I read this originally in 2005 and enjoyed it, but mostly wondered what I had missed and then quickly forgot what I’d read. I re-read it after being won over by Home which left me with the feeling like I needed the whole story – and at only another 247 pages it’s not that difficult.

All-in-all I kind of missed the point - again. I went through the motions of reading it, but got disconnected half way through, and I should have put it down for a bit; but instead plunged ahead wastefully.

What I did get out of it this time was some better appreciation of the careful use language and of the overall complexity of the book's structure. In a sense this is three very different books in one. The first part is Reverend John Ames' background and life. He’s in his seventies with a 7-yr-old son and he has severe heart problems. This book is his message to the grown son he will never know. He starts by telling stories of his childhood. He’s a third generation minister and the stories of his grandfather and father’s philosophical battles color this story. At some point he begins to leave the back stories behind and wanders around his own theology and his own takes on life. Then Ames' interactions with Jack, a troubled man, begin to take over the narrative, making the third part of the book. Jack sends Ames into a theological crisis of sorts – or at least into some serious consideration on how the blend Jack into his lifelong-crafted thoughts on life. I’m tempted to characterize the structure as first a theological background, then theological thoughts, and then theology put into action – but that over simplifies and over-emphasizes the religious side, I think. Ames is not blindly religious, although he has his limits for dealing with atheism.

What amazed me in hindsight is that while Jack’s story is the center of this book, it’s not necessarily the best part. For me personally the early sections were wonderful – beginning with the trek Ames took with his father in 1892 on foot from Iowa to Kansas to find the grave of his grandfather who abandoned the family late in life. Ames was 12 at the time.

As he digs into his father and grandfather, the color of these two comes out in a rawness of their differences. It’s Ames wild grandfather that left the deepest impression on me. He came to Iowa from Maine during the era of bloody Kansas – and he came as a man possessed having had a vision of Christ. He fully invested himself in the violence of the anti-slavery movement while ministering. He supported John Brown and inspired a generation of Gilead, Iowa men to enlist and die in the Civil War; and then he continued preaching to his dwindling church of widows after the war. By Ames childhood, his grandfather was a something of a crazy man who still had conversations with God out loud, and constantly sacrificed himself – seeing himself only as a failure and disappointment of immense intensity. In one particularly riveting memory Ames’ grandfather says to Ames’ father, “Reverend, no words could be bitter enough, no day could be long enough. There is just no end to it. Disappointment. I eat it and drink it. I wake and sleep it.’’ In this deranged way he is somehow an inspiration. At some point in history President U. S. Grant characterized Iowa as “the shining star of radicalism” – a concept so completely opposite of everything we think of in Iowa today that it mocks its modern counterpart. And Ames' grandfather is the symbol of this radicalism – he’s also based on a real character.

I should have closed the book after this opening section and taken a break. Somewhere around page 100 the book gently morphs into where Ames begins to work in his theology and … well, I didn’t take it in. By the time I got the dramatic final story of Jack I was simply reading to finish. ( )

Knowing that he's living out the last weeks of his life, third-generation pastor John Ames begins a long letter to the young son born late in his father's life. Reverend Ames writes as one adult to another, in a sense substituting for the memories his son will not have as he grows up without a father. Reverend Ames starts with family history and brings to life his grandfather, the first John Ames, a fervent abolitionist, and his father, the second John Ames, an equally earnest pacifist. Gradually the narrative assumes the nature of a spiritual journal as Reverend Ames becomes introspective about his calling as a minister and the living out of this call, the theological questions he has wrestled with, his continuing struggles for purity of thought and action, and meditations on the sacredness of the ordinary things in life.

This was the perfect book to read during the Thanksgiving season. John Ames was conscious of the blessings in his life, from his wife and son's love and companionship in his old age to the memory of the light over his grandfather's Kansas grave. In John Ames, we see the possibilities of living well, with gratitude, faith, and integrity, and of ending well, with few regrets and hope for the future.

