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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Marilynne Robinson is quickly becoming my most favorite author.
I have always had a strange, respectful relationship with MR’s work. I don’t gush about her novels, but I hold them in graceful consideration. I see the beauty in her prose and the depth of her characters’ inner dialogues and turmoil. I always found this relationship between Lila and John in the Gilead world a bit odd and have yet to understand it fully. Will revisit someday.
It was unique and pretty good but who tf doesn’t put chapters in their books?
3.5 ⭐️ Beautiful writing, just not as good as the other 2 in the “series.”
Gilead the third book..... Lila, a character who is unlike any other. The telling of her life prior to landing in Gilead, is of a bittersweet hand to mouth existence, walking and working, eating when and where able. We understand how the old life tugs at her and how much she loved Doll and the people who found, saved and cared for her. And then of the old man reverend, who, in his Christian ways, teaches her to see the world differently and in a way that challenges her. This is a remarkable story- not only to read, but in the telling of it. Robinson is a marvel with words, descriptions and in the creation of Gilead its inhabitants, old and new. I love her work.
Takes the perspective of John Ames' wife Lila. It's a little bit Toni Morrison's Sula at first, and a little bit Grapes of Wrath, in her backstory, in nice ways. I read Gilead and wound up feeling: maybe I can't read Marilynne Robinson, bc the stoic voice of aging midwestern Protestant men in small towns is so sharply my dad that I can't stay calm about things.
But Lila turned me around. Through her voice I was able to hear the critique, and the humanity, of this story.
But Lila turned me around. Through her voice I was able to hear the critique, and the humanity, of this story.
"I love Housekeeping. I love Gilead. I love Marilynn Robinson's writing for its depth of insight and gentle reflections. I only liked Lila.
Lila reflects the opposite perspective of Gilead, explaining the origins and innermost thoughts of the young wife Reverend John Ames takes in his old age. Here, she explains where she came from and what she can make of life from the perspective of an abandoned and overlooked orphan who has grown so accustomed to a hardscrabble roaming life that she usually misses it after she settles down. She was raised by a woman who stole her from people who had more or less left her for dead. This woman proved to be anything but a saint, but she was the closest thing to a mother Lila ever had. Once on her own, her experiences continued to push her into believing that no one in the world is worthy of trust. Until she accidentally stumbled into the town of Gilead.
Lila is constantly reflecting on candid and childlike questions concerning God and humanity in a ways that are fresh and inspiring, both to the Reverend and the reader. She is as skittish as a frightened rabbit and constantly on the verge of abandoning his love, but in the end they settle into an openhanded gratefulness for one another that moves seamlessly into sorrowful thankfulness for whatever the day my bring.
This book is full of great themes and metaphors, but I couldn't help feeling like it was an appendix to Gilead. I am not sure that I could have made much of it if I weren't reading it in reference to that great novel. While Lila's character and perspective are inspired, her last of changing perspective feels jarring. Her lifestyle shifts as drastically as one can, but her perspective doesn't seem to shift. I often felt confused by her instincts to run, to never settle down and live in the wilderness. Even though I often feel isolated and alone and scold myself for trusting others, I can't imagine being so deeply conflicted between a warm and loving home for a family and living on the run. The last 10% of the novel brought home a lot of themes and added new elements for reflection and Lila seems to settle upon staying without seeming to admit it to herself, but overall I felt like the evocative elements tended to be disjointed and repetitive without moving toward any resolutions."
Lila reflects the opposite perspective of Gilead, explaining the origins and innermost thoughts of the young wife Reverend John Ames takes in his old age. Here, she explains where she came from and what she can make of life from the perspective of an abandoned and overlooked orphan who has grown so accustomed to a hardscrabble roaming life that she usually misses it after she settles down. She was raised by a woman who stole her from people who had more or less left her for dead. This woman proved to be anything but a saint, but she was the closest thing to a mother Lila ever had. Once on her own, her experiences continued to push her into believing that no one in the world is worthy of trust. Until she accidentally stumbled into the town of Gilead.
Lila is constantly reflecting on candid and childlike questions concerning God and humanity in a ways that are fresh and inspiring, both to the Reverend and the reader. She is as skittish as a frightened rabbit and constantly on the verge of abandoning his love, but in the end they settle into an openhanded gratefulness for one another that moves seamlessly into sorrowful thankfulness for whatever the day my bring.
This book is full of great themes and metaphors, but I couldn't help feeling like it was an appendix to Gilead. I am not sure that I could have made much of it if I weren't reading it in reference to that great novel. While Lila's character and perspective are inspired, her last of changing perspective feels jarring. Her lifestyle shifts as drastically as one can, but her perspective doesn't seem to shift. I often felt confused by her instincts to run, to never settle down and live in the wilderness. Even though I often feel isolated and alone and scold myself for trusting others, I can't imagine being so deeply conflicted between a warm and loving home for a family and living on the run. The last 10% of the novel brought home a lot of themes and added new elements for reflection and Lila seems to settle upon staying without seeming to admit it to herself, but overall I felt like the evocative elements tended to be disjointed and repetitive without moving toward any resolutions."
What can I say? Robinson is one of my favorite living authors and this book is as magnificent as the others in this trilogy. I know I will return to Gilead and her people over and over.