Helpful Score: 1
John Ames is pushy 80 and he's tired and probably dying. He knows it. He is not so much concerned about himself'after all, he's a Congregationalist minister who's going to heaven, right?'as he is about his seven-year-old son. How will Ames show his son who he really is when he will probably not be a part of his growing up? A memoir. Gilead is a letter by Ames to his young boy revealing his loves, beliefs and fears.
This Pulitzer Prize winner novel is more subtle that other winners like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, but just as powerful. It may even seem slow in the beginning'the true antagonist, John Ames Boughton, the narrator's namesake, doesn't play a significant role until half-way through the book. In the first half of Gilead, John Ames talks more about his grandfather's role in the Abolitionist Movement in the 1800's.
Author Marilynne Robinson's prose seems to bewitch the reader; it's almost like the reader doesn't know why he finds the story so compelling. It's so quiet and unassuming. Probably best to read it twice.
This Pulitzer Prize winner novel is more subtle that other winners like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, but just as powerful. It may even seem slow in the beginning'the true antagonist, John Ames Boughton, the narrator's namesake, doesn't play a significant role until half-way through the book. In the first half of Gilead, John Ames talks more about his grandfather's role in the Abolitionist Movement in the 1800's.
Author Marilynne Robinson's prose seems to bewitch the reader; it's almost like the reader doesn't know why he finds the story so compelling. It's so quiet and unassuming. Probably best to read it twice.
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