Ratings3
Average rating4.3
Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as a writer of sharp, subtly moving prose, not only as a major American novelist, but also as a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. In When I Was a Child I Read Books she returns to and expands upon the themes which have preoccupied her work with renewed vigor. In "Austerity as Ideology," she tackles the global debt crisis, and the charged political and social political climate in this country that makes finding a solution to our financial troubles so challenging. In "Open Thy Hand Wide" she searches out the deeply embedded role of generosity in Christian faith. And in "When I Was a Child," one of her most personal essays to date, an account of her childhood in Idaho becomes an exploration of individualism and the myth of the American West. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.
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These essays address topics related to the culture wars in the United States–attitudes about the nature of democracy, human nature, education, generosity to those with whom you do not share opinions, heritage or class, and cosmology. They are worth reading slowly, partly because Robinson's writing is such a delight in word choice and sentence structure, but also because they are complex creations, traveling through many subjects to forge an argument for study of the humanities. I am not much of an essay reader–I prefer to be absorbed in longer reads–but these essays were satisfying.
I'll go ahead and say it: Marilynne Robinson is too smart for me. I can be a lazy reader, seeking the quick answer, the easy answer.
This is not a book for lazy readers. It is not a book for simple readers.
Robinson is thoughtful and compassionate and deep. She sees past the first obvious answer and the second obvious answer and offers explanations that are unexpected and which embrace all we bring to a book. She is spiritual without being dogmatic and she is kind without leaving truth behind.
A book I need to read again. More slowly next time.