Year I in Review: January '08 ~ GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson

After a break in December, we returned in January to discuss Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson. Although our members had varying opinions about the book, we all agreed that its perspective was truly unique: a letter written by an aging pastor to his young son, but more accurately a stream of consciousness portrait of a dying man's attempts to bring his life and relationships to a peaceful end. One might expect such a letter to be full of sage advice and sound wisdom for life, and you will certainly find that here. But these gems are woven throughout John Ames' reflections on his past and present life, it's triumphs and tragedies, including his own family's storied history, his calling to the pastorate, what brought him back to the small town of Gilead, Iowa, his love for the boy's mother (John Ames' second wife, who is 35 years younger than he) and amazement that she loves him, and the long-standing tension in his relationship with his namesake, John "Jack" Ames Boughton, the son of his best friend and fellow pastor Robert Boughton.

Our discussion included speculating about some of the untold details of the story, reflecting on the emotional and logical struggles in John Ames' relationships, and commenting on some of the theological points alluded to in the book, particularly the various views of predestination expressed by different characters.

Here are some comments from our members:

"A beautiful book - worth reading again and marking up for its tidbits of philosophy and theology. I liked it!"

"Ditto - will reread (3rd time) and mark up my copy where the gems are."

"Slow start, but very interesting in the end."

"What an interesting way to tell a story! There is much wisdom to be gleaned from its pages."

See further comments in this post by Slow Reader.

FOR FURTHER READING:

Housekeeping: A Novel This is the first novel by Marilynne Robinson, published more than 20 years before Gilead. A couple of our members have read this, and found it to be a rather odd book, lacking the depth of Gilead. Although this was also an award winning book, we would not necessarily recommended it other than for the comparative value of reading the author's first novel.

Home: A Novel This is a newly released sequel to Gilead that tells the story of some other characters from the first novel, including more from Jack Boughton's perspective. Maybe this will fill in some of the gaps about which we had to speculate!