Lila - a book review

 

Lila is the third book in the series by Marilynne Robinson.  The first book in the series, Gilead, was one that I reviewed early in February of this year.  I've not read the second one in the series, Home, but I do plan to order it just so I can have a fuller picture of the Reverend Ames life.  Jack is the final book in the series.  I've already been introduced to Jack in Gilead and I'm not sure that I want to persue his life any further.

I did have a friend tell me that Gilead would make a lot more sense to me, if I read Lila so I knew I wanted to read it...and I am so glad that I did.

Lila had been neglected when she was very young and had been rescued by a woman named Doll.  The group of people that Doll was associated with were drifters in Iowa and worked whatever jobs they could find as they "drifted" through different towns.

While Doll did her best to raise Lila to be a hard worker, Lila was still left with a hard life.  To her credit, she did see to it that Lila had enough education that she could read and figure numbers.  

There came a time when Doll ended up in jail because of a murder she had committed and in the meantime, Lila had come to the town of Gilead, Iowa.  She entered a church one Sunday morning in order to get out of the rain.

The church was the one that Reverend John Ames was the pastor.  His first wife and little boy had died several years prior to this.  The church people had "looked after him" and he still lived in the house that his grandfather and father had lived in when they pastored the same church.

Even though their backgrounds were SO VERY different and he was much older than Lila, Reverend Ames was drawn to Lila and an unusal romance developed between them.  But I won't say anymore about that because I don't want to spoil the book for you, should you decide to read it. 

There's a good bit of going back and forth from Lila's early life and the time she arrived in Gilead, but it isn't difficult to follow. 

I would definitely recommend this book because it is a beautiful illustration of how the gentleness of God's grace brought joy and happiness to both the Reverend and to Lila.