The Mass Ends

I finished A Mass for the Dead. What a strange and rare and moving book! It is a book that aims to be heavy-handed and yet isn't. I loved the way Gibson never dressed up his characters to make us appreciate how funny and special they were. Gibson is a playwright by trade but the book has no traditional scenes with drama and rising action and a bullshit climax. He relays a series of anecdotes and let us appreciate what is special about his parents. This a nearly 400 page monologue/prose poem.

The theme of the book is delivered in one of the closing chapters. After rejecting faith in religion, art and the self, Gibson concludes the following:

"I believe in my parents. I believe in my parents, therefore, in myself, therefore, in my children. I believe in my parent, and in life everlasting." (page 349)

Something to think about in an age where a new global generation is showing less interest in family, choosing fun or careers or art or money to believe in. Gibson's book may not be destined to be read but it is certain to become a stranger and stranger relic with every passing year.