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Gilead #1-4
The Gilead Novels
Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series—Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack—is an intergenerational story about faith, race, and love radiating out from the interwoven histories of two families in a small Iowa town to encompass all of American our ideals and beliefs, our contradictions, failings, and hopes.
Over the past sixteen years, Marilynne Robinson’s now-mythical world of Gilead, Iowa, and the beloved characters who inhabit it, have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions, and the wonders of a sacred world.
These four novels, which have won one Pulitzer Prize and two National Book Critics Circle Awards, among many other honors, are a vital contribution to contemporary American literature and a revelation of our national character and humanity. Robinson’s meditation on the paradoxes of American life has given us “something we only occasionally find in the vastness of a glimpse of eternity” (Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal).
Over the past sixteen years, Marilynne Robinson’s now-mythical world of Gilead, Iowa, and the beloved characters who inhabit it, have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions, and the wonders of a sacred world.
These four novels, which have won one Pulitzer Prize and two National Book Critics Circle Awards, among many other honors, are a vital contribution to contemporary American literature and a revelation of our national character and humanity. Robinson’s meditation on the paradoxes of American life has given us “something we only occasionally find in the vastness of a glimpse of eternity” (Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal).
859 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 16, 2021
About the author
Marilynne Robinson
67 books5,960 followersAmerican novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson was named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. Robinson began teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1991 and retired in the spring of 2016.
Robinson is best known for her novels Housekeeping (1980) and Gilead (2004). Her novels are noted for their thematic depiction of both rural life and faith. The subjects of her essays have spanned numerous topics, including the relationship between religion and science, US history, nuclear pollution, John Calvin, and contemporary American politics.
Robinson is best known for her novels Housekeeping (1980) and Gilead (2004). Her novels are noted for their thematic depiction of both rural life and faith. The subjects of her essays have spanned numerous topics, including the relationship between religion and science, US history, nuclear pollution, John Calvin, and contemporary American politics.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 24, 2021
My reviews of each of the four novels that comprise Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead” series:
Gilead, 2004 (5 stars):
Gilead chronicles the life of John Ames, a seventy-year-old preacher, dying of heart disease. The novel takes place in the small town of Gilead, Iowa, and the narrative is written from Ames’s perspective as he undertakes an extended letter to his seven-year-old son. The contents of the letters take on the nature of self-revelatory prayers from the deeply religious Ames, whose voice conveys more than remembrances, reflections, and advice. His ideas also begin to reveal a developing story focused on Ames’s concerns and suspicions about his namesake, his best friend’s son, named John Jack Boughton. Jack clings to a secret of tremendous moral proportions. In addition, the novel examines three generations of ministers in the Ames’s family. But the resonant power of the book plays out in the beauty of Robinson’s language. Her passages brim with intense spiritual intuitiveness and immense wisdom. Gilead is a towering achievement of modern literature. It is the type of book destined to be a classic.
Home, 2008 (5 stars):
Home is Robinson’s supplemental novel to Gilead, and it proves to be every bit as splendid as its predecessor with its heartrending characters, beautiful composition, and thought-provoking ideas. Robinson chooses to continue exploring one of the most interesting characters from Gilead. Jack Boughton is the wayward son of Pastor Robert Boughton, who is best friends with the central character in Gilead, John Ames. Jack’s presence in Gilead poses some of the major moral dilemmas in which that novel addresses: how does regret haunt us, and what degree of good constitutes vindication? How Jack deals with his burdens and what he chooses to do to overcome his past become the focal issues in Home.
It is the 1950s, and Jack has fathered a son with a Black woman, but his attempts to provide for his family are dashed by his alcoholism. Having fallen out of graces with his wife and son, Jack returns to his childhood home in Iowa to attempt rectification of his past and to renew his relationship with his father, Pastor Boughton. In the meantime, Jack’s sister Glory, a product of broken emotions from her own failed marriage, has also returned home to tend to their ailing father. The bond that develops between brother and sister is memorable and heartbreaking. Robinson forges her way deep into the souls of these two siblings to tap the core of their feelings. Both their lives are filled with sadness and remorse, yet they are trying to work out redemption and salvation as a way to move forward and forgive.
