Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

I have been doing a horrible job of posting on this year’s family book and cd/dvd exchange. My bad. I figured I would finally post again, this time on Dan’s pick: Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River. I really had no idea what to expect going into this story but now I can definitely see why Dan chose the book.

This is an extremely well written piece of fiction about faith and family. The story centers on 11 year old Ruben Land, his struggles to breathe, his outlaw brother, poetic sister, new found mother, and miraculous father. The simplicity of love and trust shines through in this heart warming narrative. I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys good fiction.

I enjoyed one of the moments where Ruben had a close personal experience with God:

It only felt powerful, like truth unhusked.

Once torched by truth, Swede [Ruben's sister] wrote years later, a little thing like faith is easy.

And later in the story, after Ruben felt that things weren’t going fairly for him, he made the astute observation that “Fair is whatever God wants to do.” And finally, the conclusion brings home a great expression of faith:

Is there a single person on whom I can press belief?
No sir.
All I can do is say, Here’s how it went. Here’s what I saw.
I’ve been there and am going back.
Make of it what you will.

Worth the read, check it out!