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Gilead

By Marilynne Robinson

(56)

| Hardcover | 9781844081479

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Book Description

2005 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction 2004 National Book Critics Circle Winner 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 Continue

2005 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction 2004 National Book Critics Circle Winner 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.

Gilead is the long-hoped-for second novel by one of our finest writers, a hymn of praise and lamentation to the God-haunted existence that Reverend Ames loves passionately, and from which he will soon part.

Critics

  • Book of a Lifetime: Gilead, By Marilynne Robinson

    "The fact is, I don't want to be old. And I certainly don't want to be dead. I don't want to be the tremulous coot you barely remember." As John Ames begins to write a letter to his son, a letter that will be read when he is long buried, he is unawar ... (read full critics)

    independent published on Fri, 1 Apr 2011

  • Gilead

    La trama e le recensioni di Gilead, romanzo di Marilynne Robinson edito da Einaudi. Il reverendo John Ames sta morendo. Non potrà crescere il figlio di soli sette anni, né educarlo, né offrirgli testimonianza di sé. Sceglie così di affidarsi a una le ... (read full critics)

    Qlibri published on Tue, 23 Nov 2010

6 Reviews

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  • My thoughts

    I found this book emotionally moving and thought-provoking. I liked how John reflected on his relationship with his father and his father's relationship with his father.

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    krin5292 said on Nov 15, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • This book is very slow, with minimal plot. Some insights into the human condition are revealed, which are interesting, but I was waiting for something marvellous to happen. It never did.
    It is very well-written; there is not a comma out of place, but being well-crafted does not make it a good, ... (continue)

    This book is very slow, with minimal plot. Some insights into the human condition are revealed, which are interesting, but I was waiting for something marvellous to happen. It never did.
    It is very well-written; there is not a comma out of place, but being well-crafted does not make it a good, or even great book. Disappointing.

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    Lunarossa said on Oct 21, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • A beautifully, beautifully written novel about intergenerational relationships & passing knowledge & experience from father to son. There are some lovely little stories in it, and the author does a good job of tying things together.

    But the constant religious philosophizing soon wore me down ( ... (continue)

    A beautifully, beautifully written novel about intergenerational relationships & passing knowledge & experience from father to son. There are some lovely little stories in it, and the author does a good job of tying things together.

    But the constant religious philosophizing soon wore me down (the novel is about a family of ministers). It was a chore to finish, and about halfway through I took to skipping quickly over the more religious passages, of which there are a lot.

    If you aren't religious, give this book a pass no matter how well written it is.

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    Scott said on Jun 11, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • Hill of Testimony/Mound of Witness

    2005 Pulitzer Prize winner.

    This is one of the book that needs to be read in great attention, and it often involves back and forth leafing to re-digest the words. I guess it is fair that it took Robinson 12 years to write this book, and it took me a few months to go through it.

    This is a ... (continue)

    2005 Pulitzer Prize winner.

    This is one of the book that needs to be read in great attention, and it often involves back and forth leafing to re-digest the words. I guess it is fair that it took Robinson 12 years to write this book, and it took me a few months to go through it.

    This is a prose-like novel, which depicts a minister's life from a few generations' preacher family in a small town with declining in its population. Although with a high prestige from his job, John Ames could not escape from some personal prejudice, and those feelings seemingly ungodly towards his best friend's son and his god son.

    By way of writing to his young-aged son for expecting to be a posthumous letter, the protagonist wrote out his true feelings towards people close to him and to god. Even the progress seems random and slow, you would be touched by his true reflections to people, to things and to god. People surrounding him come from different believes and attitudes towards god, life and other people. He, as a minister, need to play a neutral role to bridge people and god's gap, while he had his own doubt in his mind.

    We don't see this kind of work everyday, so we don't have to finish it in haste. Following the pace of the author has given, it actually quite an enjoyable book to be slowly chewed on.

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    artie said on Apr 1, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • A good story, but the way it has been written is quite a boredom to me.

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    S.E. said on Mar 1, 2009 | Add your feedback

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