Mostly we discussed the spiritual aspects of the book - John Ames' crisis of faith, and how the town of Gilead turned out to be a refuge for so many different people through the years. It was difficult to know how truthfully the narrator was presenting the world around him, or how much his narration was being colored by his own perceptions. The voice of the narration, that of an old man in the 1950's, rang very true. And the writing was beautiful. (And John Ames' denomination was never specified - probably kept intentionally vague.)