AJ Dunn Reads

  Gilead by Marilynne Robinson What a beautifully written novel. The language in this book is possibly the most tender I have ever read. Reverend John Ames, a 77 year old Congregationalist pastor in the 1950s small fictional town of Gilead, Iowa, is dying and he is leaving behind a memoir to his son who is just seven years old and to his young wife. Ames recounts episodes in his life that have shaped him, especially those involving his father, grandfather, and his good friend Reverand Boughton, whose son Jack returns to Gilead and rekindles the somewhat adversarial relationship he had with Ames (his Godfather, for whom he was named). Ames struggles with his own theological understandings, especially where Jack is concerned, among other things. This book is filled with moments of beauty we should all recognize in everyday life; moments Ames finds awe in and hopes that his son will come to understand and appreciate as he grows. It is a reflective novel on a life lived mostly in solit...