This book belongs on every pastor's bookshelves alongside works on pastoral theology and practical ministry. Highly recommended. ( )

This is a beautiful book, and takes you into the head of someone you, or at least I, might otherwise have a very difficult time relating to

This is a truly beautiful book. In deceptively easy-going prose the novel explores different kinds of love - fatherly, friendly, romantic, fleeting and lasting. It follows the waning days of John Ames, a reverend, as he records his thoughts for his young son. This journal finds Ames musing about his own childhood, his path to his calling, his family, his beloved wife and child, and his struggle to be a good man. His godson, John Ames Boughton, intrudes into his reverie, bringing his own troubled youth and current struggles with him. At heart, this is a novel about finding our way in the world, about the search for decency in ourselves and others. The voice of John Ames is distinct, and it moves the novel forward in its quiet, gentle, meaningful, human way. ( )

What I liked:
- The concept of the novel: a father passing down not just his wisdom but his experiences and memories to his son. I think it's a universal longing of parents and the aging to have these not disappear when they die.

- The three difficult father/son relationships explored in the book: the narrator's grandfather and father, who clash over whether war and violence are ever justified, his father and his brother Edward, who becomes an atheist, and his own relationship with his best friend's son, who is is a continual disappointment and a true "prodigal son".

- The race relations touched upon subtly in several instances in the book.

- The gentleness of the story. One can't help but empathize with the old man as he tells stories from his life and others.

What I disliked:
- The gentleness is taken to such an extreme that it's not all that exciting. The writing sometimes drifts into the tedious, becomes repetitious, and begins feeling like "eating your vegetables" - you know it's wholesome but it's not something you savor.

- Some of the fundamental religious beliefs, e.g the pandemic flu having been a sign from God, and people having brought wars onto themselves because they did not see and undersand it as a sign.

- The narrator, a preacher, seems somewhat passive aggressive to me. He often points out an irritation, acts in less than an ideal manner, and then throws out a blanket statement like "I can't really blame him" to conclude. He's also pretty judgmental at times despite having recounted "Judge not" earlier in the book. This does show his humanity and in the end he strives to overcome these things, but I didn't care for it.

Quotes, there were some nice parts and I can understand why others might rate it higher....

On children, what a beautiful message to tell a child:
"...if you ever wonder what you've done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God's grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle. You may not remember me very well at all, and it may seem to you to be no great thing to have been the good child of an old man in a shabby little town you will no doubt leave behind. If only I had the words to tell you."

Also:
"Any human face is a claim on you, because you can't help but understand the singularity of it, the courage and loneliness of it. But this is truest of the face of an infant."

On family:
"It simply states a deeply mysterious fact. You can know a thing to death and be for all purposes completely ignorant of it. A man can know his father, or his son, and there might still be nothing between them but loyalty and love and mutual comprehension."

On blessings:
"There is a reality in blessing, which I take baptism to be, primarily. It doesn't enhance sacredness, but it acknowledges it, and there is a power in that. I have felt it pass through me, so to speak. The sensation is of really knowing a creature, I mean really feeling its mysterious life and your own mysterious life at the same time."

On second guessing oneself, I don't know about "years ago" but this one rings true for me:
"I still wake up at night, thinking, That's what I should have said! or That's what he meant! remembering conversations I had with people years ago, some of them long gone from the world, past any thought of my putting things right with them."

On virtue:
"It is one of the best traits of good people that they love where they pity. And this is truer of women than of men. So they get themselves into situations that are harmful to them. I have seen this happen many, many times. I have always had trouble finding a way to caution against it. Since it is, in a word, Christlike."

On the transience of life:
"Though I must say all this has given me a new glimpse of the ongoingness of the world. We fly forgotten as a dream, certainly, leaving the forgetful world behind us to trample and mar and misplace everything we have ever cared for. That is just the way of it, and it is remarkable."

