Lila had a rough upbringing as a drifter in the American Midwest. After her caretaker, Doll, passes away, Lila spends a few years in St. Louis, then hitches a ride and ends up in Gilead, Iowa. There, she will become the wife of minister John Ames and experience peace, security, and more—"a need she only discovered when it was satisfied." Even so, it wasn't all roses, for she can't shake her past—both the bitterness, loneliness, and pain, but also the people she was with along the way—"people somebody couldn't bear to be without, no matter what they'd been up to in his life." So she spends a good deal of time pondering her "new existence while trying to make sense of the days that preceded her newfound security."
Set a few years before Gilead and Home, Lila is yet another poignant portrait from Marilynne Robinson, wrestling with the nature of the world and existence. As Lila ponders her past—most of which she was in no way responsible for—she realizes that "there was no way to abandon guilt, no decent way to disown it. All the tangles and knots of bitterness and desperation and fear had to be pitied. No, better, grace had to fall over them."
I loved this book for two reasons:
- Lila's struggles with shame, pain, grace, and love, in both her former and present life
- Her husband's patient gentleness and grace, which was convicting and worthy of emulation
Highly recommended.
Rating: A
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