Wow. What a book. I’m absolutely blown away. I haven’t read a story so elegantly written and yet so homely and comfortable. Gilead is theologically rich and so very personal and simple. It tugs the heart and helps the imagination find new heights. It preaches without words. It is a book that holds you even when you think you are holding it.
Gilead is the best thing I’ve read in a long time.
I unsay everything I said on Wednesday about the tired trope of the clergyman. Marilynne Robinson has written the unwrite-able book, and did so with grace and authenticity.
Anything is possible now.
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About Brenton Dickieson
“A Pilgrim in Narnia” is a blog project in reading and talking about the work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Inklings, L.M. Montgomery, and the worlds they created. As a "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction" blog, we cover topics like children’s literature, myths and mythology, fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, poetry, theology, cultural criticism, art and writing.
This blog includes my thoughts as I read through my favourite writings and reflect on my own life and culture. In this sense, I am a Pilgrim in Narnia--or Middle Earth, or Fairyland, or Avonlea. I am often peeking inside of wardrobes, looking for magic bricks in urban alleys, or rooting through yard sale boxes for old rings. If something here captures your imagination, leave a comment, “like” a post, share with your friends, or sign up to receive Narnian Pilgrim posts in your email box.
Brenton Dickieson (PhD, Chester) is a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer from Prince Edward Island, Canada. You can follow him:
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Is there balm in Gilead?
No lip balm anyway!
There I have done it again! Inspired by your review I recently bought” The Rood and The Torc” …. Gilead is now on the way from Amazon.
That’s pretty awesome! They are quite different books, but I was pleased by both. Gilead is still rolling around my skull.
Marillynne Robinson is a truth-teller and a lover of humanity in equal measure. There are few like her.
I’m starting to worry that there is only one like her.
None like her!! Excellent post, Brenton. Thanks.
Love, love love this book. If you haven’t already, read the other 2 books also set in the same small town. the newest is Lila, which I will be reading very soon; the other, I believe, is “Home”. she also writes interesting and thought-provoking essays. the latest collection, “When I was a child I read books”, my local CS Lewis group is reviewing next month. (we’ve been together so long we’ve reviewed almost all his writings and are now getting into books by other Inklings, books that Lewis loved, authors inspired by Lewis, and newer authors who tackle similar subjects.)
I have read Housekeeping but not Home or Lila. Housekeeping was a much different kind of piece, but both are biblical echoes I think.
I love the essay series and have assigned one of the pieces to students, though they found it a struggle.
You are right that there is something we can identify as a Lewis Pattern in work, though he wouldn’t have been the first. I’m reading Chesterton’s “Short History of England” and just bumbled into the phrase “the Great Divorce”–he had some influence on Lewis, and did that upside-down culture engagement thing.
Don’t unsay all you said! You left allowances for well-drawn and well-used examples.
Yes, that is true. I thought it was a fun accident to yell at tropesters, bemoaning the lack of authenticity, and then see the exception that proves the rule later that week.
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