The Givenness of Things by Marilynne Robinson

The Givenness of Things: Essays by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first few essays were tough to get into but some of the essays in the middle deserve 10 million stars. This is really challenging reading, but so worth it. Where I don't agree with Robinson I have to suspect I might be wrong or missing crucial information because she is just so brilliant.

I highlighted many sentences but this is one of my favorite: “We would not now have a sizable part of our own population prepared to engage in homicidal violence if they truly believed that that young man in the hoodie was an image of God.”

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When I Was a Child I Read Books Marilynne Robinson

When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This collection of essays by Robinson on religion, politics, patriotism, and science is extremely moving. I think every American should read it. The collection is front-loaded and the best essays are at the beginning, but those are so remarkable. Robinson has read and studied widely, and the depth of her understanding is inspiring. Her genius with expressing her thoughts in writing is even more awe-inspiring, and almost every paragraph in the early essays made my heart leap.

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Home by Marilynne Robinson

Home by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Marilynne Robinson is a genius, and I love her fiction. Unfortunately, this one is my least favorite. Gilead is the best book ever, and Lila is a close second. Home is another perspective on the same characters and the story is concurrent with Gilead. (Lila takes place before Gilead.) The problems are that I don't like anything I learn about the characters in this novel. The spiritual material- which Robinson excels at- is much less clear and less moving. And the relationship that develop between the brother and sister isn't as interesting and moving as the relationships that animate Housekeeping, Gilead, and Lila. Maybe I'm being unfair to the book because I'm comparing it to some of the best novels I've ever read, Robinson's other books.

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Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Lila by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read and loved Gilead, and this is book is also wonderful in the ways Gilead was wonderful. This book was also very romantic and full of love. It's hard to review the novels you love more than ordinary novels. I don't feel up to the task of reviewing what is clearly the work of a genius. There's not much to be said about it other than it approaches perfection. It allows us to inhabit a person a time that is not our own. It also allows us to try to grasp what Marilyn Robinson understands and believes about religion which is ... a lot. Beautiful novel. Please read it.

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Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think it's the perfect novel. The perfect sermon. The perfect prayer.

“These people who can see right through you never quite do you justice, because they never give you credit for the effort you’re making to be better than you actually are, which is difficult and well meant and deserving of some little notice.” ― Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

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