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Living with It When Plato learned what Dionysius II had written about his philosophy, he disowned the statements, saying the ruler of Syracuse had never questioned the philosopher himself about his teachings. Plato then added that the only way to learn a man's system of thought is to live alongside him, observing and listening day by day. Hearing a description of ideas is not nearly enough. In Gilead, Robinson gives us, not Plato and not Jesus Christ, but a man who lives a life of Christian love and forgiveness as second nature. John Ames does not make forgiveness overly easy by pretending everyone is entirely good, but when he meets the caustic type, he is never comfortable with himself until he has found an honest way to forgive that person. The novel is a series of notes Ames writes in his seventies to his pubescent son, all to be read after his death, which seems imminent. The arrangement is elegantly effective in conveying candor. This is the kind of moment-by-moment honesty that lives only in animals, toddlers, and those men and women who, late in their lives, have become so familiar with both God and human beings that they are comfortable with both while honoring the One and respecting the inherent dignity of the other. When we have finished this delicious novel, some of us feel we have followed John Ames through his life, learning much in the process, much that is of great value.