Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Published: 2014, virago

Genre: fiction

Themes: poverty, childhood, survival, faith, love, theology

My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤

So, this is the fourth of the novels in the Gilead quartet written by Marilynne Robinson. The first two books, Gilead and Home, explore the lives of two elderly preachers from Gilead in Iowa and this one extends the story of the second wife of the Reverend John Ames.

There is a different tone in the writing of Lila as Marilynne Robinson shifts slightly from a philosophical style to something more fundamental and earthy. Before she met and married Ames, Lila had lived a life of neglect and poverty, and had only survived childhood because she was stolen from where she was living. There is no mention of parents at the start of her life, and as a 4 year old she was in a shared home for migrant workers where she was forced to spend most of her life under a table, unless she cried, when she was pushed outside onto the stoop. Only one of the workers ever showed her any kindness, and this was Doll who returned from work one evening and found Lila alone once again on the stoop, so suddenly decided to take off with her and make a life for themselves elsewhere.

There followed many years of trudging along dusty roads taking work wherever Doll could find it but by the time Lila reaches adulthood she is alone but still following the same itinerant lifestyle. One day she steps into a church to get out of the pouring rain and that is where she meets Ames who is the Congregationalist preacher for the town of Gilead.

Ames is a widower of advancing years and by this time Lila's appearance reflects the hard life that she leads so they are two very different people. However Ames feels love for her straight away and is struck by her way of thinking despite her lack of education. Ames spends a great deal of his time writing sermons, and reading theological works and here is someone who has not even been baptised, but still feels the pull of an unseen force. Her opinions are shaped by her own experience and not by what anyone else has told her, so there is a form of innocence in this worldly woman that fascinates Ames from the moment he meets her.

After a while they marry and have a son, Robert, who Ames will not live to see grow to be an adult as he is getting old and his health is failing. Following his death the book takes us through the next steps in Lila's life as she and Robert move on alone.

Marilynne Robinson uses the story to provide insight into the failings of society in mid-century America. In the previous two books this commentary felt a little like the contents of a sermon but here it is more generalised social observation. Once again, there is careful attention to the detail of the writing, but the character of Lila does not quite allow the depths of abstract thought that are found in the other novels. The story does not shy away from the reality of poverty, but on the other hand, the story is told without dwelling unnecessarily on the dreadful details. This is not one of those novels that sets out to be a shocking as possible and, despite the years of struggle, we can always see the strengths in Doll and Lila despite everything their lives throw at them.

This book won the National Book Critics Award for Fiction.

See also my reviews on the other books in the Gilead quartet:

Gilead

Home

Jack

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