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Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse)'s Reviews > Gilead

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
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it was amazing
bookshelves: for-the-desert-island, the-missionary-position

Faith gets such a bad rap these days. The most egregiously distorted personifications of it stand as paragons: Sarah Palin's hypocritical, dangerous and politicized evangelism; Pat Robertson's venomous, hateful, racist diatribes. Et cetera.

At the foundation of these demonstrations of faith is a lack of any kind of sensible, coherent, thought-through logic. The Palins and Robertsons of the world--and their brand of religious belief and practice--are easily dismissed because the presentation of it is nonsensical to the point of psychosis. They require, on the part of their followers, the complete turning-off of that part of the brain that questions and evaluates. The thinking part of the brain. As a result, thinking comes to be antithetical to Christian belief or any kind of extremist religious belief.

This is not right. I am open-minded enough to know that, even though I don't share it and can't share it, there are many people whose faith is well-founded on a belief system that has been examined, scrutinized, sometimes (often) struggled with. A belief system that includes doubt and fallibility; and also compassion and tolerance for those who don't share it. This is why it's faith, because it includes--not precludes--doubt and questioning.

John Ames, Marilynne Robinson's creation in Gilead, is the latter type of believer, a person of faith which does not preclude either doubt or intellect. In reading this character's thoughts, my eyes were opened again to that kind of believer, one for whom I have ultimate respect. I can't share his world-view, but I can respect it, and here, I can even enjoy it--the beautiful, lyrical, literary examination and presentation of faith.

I've now said more than I wanted to about this book, because this review captures almost precisely my response to it, and far more eloquently than I have so far. (thank you, brian)

Some other things I enjoyed, all of them very subtle:

1) the wry, sneak-up on you humour (very unexpected, but welcome);
2) the imagery of the 'hereafter' -- envisioned as a third dimension, unknowable and indescribable;
3) the presentation of aging (in this, Ames reminds me of Hagar in Laurence's The Stone Angel--another gorgeously evocative depiction of the aging mind);
4) of course, the character and symbolism of "Jack"--what he represents to John Ames, the doubt and struggle with his own faith and adherence to faith-based behaviour that Ames ultimately manages to integrate into his own belief system, and with whom he reconciles, both on a physical 'in-the-world' level as well as a spiritual one.
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Reading Progress

January 5, 2009 – Shelved
January 19, 2010 – Started Reading
January 24, 2010 –
page 57
23.08%
January 27, 2010 –
page 85
34.41% "I continue to be pulled into the stream (of consciousness) of this book's luscious prose and subtle insights."
January 29, 2010 –
page 115
46.56%
January 29, 2010 –
page 115
46.56% "The humour is delightful, in that it is unexpected. And often, dark and quite wry."
February 18, 2010 – Finished Reading
February 22, 2010 –
page 247
100.0% "Finished ages ago; too lazy/busy to update my status or write a review. Loved the unique voice and quiet, powerful examination of faith."
June 24, 2010 – Shelved as: for-the-desert-island
July 13, 2010 – Shelved as: the-missionary-position

Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

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Julie Let me know at what page it finally gets compelling, and I'll pick it up there. ;)


Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse) It's the strangest reading experience. The stream-of-consciousness and lyricism of the prose pulls you along, but there's, well, nothing happening. I can't keep the characters straight. And yet, there are paragraphs that--on their own--are amazingly beautiful and insightful, e.g. the soliloquy on the word "just" on p. 28. I haven't given up yet, but I'm also not making great progress. I'll let you know....


message 3: by Manny (last edited Feb 23, 2010 08:38AM) (new) - added it

Manny I liked your comments on faith, which is indeed being horribly debased by the Religious Right. It occurs to me now to wonder if someone's tried a rational defense of faith on game-theoretical grounds. The argument would be something like this: in many situations, even if you have no compelling evidence for A, your expected utility is higher if you act as though A is true. I.e. you should have faith in A.

Perhaps Pascal's Wager is an extreme form of this argument, but I don't think you need to go as far as that for it to make sense. You can probably talk about faith in quite mundane things and it will still work. Surely someone has explored this line of reasoning?


Julie Five stars? Really? I will have to give it another, honest chance. I loved your third paragraph. That's the kind of faith I want to have and hope I have.


Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse) Manny, fascinating thought. Very appealing way to conceptualize the practical application of faith in everyday life. The rationalism of moral behaviour, or something. Morality being an equally slippery slope, of course.

Julie, I was thinking of you all the way through this one. I wonder (without getting too personal on a public thread), if your own strong faith almost made this book somehow "unchallenging", i.e. boring, for you. You might be so familiar with the kind of theological musings that Ames engages in, that the lack of plot sunk you. Although as brian points out in his review, too, it's just a gorgeous literary experience and accomplishment.


message 6: by Diane (new)

Diane Fantastic review!
Your distinction between different types of faith is excellent.


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