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A powerful work of restraint and beauty. Gilead is a truly remarkable work of fiction. Crafted as a long letter from an elderly preacher to his 7 year old son, this book manages to lift humor, grace and drama from a setting that on the surface seems no more extraordinary than a Monday morning. Rest assured, Ms. Robinson never once takes a misstep into the maudlin or melodramatic, relying instead on a voice of a protagonist wise enough, or perhaps Midwestern enough, to face his dying days without complaint, and even with a profound sense of gratitude. The novel moves between our protagonist's past and present with ease, and manages to tie it all together with a deep current of faith, family and a sense of inexorable time. Marilynne Robinson's prose is gorgeous without being showy, and she well deserves the Book Critics Cirlce Award that she just recieved, and the even larger awards that are sure to follow.