He re-married very late in life to a woman of only about forty – and their son is just seven years old. Having married as a young man, Ames lost his wife and child and spent the next several decades ministering to his church and the community. The novel is essentially Ames’ letter to his son. In the mid-1950s, John Ames is in his seventies, he knows he is nearing the end of his life – and he wishes to leave something for his young son to remember him by and which will teach him about his history. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain.” “Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is a stunning novel – and I am now looking forward to the rest of the Gilead novels. This is not a plot driven novel – it’s a novel in which little happens – and yet within it there are decades of American history, humanity, love and faith. Written in a kind of stream of consciousness, Gilead introduces us to three generations of a family through the voice of the Reverend John Ames a Congregationalist minister from Gilead, Iowa. I’m glad I decided to do that, having read Gilead now it felt like the right place to start – a beautiful, spare novel that won its author the Pulitzer prize. I had already bought Home for my kindle for my Women’s Prize project – but following a discussion on Twitter I decided it would be best to read the Gilead novels in chronological order. So, I have finally read my first Marilynne Robinson novel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |