Book Review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I ran into the library intending only to check out a few books for my kids, but had a few minutes and found this book, knowing only that it won the Pulitzer in 2004.

I recently decided that I have been a little too liberal with my 5 star ratings; that a book would literally have to be life-changing for me to give it 5 stars.

For me, Gilead is such a book.

It is a series of thoughts/stories/essays written by a man in his 70’s who has recently discovered that he has a terminal illness.  The letters are intended for his 7-year-old son to read when he is an adult, an attempt to help his son understand who his father was.

Beautiful, profound, thought-provoking, moving.

Regrets, blessings, faith, sin and redemption, joy, love of God, love and hate and complicated relationships between humans, poignancy, humor.

Hope.

This book is not fast-moving, nor is it a page-turner --  although I found that my pen needed to be at the ready with every page turn due to its abundance of note-worthy quotes and thoughts.

Reading this book was a moving, oftentimes spiritual experience that brought me to tears on more than one occasion.

I will be buying this book.  It needs to be on my shelf so that it can be re-read through the years.


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