Gilead

I read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson for the book group I'm in. In Gilead, Reverend John Ames is writing a journal to his young son. The aging father is expected to die in the near future due to a heart condition, but his son is only 7 years old. So, the father decides to write a journal to tell his son all the things he would want the son to know if he (the father) were still around.

I thought the book was an interesting idea for a story. It was well written, but at the same time, sometimes seemed to go on and on. It was from the perspective of this old guy, so the book really came across as a stream of consciousness from an old man rambling on about random topics without any real order to it. For that reason, it wasn't the most interesting book the whole way through. Parts of it, though, were kinda nice--there were lots of interesting religious insights since the narrator was a reverend. Since he had lived a long, full life, he also shared lots of little tidbits of life lessons.

Rating: * (1/3 = It was okay.)