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Today I am grateful to have a worthy priesthood holder in my home, and I am grateful to have had a calling that forced me to revive and improve my piano skills so that I could play a simple sacrament song without weeks of practice. It was a simple version of church that we had in our home today, but we worshipped–and for now, that’s enough.
In the meantime, have any of you (besides my favorite sister) read Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River? I was working at Borders (may it rest in peace) when it came out, so when my neighbor passed along her copy to me it was already on my radar; when my sister recommended it, I bumped it higher on my list, and thanks to my hubby finding it on audio, I finally got to it.
It was powerful. I’ve actually been sitting on this review for a bit, trying to decide how to describe it–a western? A fable? A coming-of-age drama? A modern myth? I suppose it’s really all of those put together and then some, which is why it feels so hard to describe. Peace Like a River is essentially the story of a family–of 11-year-old Reuben, the asthmatic narrator; of Davy, his outlaw older brother; of Swede, his whip-smart, tale-spinning little sister; and of their father, a quiet man with an unusually close relationship with God. Their friendships, their travels, and their reactions to trouble make for a tale that is more compelling than I could have imagined. It’s beautifully written in a deceptively simple way that belies its sentence-by-sentence craftsmanship, and yet it’s also firmly grounded in tangibility (if you know what I mean by that–although I barely do myself). It’s both heartbreaking and uplifting in a way few stories achieve. I wish I could express myself better, but I’m honestly not sure how, and I can’t come up with a way to share more of the plot with you that makes sense, either; all I can say is that it was supremely and completely worth the read. If you have access to it in our current upheaval, seek it out; in the meantime, Enger’s other books have jumped to a MUCH higher spot on my list.