Molly answers “Is it best to read "Gilead" before reading...”

Katie asked this question about Lila:

Is it best to read "Gilead" before reading "Lila"?

Molly I have observed that most people's preferences reflect their own experience. I read them in the order they were written (Gilead first, Lila last, Home…moreI have observed that most people's preferences reflect their own experience. I read them in the order they were written (Gilead first, Lila last, Home in between), and can't imagine reading them any other way. They do stand on their own, but they are also, taken together, a very full experience, one you'll likely remember as its own season ("In the days when I was reading Marilynne Robinson..."). In that regard, however you read it will seem like the only way a person could read.

If I were to give any reason for my preference—other than that I prefer the publication order because it's the order I know—it would be that each book examines an increasingly more mysterious or reluctant character. So the cumulative effect is of dropping more deeply into a well.

Structurally speaking, Gilead uses certain revelations to form its central character especially in the final pages which, should you read Home first, you would already know—and as a result wouldn't find yourself growing along with that character through his story. Home pretends to keep those revelations till the end as well, but it's not really trying very hard in that regard. A reasonably seasoned reader won't be surprised by the ending because of pretty obvious suggestions throughout. Given that, I feel you'd be doing yourself a favor to read Gilead first, so the structure can actually do what it's intended to do for the reader. And I wouldn't suggest reading Home last because its overall tone is not definitive of all three in the same way Lila seems to be. I don't think most people would want Home to be the final sense they're left with of these characters. I could be mistaken. (less)

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