Marilynne Robinson: Gilead

[kidvisions]

I started reading the book today, and I just can't stop!
Has anyone else here read it?
What do you think of it?

[Liam]

Originally Posted by kidvisions

Marilyne Robinson: Gilead

No offence, kid, but you can at least do her the honor of... um... spelling her name the right way, .

To answer your question, I have read both Gilead and Home and thought they were both of them incredible, 5-star novels.


L.

[kidvisions]

Originally Posted by Liam

No offence, kid, but you can at least do her the honor of... um... spelling her name the right way, .

To answer your question, I have read both Gilead and Home and thought they were both of them incredible, 5-star novels.


L.

I thought that names can be spelled as we want_at least that's ok in both French and Arabic.

[Daniel del Real]

Originally Posted by kidvisions

I thought that names can be spelled as we want_at least that's ok in both French and Arabic.

Oh but not in the Middle Ages where Liams still lives

[Liam]

Originally Posted by Daniel del Real

Oh but not in the Middle Ages...

Those were the days, my friends...

But really, people tend to view the medieval millennium as fully atrocious, but was it any worse than anything in the 20th century???

Originally Posted by Daniel del Real

...where Liams still lives...

Glad to see my Highness has attained a perfect plurality...

Anyway, Daniel, your thoughts on Marilynne Robinson and her book, Gilead, would be greatly appreciated right about now--.



L.

[Bjorn]

I fixed the spelling. (Spelling someone else's name wrong is OK in French? Really?)

As for the book... I wasn't too impressed with it, actually. Not a bad novel, but I thought it read like one long slightly unfocused sermon, and I kept shifting in my pew and waiting for the amen. The subplots about the war and about the young family friend were well done, and Robinson is a fine stylist, but on a whole the novel left me pretty unmoved.

[saliotthomas]

Originally Posted by Bjorn

I fixed the spelling. (Spelling someone else's name wrong is OK in French? Really?)

As for the book... I wasn't too impressed with it, actually. Not a bad novel, but I thought it read like one long slightly unfocused sermon, and I kept shifting in my pew and waiting for the amen. The subplots about the war and about the young family friend were well done, and Robinson is a fine stylist, but on a whole the novel left me pretty unmoved.

Same here for Home, nearly exactly my thought, specialy about the sermon and the brother apologizing for being alive 5 times every pages.
Well done, beautifull, plenty of atmospheres and interesting relfexion about religion and such(No meddle ages but the bibble Liam) but like Bjorn unmoved.

In comparaison Larry Brown with father and son was much more intense for me.

[lionel]

Originally Posted by saliotthomas

In comparaison Larry Brown with father and son was much more intense for me.

Which reminds me that I should give Larry Brown another shot, after loving Dirty Work but being disappointed by Joe. I'll have to plough through these Madison Jones library books first though.

blog

[Colette Jones]

I didn't like Gilead very much as I got a bit bored, but thought it really picked up when Jack revealed his story. As Home is the same time frame with Jack in the picture almost entirely, I liked it much much more, one of my best reads of 2009. Would I have liked Home so much without Gilead? Probably not, which has allowed me to think Gilead is a bit more worthy of praise than I thought before I read Home.

[Daniel del Real]

Originally Posted by Liam

Anyway, Daniel, your thoughts on Marilynne Robinson and her book, Gilead, would be greatly appreciated right about now--.

L.

Oh sorry Liam, haven't read any of her books, and to be honest is not in plans. However I've heard her name a lot lately, so maybe this is a call to find a great book in Gilead or Home, the ones that everybody mentions here.

[e joseph]

Originally Posted by Daniel del Real

Oh sorry Liam, haven't read any of her books, and to be honest is not in plans. However I've heard her name a lot lately, so maybe this is a call to find a great book in Gilead or Home, the ones that everybody mentions here.

Or Housekeeping. So far that's the only Marilynne Robinson I've read, but I thought it was excellent.

Originally Posted by Colette Jones

I didn't like Gilead very much as I got a bit bored, but thought it really picked up when Jack revealed his story. As Home is the same time frame with Jack in the picture almost entirely, I liked it much much more, one of my best reads of 2009. Would I have liked Home so much without Gilead? Probably not, which has allowed me to think Gilead is a bit more worthy of praise than I thought before I read Home.

Thanks for pointing this out Colette. Home I've heard such great things about; Gilead less so (aside from you Liam). Now I know not to skip ahead.

[Colette Jones]

Lizzy Siddal read Home without Gilead and liked it as much as I did, but she didn't have much sympathy for Jack. So I think you can like Home without Gilead but you might have a different take on it.

[e joseph]

Nope, too late Colette, I'm going to read Gilead first (eventually). Anyway, that's exactly the take that I heard from a few other folks who read both, though they also really enjoyed Gilead. We had a long discussion about it waiting in line at a book festival for Marilynne Robinson to sign books. After talking with them, I decided to probably just skip ahead to Home, then within a week saw Gilead for a dollar and decided someone was telling me to reconsider. Oh and as a side note, Marilynne Robinson is a sllllloooowwww autographer. God forbid you're ever behind her at the market and she whips out her checkbook; I suggest you immediately find another line.

[Liam]

Originally Posted by e joseph

...as a side note, Marilynne Robinson is a sllllloooowwww autographer...

WOW. And she looks like SUCH a darling.

So she lures you to her table by being all nicey-nice and then makes you wait one goddamn hour while she... takes the cap off her pen???

L.

[e joseph]

Nope. Pen already uncapped and all. It's the actual signature that takes awhile; very carefully done. One of those tidbits you just can't find on Wikipedia...yet.

[kpjayan]

Originally Posted by Liam

WOW. And she looks like SUCH a darling.
L.

More recent photo in here ? I haven't read any of her books, but she is getting some good reviews in India.

The Hindu : Magazine / Essay : Through a prism of empathy

Shashi Deshpande , is a popular (!) novelist here.