As we dug into the depths of Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger, one theme seemed to surface most
often: Miracles. This book was full of miracles, which our readers considered
and explained in all sorts of ways. Marsha led us through our discussion, which
seemed to keep circling around to one or another miracle as part of the plot or
subplot. She told us that the author grew up with parents who had strong
Christian beliefs but were not outwardly religious and did not go to church.
This family attitude was similar to that of the family depicted in the story.
This book is considered a mainstream novel, not in the strictly Christian genre,
but is accepted by many Christians as a religious testament. Looking at reviews
of the book and searching online, it is obvious that this is yet another book
that our group has chosen that could easily fill a semester of college-level
interpretation. Think what fun you might have had writing a semester paper
about this one!
Miracles in Peace Like
a River begin with the narrator's birth: Reuben almost died at birth, and
it was his father, Jeremiah's, strength of faith that kept him alive. That is
the implication. We batted it around a bit. Reuben didn't breathe for 12
minutes, which pushes the usual 10-minute envelope for brain damage; it seems
within the realm of possibility but also what most of us would call a miracle. With such a beginning and a character named "Jeremiah,"
6 members at the meeting said that the beginning of the book made them expect
proselytizing in the book. All said they didn't find that to happen and that
they liked the book. Once again, our book club members powered through the part
that might cause them to put the book down if they weren't reading for book
discussion, and were rewarded for it!
When we talked about Jeremiah walking on air, Ken noted that
this was seen through Reuben's eyes. Janice suggested that Reuben saw miracles
and that was why there were miracles. Pam thought that Reuben would be likely
to see his father as miraculous because he knew the story of the miracle his
father supposedly performed at his birth. So these ideas begged the question as
to whether the miracles in the book were meant to be taken literally.
When Amy brought up the question as to why Jeremiah healed
the (undeserving but who am I to judge?) superintendent of his boils but did
not heal own son's asthma, we got into the idea of Jeremiah having no control
over his healing gift. Thus, the gift became both more realistic but also more
potentially stemming from a power beyond the literal world. Carla then brought
up the idea of the book as having Biblical allegorical qualities, such as
Jeremiah turning the other cheek in his seeming decision to heal the
superintendent, even as the superintendent was firing him from his job
unreasonably. I was disappointed that the superintendent didn't change his tune
at the time of the healing...but with miracles, it can take some time to sink
in. Carla also suggested that when Reuben was having the asthma attack while wrestling
with keeping the secret of Davy's whereabouts; Reuben's dream of a nasty little
man on his chest might represent the devil.
The theme of Biblical allegory continued to surface in
tandem with the miracles in our discussion. Ken agreed that the book had
Biblical parallels, giving the examples of the walking on air correlating with
walking on water, and the laying on of hands as a Biblical healing. Later Ken,
in my humble opinion, clinched the Biblical allegory theory by suggesting that
the heaven scene, where Jeremiah, the father, sacrificed his life to save his
son, was opposite but certainly closely parallel to the story of the sacrifice
of Jesus' life.
We covered other questions and answers in this
simple-to-read but complex-to-understand novel. Another great live discussion,
enjoyed by all!
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