Dear Bookworms,
I love fiction. I love it for so many reasons, but the biggest reason I think is because of the power it possesses to teach us. Reading allows us to learn about things and places we will never see, to experience adventures well beyond the scope of our lives and, most importantly, to see the world through perspectives completely foreign to our own. All of this is entertaining, yes, but it can also expand our understanding of our own world too, if we let it.
Books are often compared to windows that give us a glimpse inside another world and the analogy is very true. I would argue further even and say that our understanding of a book changes depending on the time of life during which we read it, our state of mind, and the collection of experiences we bring with us, much as the view from a window changes depending on our height, the time of year, or the lighting. Oh, how many times I have returned to an old book and read it as if it were completely new.
When I read Lila, I had the sense that I was looking through a window into a world that was nothing like my own, and yet seeing my own reflection gazing back at me faintly from the windowpane. This is because Robinson has an expert way of getting underneath a character’s skin and explaining them to the reader from the inside out.
Lila tells the story of the life of a woman by that name, a character with a clouded history who was first put into print in Marilynne Robinson’s popular book Gilead and then again in the companion novel Home. This installment expands on her character, telling the background of Lila’s life and ending where Gilead begins.
Like her other novels, Lila has no chapters and few discernable breaks. Instead the narrative unfolds in non-linear stream-of-consciousness as moments from Lila’s history come to her mind or are revealed at the appropriate times. In this way, the story meanders rather than rushes. Reading it is like taking a quiet stroll or sitting peacefully on the porch in summer, everything around you slows down as you slip gently into Lila’s world and become immersed in her story.
I cannot say that I agree with all of the conclusions drawn in this novel. I found myself repeatedly frustrated by the woefully inadequate answers Reverend Ames provides to her theological questions. Still, there is something extremely beautiful and relatable about the way she wonders. What she experiences, I will never go through, but the way she thinks and feels is universal. Perhaps it is the very quiet simplicity of Lila’s character that lends such poignancy to the basic questions of life.
Keep Reading!
Live, love, learn
Elise and The Write Teacher(s)
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