GILEAD -- Marilynne Robinson

Farrar, Strauss and Giroux -- hc
New York -- ©2004 -- 247pp
ISBN: 0-374-15389-2

An old man, a minister, writes a long letter to his very young son.

I struggled to keep my attention with this book. I had looked forward to reading this as it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2005, but was certainly under-whelmed by it.

Some very nice themes going here, which certainly helped it to win the prestigious prize, but I felt that the telling of it droned. The old man's "voice" was very one-note and it demanded attention to focus on what he was saying. Often I wasn't willing to give that attention because I didn't feel interested in what he was saying.

That the book was a looked-for, oft-requested best-seller doesn't surprise me. Many people buy books in mob mentality. That it won the Pulitzer doesn't surprise me, either. It's weighty themes and slow style seem tailor made for major book prizes. What will surprise me is if this book is remembered or studied even a decade from now -- if it becomes the "classic" that the booksellers promote it as.