Leif Enger's remarkable novel Peace Like a River quietly slipped into bookstores in September. Like the smart kid who sits at the back of the class and seldom speaks, it was very nearly overlooked during the brawling Franzen-Oprah hoopla. However, Peace Like a River is a book worthy of the loudest trumpet fanfare and showers of confetti available. Put this one right to the head of the class.
Enger takes the best of writers -- like John Irving, Tony Earley and J.D. Salinger -- then stakes his own territory to create a story about family, faith and fugitives that's as rich in language as it is plot. Enger -- who, along with his brother Lin has written a series of mysteries under the pseudonym L.L. Enger -- strikes me as someone who paid close attention to details as he was growing up. He was the kid you always see in the backyard flat on his stomach watching how the earthworm moves through grass; or the one who remembers how cake frosting clings to the spoon (in a "fist-sized gob,"......
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