Gilead

Marilynne Robinson's fantastic little Pulitzer Prizewinning book retelling a 76 year old Iowa country reverend's written legacy to his six year old son of his second marriage, is riveting.

It's a whole ton of other things too.

I guess I picked it up in part because, being married to an Iowan, I love the State. The rolling [NOT flat, despite popular misconception], bucolic farmland, charming small towns and civilized "big cities" are so unlike what Hollywood and TV portrays of the US that it's mind boggling. In part it's my knowledge of Iowa that made "Gilead" such a surprise. Or should I say it's what I thought I knew of Iowa.

But - of course - Gilead may be in Iowa, but it's not about Iowa at all.

This book breaks misconceptions of many different kinds ... Iowa wasn't always a bastion of "conservative" political values; a female author can't adequately or believably voice the feelings and concerns of caring fatherhood; that theology can't be fascinating and motivating; that people don't change, just to name a very few.

At the turn of every page the encounters with unexpected life insights make one sit up, find a scratch pad and pencil and write things down.

At this particular point in my life, I found this paragraph particularly deep:

"So my advice is this - don't look for proofs. Don't bother with them at all. They are never sufficient to the question, and they're always a little impertinent, I think, because they claim for God a place within our conceptual grasp. And they will likely sound wrong to you even if you convince someone else with them. That is very unsettling over the long term. 'Let your works so shine before men,' etc. It was Coleridge who said Christianity is a life, not a doctrine, words to that effect. I'm not saying never doubt or question. The Lord gave you a mind so that you would make honest use of it. I'm saying you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own, not, so to speak, the mustache and walking stick that happen to be the fashion of any particular moment." p. 179, emphasis mine

I know too many people who are "fashionably agnostic"; whose politics is class or race related rather than rational or considered. For whom peer pressure trumps good sense.

What I find so absolutely wonderful about Gilead is that a 76 year old man, whose first impulse is conservative, judgemental and fearful faces his demons, his past and pre-conceptions and passes on to his son a remarkable record of growth and positive advice.

So I guess there's hope for me ... there's another 20-odd years to go ... LOL!