Book Review: Gilead

Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. I'm not even going to try to write a summary, I think the words of John Ames speak for themselves,so here are some of my favorite quotes.

My favorite themes:

On Life

"there are many ways to live a good life"

"When things are taking their ordinary course, it is hard to remember what matters."

"Ah, this life, this world."

"This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it."

"There are pleasures to be found where you would never look for them."

Prayer

"How deeply I regret any sadness you have suffered and how grateful I am in anticipation of any good you have enjoyed. That is to say, I pray for you. And there's an intimacy in it. That's the truth."

"People are always up in the night, with their colicky babies and their sick children, or fighting or worrying or full of guilt. I'd walk through the town at one or two 'clock and I'd see the lights on, and I'd pray for them. And I'd imagine peace they didn't expect and couldn't account for descending on their illness or their quarreling or their dreams."

People

"some people just go around looking to get their faith unsettled"

Innocence

"There is an earned innocence, I believe, which is as much to be honored as the innocence of children"

Sermons

"A good sermon is one side of a passionate conversation. It has to be heard in that way. There are three parties to it, of course, but so are there even to the most private thought-the self that yields the thought, the self that acknowledges and in some way responds to the thought, and the Lord. That is a remarkable thing to consider."

Kindness

"Since supper was three kinds of casserole with two kinds of fruit salad, with cake and pie for dessert, I gathered that my flock who lambaste life's problems with food items of just this kind, had heard an alarm. There was even a bean salad, which to me looked distinctly Presbyterian, so anxiety had overspilled its denominational vessel. You'd have thought I'd died."

Faith

"I would advise you against defensiveness on principle. At the most basic level, it expresses a lack of faith. And often enough when we think we are protecting ourselves, we are struggling against our rescuer."

Forgivenes

"So to be forgiven is only half the gift. The other half is that we also can forgive, restore, and liberate, and therefore we can feel the will of God enacted through us, which is the great restoration of ourselves to ourselves."

I loved the Biblical references because these particular stories are already meaningful to me, especially the story of Abraham and his two sons. I loved his ideas about commandments.

The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I really wanted grace to be passed on to his wife and son and Jack in the same way that he felt grace and peace and comfort come into his life after his "great lonliness".

I don't like to give the story away so I feel restricted in what I can say, but I will read this book again not because I feel it is full of truth but because it is comforting at the conclusion of his life and thought provoking.
I would recommend this to: Nese, Creed, Vaughn, Sally, Jill


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