Robinson is a virtuoso stylist and prose writer. Her work challenges readers to be patient and attentive. As with Gilead, Home should not be read too quickly. Any attempt to speed-read will leave you missing the astounding intensity of ideas in which Robinson packs into her narrative. Her sentences are nuggets of truth and understanding, essentially adding up to a grand philosophy on life. Her books are better when taken in small portions, 10-15 pages a day, in order to savor her beautiful language and the powerful story she weaves. One feels as though Robinson’s books, in addition to their profound character studies, are simultaneously reservoirs of wisdom and knowledge. Home stands on its own as a great book alongside its predecessor Gilead.
Lila, 2014 (4 stars):
With her previous two novels, Gilead and Home, Marilynne Robinson established a standard of literary greatness that she once again sustains for with her novel Lila. The three books now comprise a type of trilogy on spirituality involving the small town of Gilead, Iowa and chronicling the memorable lives of John Ames, his close friend Boughton, both their families, and John’s wife Lila. In addition, the three books breathtakingly expound upon the power of faith, compassion, and love. Indeed, Robinson’s novels are profound and enlightening experiences.
In Lila, the focus is on the title character, who eventually becomes the much younger wife of the seventy-year-old minister, John Ames. Before Lila’s marriage to Ames, her tough upbringing is illuminated with heartfelt vividness as she grows up on the margins of society alongside a woman named Doll. The two struggle to survive while Doll nurtures Lila like a daughter. No one delves the human heart and the challenges of pain, sorrow, and loneliness quite like Robinson. She tackles human suffering and redirects the plight of individuals towards a peace in life that can be found through the vitality of prayer and grace.
Abounding with wisdom and beauty, Lila is another fine achievement for Robinson. For a reader discovering her work for the first time, one may choose to start with Gilead and Home before venturing forward with Lila. In order to gain the extraordinary impact these books intend to deliver, reading them in order may be the best scenario.
Jack, 2020 (3 stars):
Marilynne Robinson’s novel Jack is the fourth installment in her “Gilead” series, which gains its name from the small town in Iowa where most of the settings for the novels take place. The first remarkable book in the series takes the title Gilead, and it charts the life of the aging minister John Ames. Throughout the story in Gilead, we learn about the secrets of a wayward young man named Jack, who is the son of Ames’s best friend, another pastor named Robert Boughton. The second book in the series, titled Home, chronicles Boughton’s ailing health and also the hardships faced by his children, primarily Jack, a long-suffering alcoholic with a criminal past who cannot find his way in life. The third book Lila is a prequel to Gilead, and its story refocuses on Ames and his relationship with his younger wife named Lila. Now with her novel Jack, Robinson has again returned to a prequel with her attention focused primarily on the prodigal son Jack and his relationship in the 1950s with Della Miles, a Black school teacher.
Robinson’s first three books are profound and enlightening literary experiences. She expounds upon the depths of faith and spirituality, especially in regards to grief, regret, compassion, love, sin, and salvation. Employing the resonant power and numinous beauty of her prose, she explores the struggles of her characters with tenderness and grace. Even though Jack flickers with moments of brilliance, the novel feels as though Robinson has exhausted her magic with the “Gilead” series because the backstory of Jack Boughton meanders, labors on, and lacks the splendor of the other books. After a brief opening dialogue about an awkward first date between Jack and Della, the next 70 pages constitute a scene that rambles on with an endless dialogue sequence between Jack and Della when they happen to meet each other in a cemetery and become locked in for the night after the gates close. This scene did not come off as compelling, nor did the rest of the narrative. Robinson’s prose feels a bit verbose and elusive in chronicling the challenges Jack and Della face in their relationship. I wanted to savor Jack’s story like I did the stories in the previous three books, but I must admit that I did not.
Gilead, 2004 (5 stars):
Gilead chronicles the life of John Ames, a seventy-year-old preacher, dying of heart disease. The novel takes place in the small town of Gilead, Iowa, and the narrative is written from Ames’s perspective as he undertakes an extended letter to his seven-year-old son. The contents of the letters take on the nature of self-revelatory prayers from the deeply religious Ames, whose voice conveys more than remembrances, reflections, and advice. His ideas also begin to reveal a developing story focused on Ames’s concerns and suspicions about his namesake, his best friend’s son, named John Jack Boughton. Jack clings to a secret of tremendous moral proportions. In addition, the novel examines three generations of ministers in the Ames’s family. But the resonant power of the book plays out in the beauty of Robinson’s language. Her passages brim with intense spiritual intuitiveness and immense wisdom. Gilead is a towering achievement of modern literature. It is the type of book destined to be a classic.
