Lila by Marilynne Robinson

 

Lila

by Marilynne Robinson

This is the third book in the Gilead series. It is told from the perspective of Reverend Ames's young wife, Lila, and follows her life from childhood up to the birth of the child she has with Ames.

As a young child Lila is "stolen" by a woman named Doll after she is left outside of her home during the night. She lives with a bunch of people who seem to not care about her at all. Doll takes her and cares for her while they follow a transient group around the mid-western farm circuit in search of work during the Depression. Doll is a rough woman who teaches Lila not to really care about what happens in life, just to get by and to not take what doesn't belong to her. Doll eventually is arrested for killing a man, presumably Lila's father who may have come looking for her. Afterward, Lila makes her way to St. Louis and winds up at a brothel, where she fails to make it as a lady of the night, instead spending her time cleaning the place. She has feelings for a man she thinks would never real pay her the attention she longs for. Her life is a solitary and lonely one, which she convinces herself she is okay with.

When she decides to leave St. Louis she makes her way to Iowa, and eventually to Gilead where she takes refuge from the rain in a church. She has been staying at an abandoned shack near the river, fending for herself and living off the land. Reverend Ames notices her and the two become close - as close as Lila is willing to get. Lila, in a very impulsive way, tells Ames he should marry her. He is an old man, a widower who also lost his child, and he agrees immediately out of his own sense of loneliness. The two make an awkward pair and their home life is just as uncomfortable due to Lila's inability to trust him. Doll had taught her to never trust anyone. Lila also has to navigate Ames's friendship with Reverend Boughton and all of the people in Gilead, including the church ladies who do whatever they can and whatever Ames asks them to do.

Lila becomes pregnant and goes back and forth about whether or not she will stay with Ames or take off. Ames is enamored with her and the idea of a child. Lila decides to stay and have the baby with Ames, finding that she loves him and wants her child to have the life she was denied.

Lila is a solid 4-star book. Robinson's meditation on loneliness and what it means to find a place in the world is beautifully explored through Lila's character. The book also explores finding peace, trust and love, and what it is to find meaning in your life.