Leif Enger: A lightning rod for praise and blame; “Peace Like A River”- Minnesota W/O

Part of Stephen_Murray's Minnesota Write-Off


Leif Enger couldn’t be more Minnesotan. Raised on Minnesota farm, he lives as an adult on a farm in a quintessential small town of the hinterland, with his wife and children. For most of his adult career, prior to the release of “Peace Like a River” he worked for Minnesota Public Radio (which also begat Garrison Keillor). Like Keillor, Enger looks for beauty in the simple way of life around him, and roots it in the family. But other comparisons do no justice to either man. So, too, has Enger’s novel been compared to “To Kill a Mockingbird” , mostly because the narration is through the eyes of a child, who is telling the story as an adult. Symbolism and the discovery of one’s parents’ true nature are themes for Enger, as much as they were for Lee.

But Enger does strike out into new territory with “Peace Like a River” -- he captures the charm and folk wisdom of the Minnesota “tall tale”, and sets it in a relatively contemporary setting – 1962 in the heartland. More successful at weaving Christian mysticism and the appearance of miracles into his narrative than say, contemporary writers such as Dean Koontz, Leif Enger brings a true talent for rich prose and unsettling questions to his tale.

When a writer combines such diverse premises as religious miracles, precocious children, crime, family values and a far-ranging chase story of a fugitive, and wraps it up with rhymed epic poetry and lilting prose….well, his reviews range from “amazing” to “smarmy claptrap”. I am fully in the camp that believes that Enger has created a novel that leaves the reader breathless and eager to see what lies in store for this young writer. “Peace Like a River” is his first novel.

Synopsis of the plot:

Born an asthmatic, Reuben Land’s first miraculous event was finally beginning to breathe after several minutes of stillness, when his father, Jeremiah, orders him to breathe in the name of the living God. Reuben is raised by his father, with older brother Davy and younger sister Swede. Abandoned at a young age by their mother, Reuben and his siblings grow up in a way that many children who feel abandoned do – they develop skills and thoughts far more mature than is normal for their age. In this family, most of the precociousness is drawn in 9-year old Swede, who commands language and vocabulary far above that of most adults. Swede’s interest in all things western form the story’s backdrop, as she writes lyric poetry with a larger than life character, Sunny Sundown.

From Reuben’s point of view, his early life, is as a spectator, watching his dad perform miracles and overturn the laws of nature. It is left to the reader to divine whether the miracles do occur, or are just what they are in the viewpoint of a small boy who witnesses over and over how Jeremiah pulls his family together with faith and love.

Reuben’s brother Davy kills two attackers who have previously tried to harm Davy’s girlfriend, only to be stopped by Jeremiah. When the boys break in to the Land family’s house, Davy shoots them to protect himself and his family. Brought to justice for his crime, Davy’s family suffers along with him – Jeremiah is fired from his job as the school janitor, and Davy is sure to be found guilty. Davy escapes, and flees to the Badlands of North Dakota. Jeremiah takes the family in pursuit, and the lawmakers and FBI are not far behind. During this journey, in an Airstream trailer, the Land family encounters many situations that could not be overcome without the existence of miracles.

Are they really miracles, or do they feel as such to a scared, eleven year-old boy? It is evident that Jeremiah’s strong belief in God and his ability to connect to God to protect and provide for his family are the driving force behind the Land family’s ability to find Davy, and to find comfort in the circle of a woman named Roxanna. In the tale, Enger also draws a villain named ‘Jape’, like Koontz’s villains, almost a caricature of Satan.
What comes to prevent the most tragic of fates, and lends a remarkable conclusion to the tale, is best left to the reader to pursue.

Enger adds rich texture to the tale by the quality of his prose. He can invoke memories from me of the land and the beauty and fear of a child when coming of age. His faith is simple and strong, and from it he envisions the miracles that Jeremiah performs to keep his family together. Forces of nature (blizzards, fires) conspire to give you the feeling that you are truly being transported to the wild west, a land where people need to come to terms with how to live around what nature puts in their path.

And, like Harper Lee, Enger is able to get inside the mind of a child, and put forth a child’s vision and wishes into contemporary terms as they focus their desires through toys and activities. Less of an adventure story than a tale to reinforce the value of a strong family, I think Enger’s novel is somewhat miraculous in and of itself, a surprising journey into emotions you felt as a child, and have since forgotten. Other reviews have featured some amazingly beautiful quotes from the book, but to illustrate Enger’s power with words – here is a quote about his own boyhood from a recent interview:

”I grew up squinting from the back seat at gently rolling hills and true flatlands, where you top a rise and see a tractor raising dust three miles away. So much world and sky is visible, it’s hard to put much stock in your own influence – it’s a perfect landscape for cultivating gratitude.”

So, as you can see, there is at least some of the autobiographical in Enger’s novel. Read it, delight in it!