A review by nightwater32
The Pilgrim by Hugh Nissenson

4.0

I can't recall how this ended up on my to-read list, and in the end, I wavered between 3 and 4 stars, but I gave it 4 on the weight of the simple style, the well-crafted narration that put me in the time and place, and the historical relevance. I appreciated the way the narrator's actions and even his own awareness vacillated between the idea of sin and the idea of saved. It was a different time, and while my modern-day self did not like Charles and his way of thinking, I could reflect on many modern-day parallels where we act in one way and then do the opposite as well, living both ways - whether you want to call it "good and bad", "sinfully and piously", or something else. We are never always in one way. For Charles, however, it always has that lens of religion to look through, although he and his fellow travelers fail to see that much of what they do is less than pious, and their dream of a perfect society leaves them always feeling bereft of their idea of God. The ending was satisfying, demonstrating a fully rational and even somewhat modern way of interpreting life and these vacillations of spirit.