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Title details for Jack by Marilynne Robinson - Available

Jack

A Novel

#4 in series

by Marilynne Robinson
Adam Verner
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 2 copies available

"Robinson's slow prose is the star here, and narrator Adam Verner gives great depth of emotion to Jack's raw suffering and ethical dilemmas...Come for the love story; stay for a couple who learn to find the beauty in broken humanity, and what grace can look like for those who love each other." — Booklist

This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.
Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the latest novel in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction
Marilynne Robinson's mythical world of Gilead, Iowa—the setting of her novels Gilead, Home, and Lila, and now Jack—and its beloved characters have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions, and the wonders of a sacred world. Jack is Robinson's fourth novel in this now-classic series. In it, Robinson tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the prodigal son of Gilead's Presbyterian minister, and his romance with Della Miles, a high school teacher who is also the child of a preacher. Their deeply felt, tormented, star-crossed interracial romance resonates with all the paradoxes of American life, then and now.
Robinson's Gilead novels, which have won one Pulitzer Prize and two National Book Critics Circle Awards, are a vital contribution to contemporary American literature and a revelation of our national character and humanity.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

  • Creators

  • Series

    Gilead

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 29, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250257222
      • File size: 300791 KB
      • Duration: 10:26:38

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from July 13, 2020
      Robinson’s stellar, revelatory fourth entry in her Gilead cycle (after Lila) focuses on Jack Boughton, the prodigal son of a Gilead, Iowa, minister, and the beginnings of his romance with Della Miles before his 1957 return to Gilead in Home. Jack, who disparagingly styles himself “the Prince of Darkness,” finds his life spiraling out of control in St. Louis, where, after dodging the draft during WWII, he spends several years increasingly prone to bouts of heavy drinking, petty theft, and vagrancy. His tailspin is interrupted when he meets Della Miles, an English teacher from a prominent Black family in Memphis. Despite a disastrous first date, the details of which are hinted at in the beginning, and over the numerous objections of Della’s family and white strangers, Jack and Della fall in love, bound by a natural intimacy and mutual love of poetry. Robinson’s masterly prose and musings on faith are on display as usual, and the dialogue is keen and indelible. (“Once in a lifetime, maybe, you look at a stranger and you see a soul, a glorious presence out of place in the world. And if you love God, every choice is made for you,” Della tells Jack.) This is a beautiful, superbly crafted meditation on the redemption and transcendence that love affords.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      If you're not familiar with Jack Boughton from Marilynne Robinson's earlier novels, this audiobook is probably not the place to start. Here Jack falls in love with Della, a Black teacher--a romance forbidden in 1940s St. Louis and staunchly opposed by Della's family. Narrator Adam Verner effectively conveys the mixed elements in Jack's character--he's part poet, part bum. Less effective is his portrayal of Della in the dialogues between the two characters, which occupy a substantial portion of the novel. Here listeners may wish a second narrator had taken Della's part and brought out more of the depth and subtlety of her appealing character. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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