On religion, specifically evangelists:
"Two or three of the ladies had pronouced views on points of doctrine, particularly sin and damnation, which they never learned from me. I blame the radio for sowing a good deal of confusion where theology is concerned. And television is worse. You can spend forty years teaching people to be awake to the fact of mystery and then some fellow with no more thoelogical sense than a jackrabbit gets himself a radio ministry and all your work is forgotten. I do wonder where it will end."

On creation:
"This morning Kansas rolled out of its sleep into a sunlight grandly announced, proclaimed throughout heaven - one more of the very finite number of days that this old prairie has been called Kansas, or Iowa. But it has all been one day, that first day. Light is constant, we just turn over in it." ( )

A wonderfully written work in which an aged clergyman looks upon his life through a letter to his young son. It examines the relationships between his father and grandfather, also preachers, his best friend (another preacher), between himself and God, and also his troubled relationship with his best friend's son. (named after himself). It's a story that unfolds slowly, with prose that rewards rolling around the literary palate. A work to savour for those who want to contemplate the meaning of their lives. ( )

Easily one of the best books I read in 2007. Gently meandering poetic prose that manages to both encompass an American experience and the lifetime of a man of doubts and faith. Don't miss this one. ( )

Easily one of the best books I read in 2007. Gently meandering poetic prose that manages to both encompass an American experience and the lifetime of a man of doubts and faith. Don't miss this one. ( )

Easily one of the best books I read in 2007. Gently meandering poetic prose that manages to both encompass an American experience and the lifetime of a man of doubts and faith. Don't miss this one. ( )

Much like a warm, cozy visit at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, listening to the older folks reminisce about hard times and good times, gone friends, and family stories. A lovely tracing of home and heart by the main character, an old gentleman, who is reviewing his life choices and leaving wisdom in hand for his young son.

Altogether winning; I loved it! ( )

Beautiful

I found this book in a magazine list of books that were off the radar and underrated when it comes to all-time-classics. There was a lot to be said in favour of it. And it gripped me in its sober and quiet introspective style. But in the end, I didn't love it the way I'd hoped. I haven't recommend it to anyone yet. When I'm more mature, perhaps. ( )

I feel guilty for not liking this book more than I did. I thought the writing decent enough, but the plot moved along too slowly to keep my interest. I was waiting for a climax which I felt never really happened. ( )

While I thought some sections of the book were gorgeously written, I didn't feel that the writing was enough to distract me from the slow moving, uneventful plot. 200 pages in, I was still waiting for the story to start. ( )

This is one of my new favorite books. The best word to describe this book is beautiful: beautiful language, beautiful characters, beautiful pacing. To me, it was mainly about the many relationships between fathers and sons and noticing those beautiful moments that make life truly meaningful. ( )

I find the writing in this book achingly beautiful. I must say I've never read a book quite like it.

Some books pull you in with the depth, complexity, or uniqueness of the story....you must keep reading to see what happens next, and next, and then next. I love these books; I love needing to steal every spare moment I have to quench my curiosity thirst.

Other books have characters you find so compelling, so intriguing, so believable that even if you don't like them you feel driven to understand them more completely. You admire the author for being able to put you right inside the character's skin. I'm always sad when these books end, it feels like a personal loss of some sort.

This book.....well, here's the thing. I earmark pages in my books. I own them, I can do what I please. I earmark pages with sentences I find marvelous, with concepts I'm interested in exploring further, with dialog I think is brilliantly written... there are a number of reasons I might earmark a page. And I prefer earmarking over highlighting or underlining because I love the rediscovery during re-reads, seeing if whatever I earmarked it for stands up to the test of time. Can I find it? Do I still love it, whatever it is? If so, the earmark stays. If not, I simply unfold it. My point being, I'm a little more than halfway through this book, and it has more earmarks than any other I own.

I don't imagine this to be a universally-loved book. I would even wager that many people will say they found it too slow, about "nothing." I find it stunning.

