Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

I read this book for a class in college and I remember loving it, but I didn't remember anything about it. (It's sad how many books I've read that are like that--that I can literally not remember a single thing from the plot or the characters or anything. I wonder how many times I need to read something for it to actually sink in and for me to internalize it.) I've been meaning to re-read this one for a while, and I suggested it for my book club and am leading the discussion on it tomorrow. I am glad to have been forced to read it again, because I would definitely not have made it a priority to read it right now (this week and next are so, so busy!). But it was so, so good and had so many great moments.

This is an interesting book. It's definitely high on character development/the voice of the main narrator and low on plot. The book is formatted as a long letter, a journal of sorts, written by John Ames, an old preacher, to his young (very young) son, who he knows he will not see grow up. It's filled with his deep thoughts about things, including his calling as a preacher, certain doctrines, his relationships with his father and grandfather. The main drama in the story comes when his best friend's wayward son Jack (named after the narrator) comes home to visit and creates all sorts of upheaval in John Ames's life and in his soul. He recognizes all sorts of resentment he's built with his relationship with Jack, and shares all of these deep thoughts with his son.

I think the real beauty of this book is in the quiet, thoughtful wording of these beautiful thoughts. There are so, so many spots that I underlined and want to remember. I absolutely loved the sweetness of Ames's love for his son, his much longed-for son who was born when he was already in his late sixties. He spent 45 years wishing and waiting for a family after his died, and his love for his young wife and son is written about so simply and beautifully. Here were some of my favorite quotes about his son:
"I'm writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you've done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God's grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle. You may not remember me very well at all, and it may seem to you to be no great thing to have been the good child of an old man in a shabby little town you will no doubt leave behind. If only I had the words to tell you" (52).
"I know you will be and I hope you are an excellent man, and I will love you absolutely if you are not" (73).
"Harm to you is not harm to me in the strict sense, and that is a great part of the problem. He could knock me down the stairs and I would have worked out the theology for forgiving him before I reached the bottom. But if he harmed you in the slightest way, I'm afraid theology would fail me" (190).
"I can tell you this, that if I'd married some rosy dame and she had given me ten children and they had each given me ten grandchildren, I'd leave them all, on Christmas Eve, on the coldest night of the world, and walk a thousand miles just for the sight of your face, your mother's face" (237).
"I'll pray that you grow up a brave man in a brave country. I will pray you find a way to be useful" (247).

There are so many other beautiful passages, some of them so beautiful they made me want to cry. I feel like I am getting better at appreciating really beautiful writing on an emotional level--I may not be able to express what I'm thinking and why I love it, but I can tell what I love. And I love so much of the writing in this book. It is very slow-moving--although there are parts with more narrative structure that move more quickly--but it is very worth it. It was so uplifting and hopeful. I would love to read the next two that are companion books to this one. I am going to request them next week when we get back.