Gilead (Oprah's Book Club)

By: Marilynne Robinson

Narrated by: Tim Jerome

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2005

National Book Critics Circle Award, Fiction, 2005

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 50, 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.

©2004 Marilynne Robinson (P)2005 BBC Audiobooks America, Published by Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

" Gilead is a beautiful work: demanding, grave, and lucid...Robinson's words have a spiritual force that's very rare in contemporary fiction." ( The New York Times Book Review)
"The long wait has been worth it....Robinson's prose is beautiful, shimmering, and precise....Destined to become her second classic." ( Publishers Weekly)
"[ Gilead] is so serenely beautiful, and written in a prose so gravely measured and thoughtful, that one feels touched with grace just to read it." ( The Washington Post Book World)

keep with it! well worth it!!

So glad I kept with it. so worth it! Brilliant work!definitely would recommend it. loved it.

Constellations were singing

Such a clever, clever book. It takes you to quite unexpected places - Gileadites, the prodigal son who leaves again and again, a patriarchy of pastors who are blind to their world and yet acutely observant of human nature but ignorant of what is directly in front of them. The invention of God and a turn on Feuerbach. I've been to Iowa. It'll never be the same. I would be happy to read this again. There's also a lot of joy in this book. Calvin gets a lot of cameos. Super American book, by which I mean it mines some themes that are v. Interesting to outsiders like me, e, g. John Brown. This is a beautifully nuanced piece of writing.

..

If you could sum up Gilead in three words, what would they be?

Nice story, good performance, but I think I would have enjoyed this book more by reading it, not listening.

Beautiful.

The story is captivating from the start. The narrative method is innovative and especially well suited for audio. Performance is emotive and powerful. This small-town pastor grips you with the simplicity of his life and faithfulness from start to end.

Very introspective and profound

Robinson explores the innermost thoughts of a dying minister in a manner that seems genuine and authentic. Packaged succinctly in one person are the words of a father, minister, and man giving a summary of his life, his convictions, and what he holds dear. A very enjoyable book.

A chance to think deeply

I see the reviews that call this book and this performance boring. I understand. If someone is looking for entertainment, they won’t value this opportunity. It made me slow down and reflect on my life and my faith. It made me sad and then gave me great joy. The narrative is real life. The people are real people. The struggle to live, to love, and to die well is common to all people. I will read the book again and this performer’s voice will resonate in my head. Thank you.

The ability to live introspectively

As a retired pastor I was able to identify with the story teller and I loved the main character’s faith, hope and love

Kind of Perfect

A meditation on life and family and God. A wonderfully written, touching, charming book. Great narration. Thanks for this.

Did not like

I could not relate to this. I usually appreciate all of her book club selections. However this one never caught on for me

Surprisingly meaningful

This book creeps up on you. At about the halfway point, I was saying to myself — enough already! I am tired of listening to this old man’s sermonizing. But about then, I realized the depth of emotion I was digesting and the numerous ethical/moral conflicts of the protagonist’s experience. It was then I understood the personal and ethically necessary pain Ames experienced as he opened his mind and eyes to see Bowden#2 through a different lens.