Takeaway: An essential novel for Pastors.
Gilead is one of those books that pretty much everyone should read. Gilead won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. And all kinds people have it as on lists of their all time favorite books. Which means that I have been reluctant to read it ever since I was aware of it.
Why is it that as soon as a book is one that you ‘should read’ it instantly becomes less interesting?
I finally decided to pick it up when I needed to buy another book from Audible to get a $10 credit. And when Englewood Review of Books put it on their list of 10 novels every pastor should read.
Gilead is the story of John Ames. Ames is a congregational pastor in the small town of Gilead, Iowa. Ames is now an old man (76). After being single for most of his adult life, he married late in life and now has a young son (6). Ames’ heart is bad and throughout the book we know he is going to die soon. So he is writing to his son. He wants his son to know who he, and the rest of his family history since it is unlikely that he will be around much longer to tell him.