Home, 2008 (5 stars):
Home is Robinson’s supplemental novel to Gilead, and it proves to be every bit as splendid as its predecessor with its heartrending characters, beautiful composition, and thought-provoking ideas. Robinson chooses to continue exploring one of the most interesting characters from Gilead. Jack Boughton is the wayward son of Pastor Robert Boughton, who is best friends with the central character in Gilead, John Ames. Jack’s presence in Gilead poses some of the major moral dilemmas in which that novel addresses: how does regret haunt us, and what degree of good constitutes vindication? How Jack deals with his burdens and what he chooses to do to overcome his past become the focal issues in Home.
It is the 1950s, and Jack has fathered a son with a Black woman, but his attempts to provide for his family are dashed by his alcoholism. Having fallen out of graces with his wife and son, Jack returns to his childhood home in Iowa to attempt rectification of his past and to renew his relationship with his father, Pastor Boughton. In the meantime, Jack’s sister Glory, a product of broken emotions from her own failed marriage, has also returned home to tend to their ailing father. The bond that develops between brother and sister is memorable and heartbreaking. Robinson forges her way deep into the souls of these two siblings to tap the core of their feelings. Both their lives are filled with sadness and remorse, yet they are trying to work out redemption and salvation as a way to move forward and forgive.
Robinson is a virtuoso stylist and prose writer. Her work challenges readers to be patient and attentive. As with Gilead, Home should not be read too quickly. Any attempt to speed-read will leave you missing the astounding intensity of ideas in which Robinson packs into her narrative. Her sentences are nuggets of truth and understanding, essentially adding up to a grand philosophy on life. Her books are better when taken in small portions, 10-15 pages a day, in order to savor her beautiful language and the powerful story she weaves. One feels as though Robinson’s books, in addition to their profound character studies, are simultaneously reservoirs of wisdom and knowledge. Home stands on its own as a great book alongside its predecessor Gilead.
Lila, 2014 (4 stars):
With her previous two novels, Gilead and Home, Marilynne Robinson established a standard of literary greatness that she once again sustains for with her novel Lila. The three books now comprise a type of trilogy on spirituality involving the small town of Gilead, Iowa and chronicling the memorable lives of John Ames, his close friend Boughton, both their families, and John’s wife Lila. In addition, the three books breathtakingly expound upon the power of faith, compassion, and love. Indeed, Robinson’s novels are profound and enlightening experiences.
In Lila, the focus is on the title character, who eventually becomes the much younger wife of the seventy-year-old minister, John Ames. Before Lila’s marriage to Ames, her tough upbringing is illuminated with heartfelt vividness as she grows up on the margins of society alongside a woman named Doll. The two struggle to survive while Doll nurtures Lila like a daughter. No one delves the human heart and the challenges of pain, sorrow, and loneliness quite like Robinson. She tackles human suffering and redirects the plight of individuals towards a peace in life that can be found through the vitality of prayer and grace.
Abounding with wisdom and beauty, Lila is another fine achievement for Robinson. For a reader discovering her work for the first time, one may choose to start with Gilead and Home before venturing forward with Lila. In order to gain the extraordinary impact these books intend to deliver, reading them in order may be the best scenario.
Jack, 2020 (3 stars):
Marilynne Robinson’s novel Jack is the fourth installment in her “Gilead” series, which gains its name from the small town in Iowa where most of the settings for the novels take place. The first remarkable book in the series takes the title Gilead, and it charts the life of the aging minister John Ames. Throughout the story in Gilead, we learn about the secrets of a wayward young man named Jack, who is the son of Ames’s best friend, another pastor named Robert Boughton. The second book in the series, titled Home, chronicles Boughton’s ailing health and also the hardships faced by his children, primarily Jack, a long-suffering alcoholic with a criminal past who cannot find his way in life. The third book Lila is a prequel to Gilead, and its story refocuses on Ames and his relationship with his younger wife named Lila. Now with her novel Jack, Robinson has again returned to a prequel with her attention focused primarily on the prodigal son Jack and his relationship in the 1950s with Della Miles, a Black school teacher.
