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  • My thoughts

  • This was a beautifully written book about family, storytelling, miracles and the importance of the journey.

    

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• ― krin5292 said on Aug 21, 2007 | Add your feedback

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  • Endearing Family Story

  • I loved this book. The prose read a little reminiscent of Harper Lee to me. The story of the Land family is very heartwarming. Even the unexpected ending is acceptable due to the rendering of Leif Enger. I will definitely look for more books from this author.

    

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• ― Bibliophile said on Nov 6, 2008 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

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  • 313 p. ; 24 cm.1st ed.

    

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• ― Brian Hamilton said on May 7, 2007 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

Born with no air in his lungs, it was only when Reuben Land's father, Jeremiah, picked him up and commanded him to breathe that Reuben's lungs filled. Reuben struggles with debilitating asthma from then on, making him a boy who knows firsthand that life is a gift, and also one who suspects that his father is touched by God and can overturn the laws of nature.

The quiet 1960's midwestern life of the Lands is upended when Reuben's brother Davy kills to marauders who have come to harm the family. The morning of his sentencing, Davy -- a hero to some, a cold-blooded murderer to others -- escapes from his cell, and the Lands set out in search of him. Their journey is touched by serendipity and the kindness of strangers, and they cover territory far more extraordinary than even the Badlands where they search for Davy from their Airstream trailer.

Sprinkled with playful nods to Biblical tales, beloved classics such as Huckleberry Finn, the adventure stories of Robert Louis Stevenson, and the westerns of Zane Grey, Peace Like A River is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world.

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