This book comes to me during a period of contemplating the what's-it-all-about-ness of life. The narrator's appreciation for the simple wonders and beauty that everyday life holds soothes me, it creates a sense of hopefulness. This may seem contradictory...it's a Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, nothing simple about that. The author's accomplishment may be bigger than anything I could hope to achieve, but the character she created is someone I needed to meet just now. ( )

What makes a life well-lived? How will we be remembered when we are gone? This novel is full of quotes worth marking - but it is a slow read........ ( )

Hauntingly beautiful writing. One of my favorite authors. ( )

John Ames is dying.

He has lived seventy six years in the small Kansas town of Gilead, most of those pastoring the small country church his father & his grandfather pastored before him.

He watches his seven year old son, the son he never thought he would have, playing at his feet, and realizes he will never see him grow up.

And so he writes, trying to distill his soul into words, to tell his son everything his heart yearns to but knows it will not live to do.

*************

I rarely read fiction. I have no desire to be entertained by a book. Instead, I want, no, I need a book to grab me by the throat, wrestle me to the ground, and hold me there until I am so overwhelmed by the goodness of God that I am weeping. And so I read men like Piper & Eldredge & Chan & Crabb, because they can do that to me.

It is rare that a book of fiction has that capacity. Gilead does.

It is a work of stunning beauty & grace & wisdom. I had underlined many passages and shed many tears by the time I turned the last page. It is no surprise to me at all why Marilynne Robinson won the Pulitzer for this novel. Read it. It will bless your socks off. ( )

Quite simply, this is a book of beautiful words formed into beautiful sentences expressing beautiful and profoundly moving thoughts. It is essentially a long letter written by a man in seventies to help his young son remember him after he passes.

In his wonderful novel "Mr. Sammler’s Planet," Saul Bellow summarized the main character as having lived his life the way a good man should. That would certainly be an apt description for John Ames, the protagonist in "Gilead," as well.

My wife and I read this book aloud over the course of a week and vocalizing the author’s words helped us find the proper cadence for the sentiments of a man whose mind remains sharp while his body is wearing out. Some books are intended to be page-turners while others are meant to be savored; this is one of the latter kind. ( )

First line: "I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old."

Gilead is an epistolary novel written by a Congregationalist minister to his young son. John Ames came to fatherhood rather late in life and regrets that he won't be able to watch his son grow to manhood. There are so many things he wants to tell the boy that can't be told to a six year old, and so he begins to write his letter in a journal.

"Your mother told you I'm writing your begats, and you seemed very pleased with the idea. Well, then. What should I record for you?"

As a minister who comes from a long line of minsters, John Ames is concerned with the human condition and the deeper things of the soul. There is much about the nature of love, friendship, faith and prayer in Gilead. Even the hard questions of Christianity are addressed as Jack, the son of John's lifelong friend, posits the philosophical query:

"Do you ever wonder why American Christianity seems to wait for the real thinking to be done elsewhere?"

John has kept pages and pages of sermons he has delivered over the years in which he "[tried] to say what was true." It is this pursuit of truth and personal integrity that seems to haunt John in his twilight years. The relationship between John and Jack has been strained for a very long time. These two men repeatedly attempt to understand each other and John feels deeply his failure, as both a minister and an elder, to comprehend and forgive the younger man. As John struggles to right this relationship, he reaffirms that redemption is neither simple nor easy.

The pace of the writing is very meditative and requires the reader to slow down and take up the tempo of an old man. While this was an effective device most of the time, I found my mind wandering far from the novel at other times. There are no chapter breaks, but there are "thought" breaks in which the author may pick up the same thread or shift to a new one. This format took a bit of getting used to, but once I adjusted it seemed appropriate for the teller of the story. The writing is spare and straightforward, which fits the setting and time -- a small prairie town of the 1950s populated by those who have seen much hardship.

"To me it seems rather Christlike to be unadorned as this place is, as little regarded."

