Peace Like A River
Jun. 14th, 2026 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearPeace Like A River by Leif Enger is told by 11-year-old Reuben, whose older brother, Davy, shoots two young men and flees the authorities. Reuben, his father and his sister set out on a journey to look for Davy - but they find a lot more than they bargained for.
It's a difficult book to pin down in a lot of ways - but it really reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird, in terms of the familial relationships, and the fact that the younger sister is called Swede. The relationships are definitely the book's biggest strength, along with the gorgeous writing and immersive settings.
I started it while in A&E, continued it throughout a three-day hospital stay, then took five days' break, picking it up again in another hospital waiting room, and finally finishing it ten days after starting it. That probably didn't give me the best reading experience, or do the book justice, since it felt like it lasted forever and that I was never going to finish it - and I read ten other books in the five-day gap.
Still, it made me laugh and it made me cry - though I'm not sure how I feel about the ending.
Very different to most other books I've read recently, and certainly extremely well-written, but a bit nebulous overall.
It's a difficult book to pin down in a lot of ways - but it really reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird, in terms of the familial relationships, and the fact that the younger sister is called Swede. The relationships are definitely the book's biggest strength, along with the gorgeous writing and immersive settings.
I started it while in A&E, continued it throughout a three-day hospital stay, then took five days' break, picking it up again in another hospital waiting room, and finally finishing it ten days after starting it. That probably didn't give me the best reading experience, or do the book justice, since it felt like it lasted forever and that I was never going to finish it - and I read ten other books in the five-day gap.
Still, it made me laugh and it made me cry - though I'm not sure how I feel about the ending.
Very different to most other books I've read recently, and certainly extremely well-written, but a bit nebulous overall.
