Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Term Paper

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….....