Ellen Gilchrist, Acts of God, 2014, Algonquin Books

Review for amazon.com

I came to this collection of Ellen Gilchrist’s stories as a “Gilchrist virgin,” having noticed it adjacent to another book at the library which was my intended destination. So I had no great expectations.

I soared through nearly all of it one sultry August day, entranced by a simplicity and clarity that somehow never felt simplistic or obvious. This is a rich, deep-cultural read, and masterful art as story; stories of rural, small town, 20th century southern heritage, Gilchrist’s fertile DNA, absorbing and mysteriously regenerative.

Then, today, I landed in the last story, “Hopedale, A History in Four Acts.” Far contrary to my usual dark and quasi-cynical response, I became emotional, enraptured; a transcendent read. Margaret and Eli are who we are at our most benignly human, who we might have become, who we could hope to become again.

I am better for having seen her culture through Gilchrist’s deep-seeded eyes. Such a gift.