Presenting The Literary Voyeur: Jack by Marilynne Robinson. Reviewed by The Literary Voyeur  for In the Stacks.

Hi. This is Megan for In the Stacks. I have just finished reading Jack, the fourth and final novel in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series. This is story centers around Jack Boughton, a wayward preacher’s son who has turned to alcohol in order to numb his feelings of inadequacy and displacement both in his family and in the larger world. After a stint in prison, Jack finds himself in post-WWII St. Louis where he strikes up a relationship with a young black schoolteacher named Della Miles. Jack and Della, both children of ministers, discover a mutual admiration for literature and an ability to see and accept each other as the complex humans that they are. Though society refuses to acknowledge their love for each other, Della and Jack understand that despite the guilt and isolation that comes with defying the rules, in the end, it is the grace they receive for following their hearts that matters most.  Jack is a lovely novel, and even if you aren’t familiar with the other books in the series Gilead series, I think it is well worth the read.