Life, & Death, & Giants, Ron Rindo

A deeply moving novel that tracks the life of Gabriel Fisher, a child born under extraordinary circumstances… close to 19 pounds, and orphaned almost immediately. Raised first by his older brother and then by his Amish grandparents, Gabriel is physically very large (nearly nine feet tall), with grace and innocence seem woven into his being. He’s able to walk early, has a special bond with animals, and quickly becomes a local athletic sensation. Rindo tells the story through multiple perspectives: his grandmother Hannah, the veterinarian Thomas Kennedy, a football coach… the book captures how one person, both rooted in a quiet, devout community and shoved into public view, can both inspire and unsettle the surroundings. Rindo contrasts between Amish life and secular fame do well in exploring questions of faith, belonging, and identity.

The novel’s major tones: Amish simplicity, athletic competition, the incredible size and gifts of Gabriel, hold the book together with a big-hearted empathy. The secondary characters are rich as well: Hannah in her crisis of faith, the coach confronting his own past, and others who reckon with what Gabriel’s presence forces them to see in themselves. I loved the setting of rural Wisconsin, the tension between the insular community and the outside world. It really brought home a lived-in feeling and real. Gabriel himself never narrates his own story. This distance gives him an almost metaphorical quality, which makes certain emotional moments, especially the unexpected turns near the end, hit even harder. The book is less about Gabriel’s physical stature than about the size of love, loss, and what our lives mean in the small moments that connect us.