Peace Like a River Discussion 7/31/09

Finally, Davy reappears. I never really know how I want to feel about Davy. On the one hand, I think I can understand his outrage and wish him well. On the other hand, he makes me nervous. I wonder if Reuben feels the same way. He's the only one in the family who knows where Davy is, has actually seen him and talked to him, but the visits are unsettling, filling Reuben with a guilt that he's not sure he can handle. Reuben's illness is also frightening. I don't have asthma but I've had trouble getting my breath when I had pneumonia and it's scary. You also feel pretty useless when just going for a walk is exhausting.

Jape Waltzer is a scary thought no matter how you look at him. I thought it was interesting that Davy claimed that he wasn't afraid of Waltzer yet he listened close when Jape was around. You can't help but think that Davy may have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. It's extremely ironic that Sara, now 14, was probably about Swede's age when she was handed over to Waltzer. Davy killed two people for an evening spent abusing his sister, yet seems alright with the abuse that Sara has suffered for years. Sara made me very sad. I was proud of Reuben for realizing what Waltzer had planned. I guess I'm not a very good detective because I didn't see it coming.

These chapters were full of foreboding and probably some symbolism that I didn't quite catch. At one point Reuben talks about Andreeson as his enemy but I got to wondering who the real antagonist is in the story. I do apologize for stopping when I did. I couldn't help myself. :-D

On to the end of book for next week.

Peace Like a River discussion 7/25/09

Sorry for posting a day late. I had an unexpected One Piece chat last night that has complicated all my plans and I'm getting sick. Excuses over now on to the discussion.

I love the way Andreeson is suddenly made to be more human in the last chapter. No one likes him but he's not an evil person. I can just picture him I think. It's easy to see how his ingratiating manner would bother everyone. At the same time, he's just trying to do his job. Jeremiah is not going to lie. Andreeson knows this and takes advantage of it when asking if Davy had contacted August and Birdie. Jeremiah is not going to compromise his principles and is assuming that God will take care of August and Birdie. Yet even though Andreeson knows that Jeremiah won't lie, he still hopes that Jeremiah knows more than he's saying.

Just a mention of the language in this section...I like the way Rueben compares his style of writing as the witness with Swede's much more romantic style.

We are introduced to a new character. Roxanna is such a real person. Once again Rueben is painfully honest when he admits that he didn't think she was really pretty the first time they saw her. That is the reality of life. Very few people are truly beautiful in the popular culture sense and Enger doesn't waste his time populating his novel with them. These are characters that live and breathe and with whom we can identify. Roxanna is a brave soul, allowing a strange man into her house like that. On the other hand we have gotten the impression that Jeremiah is little more than a skeleton at this point and he has these two kids to support so I suppose that he looked much safer than most.

I love the sense of relief we get in this section. The family has finally reached a safe harbor. We don't know what's going to happen next but at least they now have the necessities of life. Now, what's up with Davy?

Edit: Had to add labels and what to read next.
Read through Boy Ready, p. 274 in my edition.

Setting for Peace Like a River

When I first started reading this book, I wasn't sure what the setting was. I figured that Roofing was in outstate Minnesota somewhere and their travels confirm this impression. Enger was born and raised in Minnesota so he knows this place well. Half of all Minnesotas live in the Twin Cities metro area so anyplace that is outside the metro area is called "outstate." There is often some tension between these parties, claiming that more money is spent on the metro area, etc. My parents come from the southeast corner of North Dakota, right on the Minnesota border, and I now live in Minnesota, so it's easy for me to envision this setting.

One of the things that confused me initially was the time period. It is finally fully confirmed in this section as 1963. I would have been 10 years old at the time. Towns are far apart and traveling in a gas guzzling car at that time could easily have been a huge problem. I myself have driven into a gas station running on fumes because I didn't stop one town earlier.

Once again the place and time really resonate with me. I know how cold and miserable it can be. I've traveled through North Dakota many times, in all seasons, and if it's not too cold, it's too hot and muggy and buggy. You really can't imagine how flat the landscape is if you haven't been through it. The reason that the flooding Red River is so devastating is because of the flat land. Once it leaves the bank the water has miles and miles of completely flat land to spread out. That's why the Badlands are so dramatic. They are really gorgeous, very colorful and interesting to look at. Their history as a hiding place for Native Americans and outlaws alike would have fascinated Swede. It's a natural, but also dangerous place for someone on the run to hide.

Comments on Peace Like a River 7/17/09

I decided to go ahead and post another thread just for discussion of the last reading. There were some things that struck me in this one so I thought maybe others would feel the same way. We can put those things here.

I love Reuben's comments just thrown out there about faith. "Once traveling, it's remarkable how quickly faith erodes. It starts to look like something else -- ignorance, for example."

"Was it possible that real loss had occurred at the death of Israel Finch?" That sentence in reference to Finch's grandfather (I think that's right) shows how Rueben is starting to see the unanticipated consequences of Davy's actions. One of the things I like about Reuben is his unwavering examination of all aspects of the situation, even if they make him uncomfortable.

What do the dead crows on the road symbolize?

Justice in Peace Like a River

As suggested in the last one, this thread will be about what I think is one of the major themes of the book. Sometimes it seems like no matter where you look you see some mention of this theme. Sometimes it is a well-developed part of the plot and sometimes it's not much more than a sentence.

The plot is riddled with references or inferences to justice. Davy is outraged by Finch and Basca. The fact that no one seems to be willing to bring them to justice is what, I think, ultimately gets under his skin more than he can stand. By kidnapping Swede they violated someone Davy held dear. He responded by violating something they were fond of, a rather rough justice.

