The 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning novelA New York Times Top-Ten Book of 2004Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for FictionNearly 25 years after Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations, from the Civil War to the 20th century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America’s heart. In the words of Kirkus, … heart. In the words of Kirkus, it is a novel “as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering.” GILEAD tells the story of America and will break your heart.
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A beautiful, quiet book.
Start with Housekeeping. These books are memorable, complex, vivid and compelling.
A great book about religious but flawed people dealing w/ the travails of family and friends. A moving display of humanity at its best
It’s the writing! It’s lyrical, beautiful, slow and evocative. Taste each word as you would a perfect meal.
Probably the best novel I have ever read.
One of my all-time favorite stories. Warm, heartfelt, moving.
Wonderful, tender story. I read it over and over.
“For me writing has always felt like praying.”
“Adulthood is a wonderful thing, and brief. You must be sure to enjoy it while it lasts.”
Those touching, powerful quotes are from Minister John Ames, the protagonist of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Gilead tells his story in letter form to his young son about his life and struggles as a man of the …
The plot is a very simple one: Reverend Ames is an old man who knows he doesn’t long to live, so he’s writing letters to his young son. Within the course of the letters, the reader also learns that Jack Boughton has returned home, the prodigal son of Reverend Ames’s best friend. Ames fills his letters with the beauty of a simple life, well-lived. …
One of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.
Beautiful and thought-provoking. It’s like a novena. You can’t stop reading.
very slow ,introspective narrative…interesting character. I chose this for my book club w/o reading it first….BIG MISTAKE….they’re still teasing me about it 3 years later!
Beautifully written. Marilynne Robinson will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I find her incredibly earnest and perceptive about human beings in search of a deeper meaning of life. She explores the heartfelt spirituality of her protagonists in a thorough way that will turn some readers off. But if intense books on the subject of God in our lives …
Reading Gilead was like being inside a prayer.
I couldn’t quite figure this book out. It was good enough to win a Pulitzer Prize but I just never really got into it. I had read a book by Wendell Berry before this one called, “Jaber Crow” and I think perhaps I was comparing this book to “Jaber Crow”. I like Wendell Berry’s book better. Read it, maybe I missed something.
One of the best books I’ve read in the past ten years. Beautifully written, thought-provoking. A modern classic.
Marilynne Robinson is a national treasure.
That was a lot of reading for very little enjoyment
One of my all-time favorite novels that takes the reader on an unexpectedly beautiful journey. It’s an interpersonal glimpse into the heart of an old, dying preacher. As he poignantly reminisces about his past, he records it in his journal so his young son will have record of it.
One of the best books I’ve ever read.