I've been stalling on reading "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson. It's because I'm afraid! I wept while reading her first novel, Gilead. Gilead won a Pulitzer, and I was altered by it, it was then that I first realized how different, yet rich, life could be if you didn't travel much, if you lived your whole life in Iowa and Kansas, grew old there and died. I read it before we moved or even had an inkling of moving near Kansas, right after my grandmother had died, so I knew I was a bit sentimental during the course of events. It's a story of aging and remorse and dignity and love, of fear, and beauty in the every day life. It's the story of John Ames, a 76-year-old who begins writing a good bye letter to his son, since he has congestive heart failure. His son is only 8 or 9, and this is John Ames's last chance to include everything he wants to send in a letter to his child. John is a minister and his best friend is also a minister, in their small Iowan town, Gilead. John Ames has one person in his life that he doesn't much care for, and of course, that person returns to town and tries to reconcile with him, with disastrous results. You spend most of the book trying to figure out what the person did to make John Ames so contemptuous and the rest of the book trying to forgive and understand. Then you make it to the end, so lovely, and rich, you want to curl up inside of every Iowan aspect of your life. You want visit your grandparent's house and search for the essence of your childhood, the time when you really all did play cards until midnight at age 10 while eating strawberry shortcake and wondering whose turn it was, back when the people you played with were still alive and/or could still remember you.
Even recalling the book, I'm crying! But it has a sequel, "Home", where you see the other side of the story, from the antagonist of John Ames's perspective. The person that has taunted John Ames is his namesake, John Ames Boughton, the son of his best friend. He comes back to Gilead, Iowa, to live with his sister and father and try to make peace with his life. I wept at the end of that book, too, and I must confess it does have a most surprising ending.
I must allow myself to read this book, Marilynne's first, called Housekeeping. It was featured at the library as a National Endowment for the arts reading selection. I'm afraid though, to open that small part of my soul and experience more beauty again. It's easier to keep it closed and far less painful. I will lose sight of everything in pursuit of this book!
Doris Lessing wrote a brief review of this novel, and I feel like I did when I first saw that Marilynne Robinson taught Curtis Sittenfeld: Surprise, yet of course it made sense. Of course Doris Lessing would love this book and of course Marilynne Robinson's readers would overlap with Doris Lessing's. Doris has had an amazing life, and I wonder how two such vastly different upbringings could match.
I wonder if it's possible to go to Sunday church in Iowa City and see Marilynne Robinson. I wonder if she checks her fan mail, if she likes any of it.
ANd, I just tweeted this, but does anyone wonder why they spend their time doing anything OTHER than reading, writing and having sex?
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