Justice for Davy is rather complicated. He's not surprised about the arrest and seems to be prepared for the justice that the jury would soon deliver. Then he decides that he doesn't want to face it and heads out. Since we don't know that much about him yet, it's not clear whether he was planning on doing this all along or whether it was a later development. However, Davy has not been brought to justice and you have to wonder what's going to happen to him.

All the media hoopla over the deaths and trial demonstrates a kind of justice by public opinion. Enger does a good job showing how the various views morphed during the trial. As mentioned in another thread, the letter to Davy that starts, "Dear Butcher," seems extreme but sounds like something an editor might come across in a mail bag. In fact, Davy is neither a poor misunderstood kid, nor a butcher so what is an appropriate punishment? Where's the justice in this situation? I think that Rueben is struggling to find it but he loves his brother and is afraid of what the outcome will be.

What about the healing of the superintendent? On the surface it looks like Jeremiah is being sorely used by fate and self-important men and he just doesn't deserve this grief. On the other hand the superintendent is scum who deserves the face he got. How can the healing of that face be considered justice?

Feel free to add to this thread as we continue through the book.

Peace Like a River (Characters)

I thought maybe we'd change the format of the discussions a little and have threads on different aspects of the book. We can talk about the characters in this thread, adding to it as we continue reading the next chapters. Now that we're well into the book we know enough about the characters to discuss them.

Let me start with yet another digression. There is a medieval mystery series that I like a lot by Candace Robb, the Owen Archer mysteries. The setting and stories are great, however there is a serious problem with one of the characters. If I remember correctly, this boy is supposedly about 10 years old. Since he's an orphan, he survived by following after soldiers. The boy is treated like a 5 or 6 year old and it drove me crazy. In that time, and living in that way, I would imagine him to be much closer to being an adult that a child raised safely in a home. Presenting him as such a young child was annoying.

Fortunately, I don't feel the same way about Swede. I've known children with extraordinary abilities. We had one kindergarten student who could do very advanced math...if someone read him the problems which he could not yet read himself. He thought that test was a lot of fun. I do appreciate the story being told through Rubin's more "normal" eyes. We see that Swede is a very gifted writer, and clearly intelligent, but she's still a child.

I felt so bad for Rubin when he testified on the stand and I love the way he tells the story. Rubin feels his job is to bear witness and he is unwavering in his honesty, even about himself. The descriptions of his breathing difficulties makes you feel like you can almost understand what it would be like.

Davy is a mystery to me. I have no problem understanding why he did what he did but the way he disassociates himself from the consequences makes you wonder about him. You know he's a good person because Rubin tells us so but killing someone, even when they've hurt someone you love, seems to indicate a certain contempt for the importance of life. This is surprising to me, given his family beliefs. One of the biggest surprises of the story for me was when we found out at the trial that Davy had escalated the conflict by breaking out the windows on Finches car.

Jeremiah Land is the biggest mystery of all. Rubin is telling two stories here, one about his brother, and the other about his father. You can't help but be impressed with this dad, no matter what his profession. The irony surrounding Jeremiah is interesting. Here's a man who can heal others but he suffers from nearly continuous headaches. He is kind and forbearing but didn't hold back when beating the boys in the locker room.

For just a minute I'd like to mention the language in the latest passage. Enger's use of irony can be very subtle however, that is not the case with the letter that starts, "Dear butcher...." I hate this letter but I love the irony in it. All the things the writer is saying about Davy were actually true about the boys that Davy killed.

NEXT READING:
Read through "The Last Thing He would Do" (p. 148 in my edition)

Peace Like a River Discussion (1st 4 chapters)

I'm going to start with a brief digression:

I once went to a presentation by a well-known librarian about what we librarians call reader's advisory. She was telling us how to help patrons find books that they would like to read. For many people the most important thing about a book is the action, the story line. For others, it's the characters or setting. You have to talk to people to find out why they like a particular title before you can recommend something else. When my husband and I were traveling in Alaska we each bought 2 books to read, planning to trade off during the trip. Jim chose a science fiction work by a famous person whose ideas Jim really liked. Now, I like science fiction too, however the writing in this book was just terrible. Jim is himself an excellent writer and readily acknowledged the issue but, as a physicist, he was most interested in the science of the story.

The language in Peace Like a River is what attracted me to the book. I think it is some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read. I didn't realize that it was the language of a book that was important to me until I read this book and went to this librarian's talk. Therefore, I'm going to start my discussion by looking at the language a little bit.

Enger is able to write a descriptive paragraph that tells me what the setting looks like but also gives me a sense of how the place feels. He's able to do it with a careful choice of word and phrase, yet isn't verbose. I don't get bored reading his descriptions. He also incorporates discussion of language itself into the story through Swede and her writing. I'll have more to say about Swede as a character later, but for now I'm just thinking about her use of language. I like her poetry and what it tells us about her. Enger comments on his own use of language when talking about Swede. Here's an example of that:

Swede opened her mouth and couldn't find a word in it. While loving all things Western, I doubt the facts of horse and saddle had ever occurred to her as real; they were simply poetry, though of the very best kind. Hammerhead roan and dancing bay pony and, now I mention it, Texas stock saddle -- to Swede such phrases just loped along, champing and snorting and kicking up clover. And rightly so: Take away such locutions and who's Sunny Sundown? Just a guy out walking.

Enger doesn't just say, "Swede stood there with her mouth hanging open." He turns that simple phrase into a poetic paragraph. That's why I love this book.

Feel free to talk about anything that caught your eye in this book. I'll talk more about character, setting, etc. in another post on another section. For next time read through "A Boy on a Horse", p. 107 in my edition. Should we read for one or two weeks? Let me know what you prefer.