rebleejen's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
There was too much in this book for my brain to hold it all. But I'll be thinking about it for a while.
brosen's review against another edition
4.0
Gilda Trillim is an unusual and thought provoking book. I especially enjoyed the poem on creation, though I’m not a huge fan of poetry. Much of this book reminded me of Peck’s previous book Evolution of Faith, he covers many of the same ideas through a different genre.
savaging's review
5.0
This book is not a novel. It is a philosophical treatise. Or maybe it's a gospel. But since it's a philosophy (or gospel) about embodied beauty and embodied love, it can only be told in embodied stories of a strange Utah-desert woman and her singing rats.
This book spoke to me. Eerily, uncannily, it spoke to me. It explores many of the things I think about daily, like: how can we rejoice over each object? And what IS an object? And what are humans? How are we to think of god(s)? Also: what about rats?
As I grew to love this book, I also grew distraught about sharing it with others. Who to recommend it to? Non-Mormons would be annoyed by the Mormonism. Mormons would be shocked by the heresy. And everyone would be disgusted by the rats and their vomit. That means it's a very brave book, an unapologetic book, that follows out its own heart and brain without bending. And that makes the surprise and joy all the greater if you are one of the very few varmint-loving para-pseudo-(ex)-Mormons who can instantly connect with Trillim's world.
Peck treats evolution as a deep universal truth. And this book evolves Mormonism into an entirely different creature. Almost thou persuadest me to believe in this wild new worship, Peck.
This book spoke to me. Eerily, uncannily, it spoke to me. It explores many of the things I think about daily, like: how can we rejoice over each object? And what IS an object? And what are humans? How are we to think of god(s)? Also: what about rats?
As I grew to love this book, I also grew distraught about sharing it with others. Who to recommend it to? Non-Mormons would be annoyed by the Mormonism. Mormons would be shocked by the heresy. And everyone would be disgusted by the rats and their vomit. That means it's a very brave book, an unapologetic book, that follows out its own heart and brain without bending. And that makes the surprise and joy all the greater if you are one of the very few varmint-loving para-pseudo-(ex)-Mormons who can instantly connect with Trillim's world.
Peck treats evolution as a deep universal truth. And this book evolves Mormonism into an entirely different creature. Almost thou persuadest me to believe in this wild new worship, Peck.
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