Housesitting (hopefully keeping, too) this week for someone with a full shelf of Morrison and realizing that somehow I’d never read Sula, I was struck by how much it reminded me of Robinson’s Housekeeping. Imagine my delight when I followed this instinct to Google and your old review of Housekeeping was the second hit.
Yes, Robinson must have read Sula, though I just Googled it myself and surprised no one has made the argument at length or even asked her. Maybe I should return to Robinson, but I really found Gilead a disappointment after Housekeeping.
I never ventured farther than Housekeeping (and I used to feel weird about that, given how much I liked it) but I think I picked up Gilead once and saw that it was not nearly so prose-driven and lost interest. Then there was her - “cheugy,” as the kids say? - paeans to Obama...
Housesitting (hopefully keeping, too) this week for someone with a full shelf of Morrison and realizing that somehow I’d never read Sula, I was struck by how much it reminded me of Robinson’s Housekeeping. Imagine my delight when I followed this instinct to Google and your old review of Housekeeping was the second hit.
Yes, Robinson must have read Sula, though I just Googled it myself and surprised no one has made the argument at length or even asked her. Maybe I should return to Robinson, but I really found Gilead a disappointment after Housekeeping.
I never ventured farther than Housekeeping (and I used to feel weird about that, given how much I liked it) but I think I picked up Gilead once and saw that it was not nearly so prose-driven and lost interest. Then there was her - “cheugy,” as the kids say? - paeans to Obama...
Yeah I really didn't like Gilead. I wrote about it back in 2017:
https://johnpistelli.com/2017/07/28/marilynne-robinson-gilead/