Gilead (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel

This is a well written story about a senior citizen, preacher, anticipating the end of his life. The setting is a small town in Iowa. The time frame is twentieth century America. The protagonist is looking backward and composing a very lengthy letter to a young son about his life and the history of his family. The story revolves around both history and faith. It is a slow moving novel and not an "action" novel.

The novel itself is essentially one very long letter. It is written in first person. The writer is a man of the cloth, who is seventy seven years of age, who has a medical condition and anticipates death. He nonetheless has a very young son. He feels he will die with his son having little or no memory of him.

I liked the novel very much. There is a lot of narrative about faith. At times, not always, the story sounds like a sermon in church. This may not appeal the taste of every reader. The story more or less meanders and there is little action.

This is the second novel of Marilynne Robinson. The first is "Housekeeping". I read that novel first. I like both novels. They are fairly mature and sophisticated novels. I like this novel more than the first one. However I am glad that I read both of them.

In summary I liked this novel very much and have become of a fan of Marilynne Robinson. The story moves slowly and includes a lot of narrative about faith. It may not suit the taste of every reader. In case a reader enjoys Marilynne Robinson, for what it is worth, her writing reminds me somewhat of Joan Didion's "Run River". Thank You...

Reading this book is like reading poetry written in prose. Each phrase is full, rich, radiant. The images and metaphors bring out meaning that's beyond the actual words or stories. It's a book that touches the reader deep inside, and it's not a book to rush through. It's meant to be savored.

Written in the form of a letter, this is the account of a dying man writing to his young son. John Ames, the narrator, is a pastor in rural Iowa. He's writing in hopes of giving his son a picture of who he is and where he has come from - in hopes of overcoming the fact that his son will likely be left with only vague memories of him as an old man. The letter takes on a life of its own. It becomes a record of his thoughts, a plunge into his memories, a confession of his fears.

The characters in this book are deep - and very real. John Ames is a man full of life, hope, and kindness. He's a man who's struggled with bitter loneliness, and been pulled out of it into a renewed wonder at life in his old age. In the course of his stories and musings, we are introduced to other memorable people in his life: his fiery abolitionist grandfather, his quietly intense wife, his difficult and struggling namesake. One comes away from this book with renewed understanding of the depth and struggles of humanity.

John Ames is a very spiritual man, and this book deals perceptively with what it means to live a faithful and devoted life. Though it's about a pastor, it's not "preachy." Many of John Ames' struggles are with the interaction between his faith and his life. He asks the tough questions, and learns more of how to live out love and forgiveness.

No, this book isn't a page turner. But it's beautifully and subtly written and has incredible depth in its characters. It's a book that will impact your perspective on what it means to be human.

Deeply touching and powerful in its prose, this story will take the reader to a world where one can almost hear a dandelion seed glance against a tree leaf; a world where children's chores were still required and marriage was viewed as sacred. It is a world that is dying, with its memories passed on only in writing. The gentle brushes of the wind in this world are being replaced by the chaotic vortices of change in the twenty-first century. Its nuances are not to be experienced any more. But a close approximation can be, by the reading of this story.

One should not view John Ames in the confines of his Christian beliefs, for these beliefs were only part of who he is. They were his personal schema; sometimes active, sometimes brought into his attentive consciousness, but at times replaced by others. One could easily view his beliefs as flexible, as tolerating different worldviews, or as ones where Christian steps can take different routes. "There are many ways to live a good life," he writes in the first paragraph.

Being a minister, people insisted that he be a "little bit apart." He was not permitted to engage in humor, or appreciate the same. People changed the subject when they saw him coming, but also were able to confide in him things that they would never to anyone else. Religion is frequently a catharsis, but not always. He recognizes also the destructive power of anger, which them must be constrained by an upper bound, both in degree and frequency.

And religious beliefs, like all others, find their origin in the surroundings, in the context in which one finds oneself. He was a "pious child" from a "pious household" in a "pious town". Such an environment affected his behavior greatly, he writes.

He has read Ludwig Feuerbach as well as Karl Barth, and he holds the optimism of the former to be just as valuable as the wisdom of the latter. The atheism of Feuerbach he tolerates, because Feuerbach "loves the world." His optimism is refreshing and realistic. He wakes up every morning and celebrates his existence and the efficacy of his mind. Grief and loneliness are rare in this life; peace and comfort are the norm. And in a moment of exuberance, he tries to dance to a waltz, not having been trained in the steps. No mind as optimistic as his can finish life without a dance. It is impossible.

Even his conception of God is interlaced with his optimism; bound tightly by it. It is one where God is not judgmental, but one where God takes pleasure in the viewing of his creatures. We are all "actors on a stage, " and "God is the audience."

In the most awesome passage from the book, he declares with humility and with understatement that "this is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it."

He's right.