Robinson’s first three books are profound and enlightening literary experiences. She expounds upon the depths of faith and spirituality, especially in regards to grief, regret, compassion, love, sin, and salvation. Employing the resonant power and numinous beauty of her prose, she explores the struggles of her characters with tenderness and grace. Even though Jack flickers with moments of brilliance, the novel feels as though Robinson has exhausted her magic with the “Gilead” series because the backstory of Jack Boughton meanders, labors on, and lacks the splendor of the other books. After a brief opening dialogue about an awkward first date between Jack and Della, the next 70 pages constitute a scene that rambles on with an endless dialogue sequence between Jack and Della when they happen to meet each other in a cemetery and become locked in for the night after the gates close. This scene did not come off as compelling, nor did the rest of the narrative. Robinson’s prose feels a bit verbose and elusive in chronicling the challenges Jack and Della face in their relationship. I wanted to savor Jack’s story like I did the stories in the previous three books, but I must admit that I did not.
January 18, 2022
So only read the first one. Sorry. I couldn't find just the first one. I really enjoyed the first one though. Would recommend
May 10, 2025
A friend recommended Gilead to me. I read it and really liked it. So I went on and read the other 3 books of this series, which explore different characters in the story.
Set in the 1950's in a small town in Iowa, the first book in the series, Gilead, tells the story of John Ames, an old pastor of the Congregationalist church in town, who has a much younger wife and son. Reverend Ames is struggling with heart disease and is writing a memoir for his young son to read after he is gone.
The second book in the series, Home, focuses on Reverend Robert Boughton, a retired Presbyterian pastor and the best friend of Reverend Ames. It introduces us to Reverend Boughton's youngest daughter, Glory, who is living there to take care of her father. It also introduces us to his wayward son, Jack. It is set in the same time period as Gilead, so you get to see the same events from a different perspective.
The third book in the series, Lila, focuses on the life of Reverend Ames' young wife, Lila. We learn of the troubled and disturbing past of Lila and what led her to marry the much older Reverend Ames. Lila is an outsider who is only accepted in Gilead because she is Reverend Ames' wife.
The final book in the series, Jack, focuses on Jack Boughton, Reverend Boughton's wayward son. It tells the story of Jack's troubled past and broken relationships with his father and siblings. Jack can't seem to do anything right no matter how hard he tries, so he has stopped trying for the most part.
There is not a lot of action in these novels. Instead, they are deep character studies of the Reverends and their families. The focus is on their history and their relationships. I really liked the writing style and the stories. For me, the first 2 books in the series were stronger. I found the last 2 books to be depressing but they did reveal some things about Lila and Jack that explains their behavior in the first 2 books.
All in all, I really liked these books. If you like novels that explore the history and psyche of fictional characters, give Gilead a try. I think you might like it too.
Set in the 1950's in a small town in Iowa, the first book in the series, Gilead, tells the story of John Ames, an old pastor of the Congregationalist church in town, who has a much younger wife and son. Reverend Ames is struggling with heart disease and is writing a memoir for his young son to read after he is gone.
The second book in the series, Home, focuses on Reverend Robert Boughton, a retired Presbyterian pastor and the best friend of Reverend Ames. It introduces us to Reverend Boughton's youngest daughter, Glory, who is living there to take care of her father. It also introduces us to his wayward son, Jack. It is set in the same time period as Gilead, so you get to see the same events from a different perspective.
The third book in the series, Lila, focuses on the life of Reverend Ames' young wife, Lila. We learn of the troubled and disturbing past of Lila and what led her to marry the much older Reverend Ames. Lila is an outsider who is only accepted in Gilead because she is Reverend Ames' wife.
The final book in the series, Jack, focuses on Jack Boughton, Reverend Boughton's wayward son. It tells the story of Jack's troubled past and broken relationships with his father and siblings. Jack can't seem to do anything right no matter how hard he tries, so he has stopped trying for the most part.
There is not a lot of action in these novels. Instead, they are deep character studies of the Reverends and their families. The focus is on their history and their relationships. I really liked the writing style and the stories. For me, the first 2 books in the series were stronger. I found the last 2 books to be depressing but they did reveal some things about Lila and Jack that explains their behavior in the first 2 books.
All in all, I really liked these books. If you like novels that explore the history and psyche of fictional characters, give Gilead a try. I think you might like it too.
September 16, 2022
Oprah’s Book Club
January 28, 2024
Gilead is probably the best of these; Jack I at times actively disliked. Abandoned several times to read something else. I guess it’s not surprising that his story had a similar impact that he himself did on others - a slight revulsion, large amounts of misunderstanding, attempts to sympathize falling short. He was most likable in Home, in his relationship with Glory and even his long-suffering father. The love of that good woman, Della Miles, that we see in Jack might have been the making of him had they lived in a more tolerant place or time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews