A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER• OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER• A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • MORE THAN 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD“Quietly powerful [and] moving.” O, The Oprah Magazine (recommended reading)Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, GILEAD is a hymn of praise and lamentation to the … National Book Critics Circle Award, GILEAD is a hymn of praise and lamentation to the God-haunted existence that Reverend Ames loves passionately, and from which he will soon part.
In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames’s life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He “preached men into the Civil War,” then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle.
Reverend Ames writes to his son about the tension between his father–an ardent pacifist–and his grandfather, whose pistol and bloody shirts, concealed in an army blanket, may be relics from the fight between the abolitionists and those settlers who wanted to vote Kansas into the union as a slave state. And he tells a story of the sacred bonds between fathers and sons, which are tested in his tender and strained relationship with his namesake, John Ames Boughton, his best friend’s wayward son.
This is also the tale of another remarkable vision–not a corporeal vision of God but the vision of life as a wondrously strange creation. It tells how wisdom was forged in Ames’s soul during his solitary life, and how history lives through generations, pervasively present even when betrayed and forgotten.
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Absolutely like nothing I have read before. Gilead is beautiful and demanding. It is not a book that can be rushed, but must be settled into. This book made me love life more.
A lovely intimate tender book, a dying father tells the story of his life to his young son. Exquisite.
Gilead is technically an epistolary novel, though it doesn’t feel like one in the traditional sense. The conceit is that John Ames, a 76 year old reverend in the town of Gilead, Iowa, is recounting his life in a long, fairly digressive letter to his seven year old son. He also recounts the story of his grandfather, a one-eyed firebrand preacher …
“Gilead” is unlike any book I’ve read. The story is captivating and exquisite, and I know it will stay with me long after other novels have left my memory. I only wish I could give it more than five stars.
Gilead is a beautiful series of letters from an older father to his younger son. The letters are full of ideals, hopes, and identity to be passed down. I loved these father-son ruminations. There is much more in the book — it also is a story of American history, of race, of religion, and of relationships — yet even with all its layers it is …
A meditation – pensive and solemn — a storytelling that may seem to be small but is truly grand and powerful. There are some passages that takes one’s breath away. “There is a wound in the flesh of human life that scars when it heals and often enough seems never to heal at all.” There are some truths that we struggle to understand while we are …
This month I was also thrilled to reread another of my favorite ‘new classics’, Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize winner Gilead. I read it nearly ten years ago, then reread it for a book club. I believe this is my third reading of the book. It is an affirming book that inspires us to pay more attention to the wonder of human existence.
Yes, …
The ministry is a unique and difficult occupation. Laypersons expect preachers to be closer to God and live on a higher plain of morality. Reverend John Ames, third in a generation of preachers, lives in a small, unexceptional Iowa town. He loves the ministry but admits to shortcomings everyone possesses. His humanity makes this soul-searching …
I have read all of the books that Ms Robinson has written about the town of Gilead and its people. I have just finished reading her latest book, “Jack.” I have enjoyed them all, she is a gifted writer. They are written about a time gone by, when people were more connected to their family and friends. People who used good manners and worked at …
I love this book. Beautifully written, the prose stopped me often to just sit and contemplate.The story is sweet and moving. Highly recommend.
Marilynne Robinson is one of my personal holy trinity, along with Louise Erdrich and Grace Paley. Gilead is almost as haunting and charming as Housekeeping.
Beautifully written
Gilead has the feel of a classic. It will endure.
What a great and moving work.
I absolutely loved it. In fact, I plan to re-read it this summer.
Love all her books. Well written.
“. . . the difference between an elderly gentleman and a codger.”
Life has so many nuances to ponder, especially when you’re an elderly gentleman with serious health problems and quandaries to settle before your demise. So you set about to leave your thoughts to a young son, born while you’re already middle aged. A delightful process to follow in …
This is my favorite living author. Her writing is spare, no unnecessary, extraneous fluff, but her mastery of language and character development is exceptional and second to none.
A worthy read
Imagine what it would be like to receive a letter, albeit it a lengthy one, from one of your parents after their demise. A letter addressed to you that expresses the testimony of not only their life but of their parent’s lives as well. You are exposed to the events of their lives, but also to the emotions, mysteries of their hearts regarding joy …