There are certain books that have such popularity that sometimes you feel like the last person alive to have read them, and Leif Enger's Peace Like a River is one of those for me. Thus, I didn't have that previous experience with the author's work going into Virgil Wander. However, I feel that I came to this author with the right story, as I really connected with and enjoyed this story.
Small town stories are one of my favorite types, and one of the only kinds of stories in which I enjoy a slower paced, character driven book. A hard-luck, struggling Midwestern town in a familiar landscape? I'm right there for it. There is a good story running through this, but a lot of it is about the life and connections in the town. The writing and language in this book is lovely (without veering into territory of "beautiful but difficult to read), and Virgil, the story's narrator, has a great appreciation for adjectives after temporarily losing them in the accident that starts the book. There are a lot of really poignant lines in this book, but one really stuck with me (towards the end of the book, so stop reading now to avoid a very vague possible spoiler)
"I guess after a while you stop expecting to be at home with another person. Fully at home at last. It starts to seem not just against the odds but against physics. Yet for the moment we were clear as water, plain as yes and no."
Small town stories are one of my favorite types, and one of the only kinds of stories in which I enjoy a slower paced, character driven book. A hard-luck, struggling Midwestern town in a familiar landscape? I'm right there for it. There is a good story running through this, but a lot of it is about the life and connections in the town. The writing and language in this book is lovely (without veering into territory of "beautiful but difficult to read), and Virgil, the story's narrator, has a great appreciation for adjectives after temporarily losing them in the accident that starts the book. There are a lot of really poignant lines in this book, but one really stuck with me (towards the end of the book, so stop reading now to avoid a very vague possible spoiler)
"I guess after a while you stop expecting to be at home with another person. Fully at home at last. It starts to seem not just against the odds but against physics. Yet for the moment we were clear as water, plain as yes and no."