Jack by Marilynne Robinson

 

Jack

by Marilynne Robinson

Jack is the fourth book in the Gilead series with this volume following Jack Boughton and his developing relationship with Della, a black Methodist high school teacher he meets in St. Louis in the 1940s. Both are children of minister fathers living during a time when it is illegal for them to be together.

The plot of the story is straightfoward. Jack sees Della and the two strike up a friendship that leads to a romance, however they have to keep their affair a secret and can only really be together in public in Della's part of town, where folks may look down on the relationship, but the fear of being arrested is lessened. Jack and Della navigate these trials and Jack often fights with himself about whether or not it would be kinder and better for Della if he just left her alone.

I found Jack in this book to be fearful, cowardly, and meek to the point of fault. He sees himself as a nobody and believes that others see him as even less. He is awkward and uncomfortable most of the time, unable to understand how to be in the world and to interact with others in meaningful ways. He lies and steals. And there's his history knocking up a teenage girl and leaving her and the baby behind, which he keeps from Della. Despite all of this Della is interested in him and refuses to let him set her aside. She is the strong one in the relationship. She is the one who asserts that they will be together no matter what, while Jack often has the urge to run away. He does keep coming around her house, and even makes his way to her family's home in Memphis in order to let her family know his intentions are good. But even there he almost runs away rather than deal with any sort of difficulty or confrontation.

I think Jack may be my least favorite of the series. Whereas in the other books I found Jack himself to be interesting and curious, here I found him to be off-putting. Della deserved better. I couldn't figure out exactly what she saw in him. He disrupts her world, and for what? It was unclear to me what his appeal was. Also, the writing was good, but not as good as the previous books in the series. The discussion about race and romance was interesting, but there wasn't enough tension for me in that regard. We see how the black community feels about it in the book, but we don't really see much at stake for Jack. Sure, some people are repulsed or make a comment about the illegality of the relationship, but nothing happens to Jack that created tension.

I'd say Jack is a 3 star read. It just wasn't compelling enough for a higher rating.