Gilead: A Novel
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the first in the trilogy set in Gilead, Iowa, takes the form of a father's letter to his son. Rev. John Ames is 76-years-old and nearing the end of his life, but his son is only seven. In the letter, he reflects on his own life and relationships with his father and grandfather, and realizes some of his regrets--including his difficulty relating to a son so many years his junior, and that he won't be around to watch him reach adulthood. Robinson's writing is quiet and meditative, but often astonishing in its perceptive observations on human nature. I also have Lila on my shelf but am waiting to read it until I need a curl-up-by-the-fire-with-tea book (probably in the fall or winter).
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The 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning novel
A New York Times Top-Ten Book of 2004
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
Nearly 25 years after Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations, from the Civil War to the 20th century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America’s heart. In the words of Kirkus, it is a novel “as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering.” Gilead tells the story of America and will break your heart.
