[book post] Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

After I read Gilead, I found myself thumbing through my phone contacts and texting anyone and everyone who I even vaguely suspected might've read this book. And it's a weird, specific kind of book, so the list of people I wound up texting looked something like "my mom, a friend of my mom's whom I remembered vaguely from book clubs at our house when I was little, and an acquaintance from undergrad who studied folklore & mythology." I asked each of them: did you read this? can we talk about it, please, I'm d e s p e r a t e to talk about this book with someone???

And I couldn't find anyone who'd read the damn thing! So I was left wrestling with it by myself these past few weeks.

See, the whole reason I was desperate to talk to someone is: this novel has a lot going on, multiple threads that pull together in a satisfying way—but by the end, I found myself puzzling over what to make of the whole?

I'm still puzzling, but I've got at least some notion now, I think.

( Read more... )

Weird book. Not at all what I expected! If you've read it, PLEASE sound off in the comments; I Wish To Talk With You About It

(a couple other reviews I found interesting while puzzling over this: [x], [y], [z])