a good story teller, just a bit wordy at times. I really enjoy coming-of-age stories, and this was that for Swede and Rueben.
    • 4/5
      Peace Like a River tells the story of the Land family, a father and his two sons living in rural Minnesota in the 1960s. Life changes dramatically when bullies enter the Land home and older brother Davy shoots and kills the assailants. While awaiting trial, Davey escapes from prison and an all out search begins. Jeremiah, the father, and his younger son Reuben set out in their Airstream trailer to find Davy. Along the way they meet kind strangers who give them shelter and nurse Jeremiah back to health. Reuben finds Davy but keeps it a secret until he fears for Davy's life. Ultimately Davy is never captured although there is a shoot out and Jeremiah is shot and killed. Reuben returns home to live and marries the girl whom Davy lived in hiding with at one point.