Jack

A Novel

By: Marilynne Robinson

Narrated by: Adam Verner

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

"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

©2020 Marilynne Robinson (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, 2020

The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year, 2020

Financial Times Books of the Year, 2020

Los Angeles Times Holiday Books Guide, 2020

Esquire Magazine Best Books of the Year, 2020

NYPL Best Books of the Year, 2020

Minneapolis Star Tribune Holiday Book Recommendations, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2020

Time Magazine Best Books of the Year, 2020

NPR Best Book of the Year, 2020

I like the series but this one, less so.

A man limited by his beliefs about himself, is a common human condition not often explored by such a good writer. Her nuanced observations are interesting. But I felt we plowed the same ground of Jack's tortured internal dialog over. His progress painfully slow. While this is how change happens in life, insights for the passages were thin
after the pattern was established the use of some literary devices and trusting the reader to fill in some of Jack's thinking would have made a more readable book. Also when the story offered a bit of variety, that would have been a good time to expand and offer the reader a bit of a break. The ending felt tacked on and unsatisfying, not nearly so elegant as the other books. This felt hastily written and like some of it was to get up to a word count.

Poor Audio Choice

I found the narrator distracting and struggled to finish the book. I have read all the other Gilead novels and was so disappointed.

Elegant story, flawed performance

I thought the novel itself was good. I wasn't familiar with Robinson's work prior to this, but that didn't detract from listening to this book. What did, however, was the narrator's odd cadence. I'm sure he's a nice man. I just don't want to hear him speak anymore.

The Paralysis of Introversion

I liked the book for the interesting situation it presented and for Della's steadfast love and confidence in honoring their love. I also hated the endless self-absorbtion of the title character, Jack. All of his difficulties and problems and the pain he causes stem from thinking his every act and gesture has cosmic impact on others. i just want to shake him and tell him to get over himself. The author does an amazingjob keeping you reading/listening despite her very flawed protagonist.

Not my favorite of the quartet...

Well, I was looking forward to hearing Jack's side of things. Unlike a number of reviewers, I actually enjoyed the reader for this one. I think he did a very good job overall. Good cadence, didn't mispronounce a bunch of things, and told it with empathy and warmth. So many readers their sound bored to death or every sentence needs to end in some breathless whisper. It's so strange how variable readers can be. some can make a drab book and make it better, while others can make a great book almost awful. This reader took it right down the middle.

Unfortunately, what he had to read was not great (perhaps, it's on par with Housekeeping, which I couldn't stand either.). People who complained about his cadence were probably complaining more about the cadence of the writing. Some episodes, like the opening run through the graveyard, went on forever and made me wonder if we would ever get to the end of the dialogue. Other sections were a never-ending glut of self-deprecating Jack narrative.

The ending was terribly unsatisfying, especially when I had great hopes that Jack would tie all of the books together, not merely act as a near standalone in the series.

I appreciated getting some of his feelings about his loneliness, separatism, the episode with the girl back in Gilead, how he saw his family, but mostly I just thought, "Dang! Whine some more!"

Poor Jack is the ultimate in "can't get out of his own way." No doubt, some people are just like that. Robinson sadly did nothing to redeem him. Granted, Jesus is the only one that could do that (If, of course, He was in the business of redeeming fictional characters), but she didn't help, at least not in this reader's eyes.

As for the society and era, Robinson was seeking to explore, she certainly made it clear that all people are capable of bigotry and racism, regardless of race.

A breath taking dive into a simple life.

Even though the ending was not satisfactory to me. I loved the heart-felt look into a simple yet complicated life.

A Drummer

Jack, “marches to his own drummer.” The drummer he hears, the environments to which the drummer leads him, and his perspective is interesting and revealing.

Ouch

I’m a big fan of this author. I enjoyed reading the other books in this trilogy + one. Jack is such a pathetic character. Following his thought process is painful...ouch. Reader did a nice job.

Staggering

Those fathomless inner skirmishes, the depth of intellectual appeal , the stunning turn of an ordinary thought, the genuity of impossible circumstances- all there. Challenge your notions, gently inspect morality, consider habits of faith. Verner's narration impeccable. I am compelled to listen again.

Such a wonderful book

I was transfixed by this story. So beautiful and such a tragic state of affairs. The writer has done an amazing job in describing the many thoughts of Jack .