Gilead - Marilynne Robinson

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Title: Gilead Author: Marilynne Robinson Genre: Fiction Rating: 7/10 # pages: 244 Date read: September, 2007

Summary: From the first page the voice of Rev. John Ames mesmerizes with his account of his life, and that of his father and grandfather. Ames is 77 years old in 1956, in failing health, with a much younger wife and six-year-old son; as a preacher in the small Iowa town where he spent his entire life, he has produced volumes and volumes of sermons and prayers, "[t]rying to say what was true." But it is in this letter to his young son, who he imagines reading it when he is grown that his meditations on creation and existence are fully illumined. Ames details the often harsh conditions of perishing Midwestern prairie towns, the Spanish influenza and two world wars. He relates the death of his first wife and child, and his long years alone attempting to live up to the legacy of his fiery grandfather, a man who saw visions of Christ and became a controversial figure in the Kansas abolitionist movement, and his own father's embittered pacifism. During the course of Ames's writing, he is confronted with one of his most difficult and long-simmering crises of personal resentment when John Ames Boughton (his namesake and son of his best friend) returns to his hometown, trailing with him the actions of a callous past and precarious future. In attempting to find a way to comprehend and forgive, Ames finds that he must face a final comprehension of self - as well as the worth of his life's reflections.

Review: I have a very hard time deciding what I think of this book. The writing is absolutely gorgeous, and the atmosphere reminds me very much of "Remains of the Day", but my overall impression of it is that it was a bit dull. Charming to be sure, but I never felt that I got under the skin of the characters. They allowed me to look at their lives, but never invited me to take part of it. It was a nice and relaxing book, but not one I see myself rereading anytime soon.

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