Photo by samuelsidler

Somehow I missed a week in the Columbia Spectator’s series…  So, here is a bonus post on one of my very favorite books: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. 

I read this a few years ago and my lasting impression was…  “magical!”  I do think you will enjoy it more if you are comfortable with the genre of “magical realism” — there are a few mystical scenes, but they merely remind us that there is so much about existence and faith that we can’t quite explain away.  At least one reviewer (David Abrams) has compared this novel to To Kill A Mockingbird – and the narrator, Ruben, is truly a unique and unforgettable voice. 

 
Photo by worldwidewandering

Here is why the Columbia Spectator chose it to represent North Dakota:

Enger lends great detail to the “great empty” barns, “paintless and built of square-hewn timbers,” as well as the “snow … hard and clean-shaven and the broken hills [rising] on top of it.” More than the civilization that has attempted to force itself upon the land, Enger captures the terrible beauty of that land untamed—generations ago, lightning had sliced a cottonwood whose roots led to lignite, and the result is a “garden of fire,” a maze of veined earth with “smoke and heat and sporadic flames” issuing from the cracks. Later, when Reuben sees the Dakota night for the first time: “Here was the whole dizzying sky above us. … We were inside the sky.” Reuben is forced to acknowledge that every decision, whether good or bad, has consequences. There is no better setting for this realization than a land where the wilderness inspires not only awed romance, but also a cosmic sense of fear and danger.

Photo by postndakota

By the way, a Hollywood version is set to be released next year, starring Billy Bob Thorton.  Already looking forward to it!  And the capitol of North Dakota is…  Bismark!

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