lillianhpearce 's review for:

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

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Waiting to rate until I can discuss with Molly (book 4 for book club?). You definitely sink into the stupor of this. I mean to say that there’s not a lot of action and it does feel like an old man is talking to you for hours on end. I used to sit with my grandpa and listen to him talk about anything and everything, just nodding along to his stories, and this book hit that same stride. I don’t think it was boring, though. It was interesting but mostly sad — I found the moments he shared of his son playing to be the saddest, usually written down as he watched from his office. The second half was a clear shift to focus on Jack and his story and we sort of lost those aforementioned moments I admired. I’m not sure how well I enjoyed the second half nor Jack’s story in general (more precisely, how it overtook the book — felt like John was mostly complaining and later simply transcribing. Lost the element of talking that reminded me of my grandpa).