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Description edit
Leif Enger's rhapsodic novel about a father raising his three children in 1960s Minnesota is a breathtaking celebration of family, faith, and America's pioneering spirit. Through the voice of eleven-year-old Reuben, an asthmatic boy, Peace Like a River tells of the Land family's cross-country... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Jeremiah Land: Davy, Reuben, and Swede's father, a religious and spiritual man who has raised his three children by himself after his wife left. Works as a janitor. Afflicted by terrible headaches.
- Davy Land: Reuben and Swede's older brother. At 16 a hunter and a man. Protecting his siblings, he runs afoul of the law. His evasion of the law drives the action in the story, as Jeremiah chases across the country after him with his other two children to try to bring him home.
- Reuben Land: Narrator of the story, an asthmatic young boy who grows into manhood throughout the story. Sometimes called Natty Bumppo after James Fenimore Cooper's matchless hunter by Davy and his Dad. He is a silent witness to his father's miracles.
- Swede Land: the only daughter and youngest of the land family loves words, poetry and the Wild West. An avid reader of western novels, she writes impressive epic western sagas in well rhymed poetry.
- Dolly: Davy's girlfriend who is attacked by Tommy Basca and Israel Finch
- Dr. Animas Nokes: Doctor who brought Reuben into the world and witnessed Jeremiah's first miracle working. Stands by the Land family in their troubles
- August and Birdie Shultz: Jeremiah Land's oldest and best friend and his wife. Invite the Lands to goose hunt on one of their North Dakota farms each year.
- Israel Finch: Thug and bully who initiates the problems in the novel. Extensive juvenile record. Comes from a broken home. Grandfather a drunk.
- Tommy Basca: A bully and thug who initiates the problems that drive the story. Follows Finch's lead. Beloved by his aunt who calls him Bubby
- Reverand James Reach: pale, uninspiring Methodist minister, with a limp and speech impediment, who stands by the Lands
- Reverand Johnny Latt: Revivalist preacher who speaks in tongues, and lays on hands
- Tin Lurvy: a garrulous traveling salesman, who drops in without notice, and is treated kindly by Jeremiah Land. Orders a brand new 1963 Airstream trailer.
- Bethany Orchard: Girl that Reuben admires
- Mr. Decuellar: Davy's court appointed defense attorney who becomes a friend of the family
- Mr. Holgren: the despicable Superintendent of Schools in Roofing, MN
- Mr Martin Andreeson: Federal investigator looking for Davy after it is believed he'd crossed state lines. Swede calls him Putrid fed
- Mr.Gerald Layton: dime store man with a bad back who stands by the Lands. He has a decrepid corncrib he hires Reuben to take down
- Lonnie Ford: Runs range cattle on the land adjoining Roxanna's in the Badlands - happier on a horse than in his city-loving wife's disgruntled presence
- Butch Cassidy: legendary western outlaw
- Raymond: Fat, snot-faced 6-year old who watches Reuben deconstruct the Layton corncrib, the first to admire his dubious strength
- Laurie and Brit: August Shultz's paint mare and gelding
- Valdez: The villain in Swede's epic poem about Sunny Sundown, lawman of the wild west.
- James Younger: One of Frank and Jesse James gang of outlaws, brother of Cole
- Dr. Nickles: Incompetent doctor with shaky hands in the Badlands
- Jonas R. Work: Fictitious name and identity of Butch Cassidy when he returned from Bolivia and decided to go straight. Died in Oct. 1936
- Charlie Pitts: a member of Frank and Jesse James gang of outlaws - a natty dresser
- Nelson Svedvig: reported stolen Arabian mare from his farm near Montrose
- Cole Younger: One of Frank and Jesse James gang of outlaws - eldest of the Younger brothers, who when offered his freedom for telling who'd fired the shot in a bank robbery - wrote "Be true to your friends–thought the heavens fall."
- Jape Waltzer: Outlaw in the Badlands with a cabin near Grassy Butte, North Dakoda. Also uses the name of Robinson.
- Elvis: Prosecuting Attorney against Davy
- Sheriff Charlie Pym: Sheriff in Roofing when Davey was incarcerated and escaped. Pym disapproved of Mikey Spillane's books because Spillane had made a humorous remark about Pym's sparse beard, when they'd met years before.
