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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
#readharder over 65 pick.
If you've read Gilead and Home, pick up Lila and get a deeper understanding of this little fictioal world Robinson has created. I would not read this book without reading the other two first.
If you've read Gilead and Home, pick up Lila and get a deeper understanding of this little fictioal world Robinson has created. I would not read this book without reading the other two first.
While the language is beautiful, the story was so very slow that I had a hard time completing this novel. In fact, I skimmed the last quarter. Mixed view of it right now, may try it again later.
I was listening to this book, and the words were beautiful to listen to. Unfortunately, I don't absorb quite as much listening to a book as I do reading it. I think this is a book to read, and will read some other Marilynne Robinson books. Gives you a lot to think about.
There are no words for this book's beauty. It is stunning, raw, hard, and engrossing.
I loved every minute from the first page to the last line, which was just perfect.
I've deleted this review several times, because my words seem inadequate to describe this book. I hesitate to say anything more other than, read it. It is a beautiful companion to Gilead, but it could be read alone. I will say that Robinson does not have chapter breaks and writes the book in a way that breaks the temporal boundaries of Lila's experiences. This may be difficult for some readers. I didn't actually notice it at all, but found this made the book all the more riveting. It pulled me through to the end.
There are so many beautiful passages, but this was a favorite:
“It felt very good to have him walking beside her. Good like rest and quiet, like something you could live without but you needed anyway. That you had to learn how to miss, and then you'd never stop missing it.”
Go read this book.
I loved every minute from the first page to the last line, which was just perfect.
I've deleted this review several times, because my words seem inadequate to describe this book. I hesitate to say anything more other than, read it. It is a beautiful companion to Gilead, but it could be read alone. I will say that Robinson does not have chapter breaks and writes the book in a way that breaks the temporal boundaries of Lila's experiences. This may be difficult for some readers. I didn't actually notice it at all, but found this made the book all the more riveting. It pulled me through to the end.
There are so many beautiful passages, but this was a favorite:
“It felt very good to have him walking beside her. Good like rest and quiet, like something you could live without but you needed anyway. That you had to learn how to miss, and then you'd never stop missing it.”
Go read this book.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Ugh, this was a painful read for me. Marilynne Robinson writes in a style that I just can't follow...too many words...too much meandering. Enough of a story that I needed to finish, but, I hate to admit, there were whole sections I just skipped over.
It could be the fact that I started on Book 3 of the Gilead series, but I was entirely ambivalent about this book. It's a story of an orphaned (or simply stolen?) girl, Lila, and how she is torn between two worlds. Her past of drifting does not coexist with her new life of being taken in by a preacher.
Perhaps it is also due to the fact that I "read" this via audiobook and many times the narrator can color one's opinion of a novel just because their voice is annoying.
At any rate, I don't feel that I've wasted any time on this novel. Yet, I also don't feel any regret about finishing it and moving on, as one so often feels about a truly great book.
Perhaps it is also due to the fact that I "read" this via audiobook and many times the narrator can color one's opinion of a novel just because their voice is annoying.
At any rate, I don't feel that I've wasted any time on this novel. Yet, I also don't feel any regret about finishing it and moving on, as one so often feels about a truly great book.
This book was FANTASTIC. Having read Gilead by Robinson first, I really really enjoyed Lila's perspective. Lila's pain and loneliness is something that I found myself able to relate to, even though I have not experienced the same trauma that she has. Marilynne Robinson is a fantastic author and writer and I loved her syntax and her use/timing of the flashbacks.