Lila, by Marilynne Robinson

Oh my goodness, I am reading and L-O-V-I-N-G Lila, by Marilynne Robinson. Every night, I think -- oh good, it's time to read some more Lila. It's dense though, and so far, I'm only reading it before sleep, so I am forced to take it slowly, which is unusual for me and in this case, good.

Why am I so entranced? Lila, herself, is such a compelling character. A young woman, maybe in her 20s, she's been homeless nearly her whole life. At 4, she was taken away from the people she lived with by the only person who ever showed her any tenderness, a disfigured woman called Doll, and they spent the next 10-15 years "running" from those folks. Eventually Lila walks into a church and feels an immediate and deep connection to the old man up front. Meanwhile preacher John Ames, a widower in his 60s, looks up and notices this woman. She's not pretty, but there is something about her that grabs him. Kismet?

The books starts with their connection and builds out -- Lila's life with Doll, her love for John Ames, Doll's death, how she survived on her own, their marriage, her confusion around faith and existence. It asks the big questions and the small ones. It's funny and heartbreaking and always surprising. Lila is continually distracted by wondering what happened -- to Doll, to her mother, to the folks they traveled with some, to the folks they ran from. Doll would never answer. "Never you mind," was her constant refrain. Her wondering helps her (and the reader) reconstruct or at least imagine the past she was first too young to remember and then was too much a child to question.

I both look forward to seeing Lila through her search for identity and dread coming to the end of the book. When was the last time that happened? I can't think of a time.