Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are no chapters in this book. Is this a literary conceit, as in a writer playfully breaking rules, or is she making a point that what she has to say is so important that chapters might interfere with concentration? Since Robinson will never be accused of playfulness, and I don't sense she's dictatorial, I offer a third possibility: the lack of chapters (although there are section breaks) may be metaphoric. Because once you get into the story, you will become a wanderer, compelled to the journey, hungering for some bit of plot but only receiving as much as is necessary to give you enough energy to continue. You will be fed by stunningly compassionate depictions of the apparent worst in human behavior, and by contemplations of the divine, such that this will allow you to continue on through the sparse landscape that is Lila. One of the high points for me, a reader who counts Gilead as one of her top five books of all time, was the return of the good Reverend Ames. This thoughtful, open-minded, generous man sees Lila as a gift, not only for her companionship but as a window into another dimension of human life and spirituality. Because while Lila is only a few degrees removed from feral, she is bright and curious, and her perspective is riveting if bleak. Indeed, her intellect causes her intense pain, hungering as she does for understanding about life on earth and her place in it - as don't we all. In this, as with Ames' tortured acceptance of his own mortality and that of his friend Boughton, the book touches universal chords. This story primarily consists of internal monologue, and much of it is oblique, so if you are not drawn to that kind of writing, this may not be for you. I love introspection, but still, I veered between feeling gratified and frustrated as I read this beautiful book. Ultimately, I know I will have to read it again, probably more than once, in order to do it justice. I'm not sure I'm smart enough for this deep a book, but like Lila, I'm smart enough to sense there's more to it than I can see from where I'm standing.