- Roxanna Cawley: Helps the Land family on their journey to find Davy. Eventually, Roxanna and the Land family become great friends.
- Sara: Downtrodden 14 year old redhead living with Waltzer. Given to him in Utah by her father five years before, Waltzer is raising her up to be his wife
- Emil: Pig in Waltzer's cabin-second reported missing by a local farmer
- Deputy Walt Stockard: Gleeful when Davy escapes jail
- Peter Emerson: Comes to visit frail Reuben after their return to Roofing, MN - brings the Spartacus model Reuben had so wanted the Christmas before. Has three brothers, who manage to get even with mean Superintendent Holgren
Quotes edit
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“"So you can win the battle, Reuben"--Waltzer shrugged--"but the war is lost long ago."”
Jape Waltzer, the villain. -
“Once touched by truth, a little thing like faith is easy.”
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“The small and the vulnerable own a protection great enough, if you could but see it, to melt you into jelly. Beware those who reside beneath the shadow of the Wings.”
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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People fear miracles because they fear being changed—though ignoring them will change you also.
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When did it come to Davy Land that exile is a country of shifting borders, hard to quit yet hard to endure, no matter your wide shoulders, no matter your toughened heart?
Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers -
Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature. It’s true: They rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in.
Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers -
It is one thing to be sick of your own infirmities and another to understand that the people you love most are sick of them also. You are very near then to being friendless in this world.
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No miracle happens without a witness. Someone to declare, Here’s what I saw. Here’s how it went. Make of it what you will.
Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers -
Let me say something about that word: miracle. For too long it’s been used to characterize things or events that, though pleasant, are entirely normal. Peeping chicks at Easter time, spring generally, a clear sunrise after an overcast week—a miracle, people say, as if they’ve been educated from greeting cards. I’m sorry, but nope. Such things are worth our notice every day of the week, but to call them miracles evaporates the strength of the word.
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History was built into Davy so thoroughly he could never see how it owned him.
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I like to believe we have all said things that approach this in stupidity.
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I can feel it still, that sizzling jump inside my organs. It didn’t feel good, not as I would’ve suspected the touch of the Lord might feel, but I wouldn’t say it felt bad either. It only felt powerful, like truth unhusked. Once torched by truth, Swede wrote years later, a little thing like faith is easy.
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Once traveling, it’s remarkable how quickly faith erodes. It starts to look like something else—ignorance, for example. Same thing happened to the Israelites. Sure it’s weak, but sometimes you’d rather just have a map.
Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
From my first breath in this world, all I wanted was a good set of lungs and the air to fill them with--given the circumstances, you might presume, for an American baby of the twentieth century.
Table of Contents edit
Clay
His Separate Shadow
Beauteous Are My Cakes Indeed
Your Toughened Heart
Peeking At Eternity
When Sorrows Like Sea Billows Roll
Late in the Night When the Fires Are Out
A Boy on a Horse
By the Grace of Lurvy
The Substance of Things Hoped For
The Last Thing He Would Do
At War with This Whole World
Something Warm
The Skin Bag
Under the Gibbon Moon
The Throbbing Heart of News
The Little Man’s Country
Winning Her Hand
Boy Ready
The Ledger of Our Decisions
The Red Farm
Be Jubilant, My Feet
The Curious Music That I Hear
Acknowledgments
Themes & Symbolism edit
- Redemption & Forgiveness: Davy lacks the ability to forgive Jeremiah for not acting. Davy also needs forgiveness for his retribution. Jeremiah seeks Davy to offer that forgiveness and to bring about redemption for Davy's actions. Reuben needs the forgiveness of Swede and goes long hungry for it. He never finds it from Mr. Ford or Mr. Andreeson, and must carry the weight of his choices.
- Loyalty: Describe this theme.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Book Lover's Cook Book, The. (authoritative list)
This book is in KCPL Discussion Kit (Aug2010). (community list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Leif Enger (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Grove Press
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2001
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grove Press
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2001
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 320
Awards edit
- Alex Awards (2002)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3555.N422 P42 2001
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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