Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Lila is the third book in the Gilead series but is really a prequel to the Pulitzer prize winning Gilead.  The style is the same - one long story-telling - no chapters, one voice, a story that goes back and forth in time.  Lila is the second wife of John Ames, the 76 year old narrator of Gilead.  Younger than John by decades, she is the mother of the son he is writing to in that novel.  To say that Lila's life was difficult is an understatement.  Taken from an abusive home she barely remembers by the mysterious Doll, Lila is probably not even her name.  Homeless during the Depression, she and Doll attach themselves to a group of itinerant workers from whom Doll disappears and Lila is abandoned.  Lila's last escape is from the life as a prostitute to the steps of the church where John is preaching.  A decidedly internal story in which Lila asks all the big questions:  What is the purpose of a life of struggle? Is love a feeling that can be trusted?  What makes someone a survivor?  I went in search of this book because it was number one on a list of the most frequently recommended books of 2014.  I am not sure I can understand why.