Lila by Marilynne Robinson
I'm on a roll lately, and it's not the good kind. I've read a slew of books in the past few months that I haven't really enjoyed much. Reading a good book is what keeps me going. Needless to say I'm feeling a bit sluggish.
Every newspaper and magazine I opened had rave reviews for Lila. Since I'd been in a slump, Lila seemed to be the answer to breaking the chain of disappointment. I had no prior knowledge of Ms. Robinson's other titles, or that one of them had won the Pulitzer Prize.
I don't even want to give you a recap of the plot, there was so little of it. This book has no chapters and I'm a reader who likes to have those nice breaking points since I mainly read before going to bed. Frankly, Lila seemed to me like one big run on sentence. But what disturbed me the most was that I couldn't understand Lila's place in time. I kept picturing her in a bonnet and a long dress with lace up shoes circa the late 19th century and then she was eating a tuna fish sandwich. She belonged to a group of wanderers who went from town to town looking for work. And then she got a ride in a car. Toward the end, Lila went to the movies and saw To Have and Have Not placing her squarely in the 1940's. I'm confused.
I couldn't join Lila on her journey. I couldn't picture in my mind's eye how she looked, the clothes she wore or much of anything about her surroundings. When I finished the book, I read some more reviews to try to uncover what I missed. That is how I found out she was in Iowa, and that the story had begun in the 1920's. A reader shouldn't have to research a story to understand what's been read. A reader should be fully immersed in the surroundings and the passion of its characters, walking in their shoes, step by step. Lila will continue to remain a mystery to me.
I'm on a roll lately, and it's not the good kind. I've read a slew of books in the past few months that I haven't really enjoyed much. Reading a good book is what keeps me going. Needless to say I'm feeling a bit sluggish.
Every newspaper and magazine I opened had rave reviews for Lila. Since I'd been in a slump, Lila seemed to be the answer to breaking the chain of disappointment. I had no prior knowledge of Ms. Robinson's other titles, or that one of them had won the Pulitzer Prize.
I don't even want to give you a recap of the plot, there was so little of it. This book has no chapters and I'm a reader who likes to have those nice breaking points since I mainly read before going to bed. Frankly, Lila seemed to me like one big run on sentence. But what disturbed me the most was that I couldn't understand Lila's place in time. I kept picturing her in a bonnet and a long dress with lace up shoes circa the late 19th century and then she was eating a tuna fish sandwich. She belonged to a group of wanderers who went from town to town looking for work. And then she got a ride in a car. Toward the end, Lila went to the movies and saw To Have and Have Not placing her squarely in the 1940's. I'm confused.
I couldn't join Lila on her journey. I couldn't picture in my mind's eye how she looked, the clothes she wore or much of anything about her surroundings. When I finished the book, I read some more reviews to try to uncover what I missed. That is how I found out she was in Iowa, and that the story had begun in the 1920's. A reader shouldn't have to research a story to understand what's been read. A reader should be fully immersed in the surroundings and the passion of its characters, walking in their shoes, step by step. Lila will continue to remain a mystery to me.
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