Gilead is a beautifully written book that, at times, will take some work to read. I don't think that the religious tone of the book should disturb those who follow a faith other than Christianity or those who follow no faith at all. What the author truly addresses in her pages is the human condition of which we are all a part. ( )

I loved "Gilead". It is written as a memoir from a dying elderly (at least third generational preacher) to his seven year old son. And It is written in a manner that takes one back to about the 1950s. The father, who is narrating, writes in a very calming, soothing way and is attempting to let his son know what he thinks, why he thinks that way and about things that have occurred in his lifetime and the reactions and responses to those occurrences.
The preacher married late in life and had his son even later so he wants to share as much as he can to give his son an understanding of himself as a man. He writes of his beautiful relationship with his best friend (a preacher of another denomination) and of his wife, the boy's mother. He writes to him of his growing up years and he and his father's relationship.
The book is full of God, the Bible, prayer and of a life devoted to God. Yet it is not written in a preachy way at all. I also think it was much more contemplative than religious. If I didn't love the Lord, I think I still would have loved this book because of the way it was written. The author's words simply flow throughout the entire novel. It is one of the easiest books I have read all year and perhaps one of the best. It may not make my top ten, but it will certainly be way up there. Marilynne Robinson is a wonderful author. I highly recommend this book to people of all persuasions. The only other book I have read that I can compare feeling this way about upon finishing would be "Cry, the Beloved Country". There was just something about "Gilead" that took my breath away.
Do something really kind for yourself and read this one. ( )

GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson is a Pulitzer Prize (2005) winning work of fiction. The story is told through a collection of letters written by an elderly dying minister for the benefit of his young child.

I think I need to read this book again.

Why?

Because I had several false starts which caused me to lose track of the characters and the story line. This problem was due to my own inattentiveness...

I like to read before dozing off.

This book deserves the reader's total undivided attention, therefore I will will pay GILEAD its due.

GILEAD is brief, but contains so many jewels that to nod off mid-sentence is to break the thread that binds the jewels together.

Read More here:

http://youarewhatyouread2.blogspot.co... ( )

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, who told me it was one of her absolute favorites. It’s not a long book, only about 250 pages, but not a quick read either. It’s a letter written by a dying man, a preacher, to his young son. He is trying to tell him everything he won’t be able to, everything that means something to him. It’s a beautiful story, full of wisdom and simple expressions of love and faith. I found myself marking quote after quote.Here are some of my favorites:“…I can’t believe that, when we have all been changed and put on incorruptibility, we will forget our fantastic condition of mortality and impermanence, the great bright dream of procreating and perishing that meant the whole world to us. In eternity this world will be Troy, I believe, and all that has passed here will be the epic of the universe, the ballad they sing in the streets. Because I don’t imagine any reality putting this one in the shade entirely and I think piety forbids me to try.”“…I could never thank God sufficiently for the splendor He has hidden from the world… and revealed to me in your sweetly ordinary face.”“There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient.” ( )

Unique and wonderful.

The novel harks back to an earlier age and a simpler world. In some ways Robinson’s concerns are quite unfashionable – yet they strike a chord with me. They make me nostalgic for the argument of a good sermon and the consolations of a good hymn. We used to gather and read the Good Book – now we sit in book groups – I feel something has been lost.

It's quite a challenge to write a book about a good man - not flawed, not weak, not destructive – just struggling all his life to understand what God requires of him, struggling with his faith and the need for forgiveness. John is a man who is frequently amazed and delighted with the beauty and wonder of the world around him, his family, and all his blessings.

This book could never come from Australia. It is so steeped in American history. Many of the references are lost on me. – civil war, abolitionist movement. Clearly race and religion are distinctive and powerful forces shaping American society.

It was also interesting to read this book just after reading The Road. Both won the Pulitzer, and both describe a harrowing journey by a father and son, but they present vastly different pictures of America. In addition women are peripheral in both novels. Despite her great importance to him John Ames never uses his wife’s name. She is only named by once by Jack – Lila. ( )