Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer

Gilead

Name: Gilead
ISBN: 031242440X

by Marilynne Robinson

Recorded edition: Picador · January 10, 2006 · ISBN 031242440X · Edition source

Approximately 256 pages

Estimated reading time: 7–9 hours at 30–40 pages per hour; edition and reading pace affect this estimate.

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Book-club discussion

Suggested questions based on the book’s premise and form.

How does writing for a child affect the way a life is remembered?
What can the form of a letter convey that a conventional memoir might not?

What is this book about?

In the fictional Iowa town of Gilead, an elderly minister named John Ames writes an account of his life for his young son. The year is 1956. Ames knows that his heart condition will leave the boy with few memories of him, so the writing becomes a way to pass on what he may not be able to say in person.

Marilynne Robinson gives this narrative the form of an extended personal document, combining the qualities of a journal, a memoir and a letter. Published in 2004, Gilead was Robinson’s second novel, following Housekeeping. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005.