海角大神

Marilynne Robinson introduced John Ames 鈥淛ack鈥� Boughton to readers 16 years ago in the first of her acclaimed Gilead novels, set in small-town Iowa in the 1950s. Loyal readers already know plenty about the complicated character who headlines her fourth Gilead book: a shifty, tormented, yet beloved prodigal son who abandoned his hometown and family for 20 years.聽

Robinson changes settings here from 1950s Gilead to 1940s St. Louis and zooms in on a pivotal relationship in the series. The book is a particularly welcome arrival in this time of upheaval: It's as quietly thoughtful, human, and heartrending as Robinson鈥檚 earlier work, while illuminating the blatant racial injustices of a not-so-distant era. Inevitably, it makes us reflect on America today.

For new readers, 鈥淛ack鈥� is a can-they-or-can鈥檛-they romance, a dialogue-heavy dance where a full one-fifth of the book covers a single overnight walk. It could be disorienting, but there鈥檚 also plenty for newcomers to savor in the characters鈥� philosophical, multilayered conversations, and in Jack鈥檚 convoluted search for solace.聽

鈥淗ave you ever noticed that if you strike a match in a dark room, it seems to spread quite a lot of light. But if you strike one in a room that is already light, it seems to make no difference?...鈥� he hears from Della Miles, a schoolteacher and also the daughter of a preacher. 鈥淚f you add light to light, there should be more of it. As much more as if you add light to darkness. But I don鈥檛 think there is.鈥�

For returning readers the plot鈥檚 conclusion is beside the point; we鈥檙e here for the journey. (Warning, spoilers follow.) We already know Jack and Della will eventually marry. We even know when they met, how she spilled an armful of papers on the pavement in a rainstorm, how she mistakenly said 鈥淭hank you, Reverend,鈥� when Jack crossed the street to aid her, wearing a dark suit.聽

The complications, we also know, are immense. Della is a Black woman, and Robinson mercilessly lays out the humiliating, dangerous road facing interracial couples in that era of anti-miscegenation laws. Their loving families support them unreservedly as individuals; together it鈥檚 another question.

The situation would daunt anyone, but Jack鈥檚 own nature makes it worse. He comes from privileged origins, but has squandered opportunities since boyhood, sunk in what a modern reader might think of as anxiety and depression, though Robinson鈥檚 characters don鈥檛 use such words.聽

鈥淚 have never heard of a white man who got so little good out of being a white man,鈥� Della tells Jack after a rudely interrupted first date.聽

When they meet, Jack is freshly out of prison, barely hanging on to a hellish rented room with financial infusions from a brother, fighting the same old demons and insecurities.

聽鈥淚鈥檓 a gifted thief,鈥� he confesses in one unequivocal self-assessment. 鈥淚 lie fluently, often for no reason. I鈥檓 a bad but confirmed drunk. I have no talent for friendship. What talents I do have I make no use of. I am aware instantly and almost obsessively of anything fragile, with the thought that I must and will break it. 鈥� I isolate myself as a way of limiting the harm I can do.鈥澛�

Earlier, when a minister suggests he is looking for forgiveness, Jack replies that forgiveness scares him. 鈥淚t seems like a kind of antidote to regret, and there are things I haven鈥檛 regretted sufficiently. And never will. I know that for a fact.鈥澛�

We despair for Jack but never entirely give up on him, as kindness and moments of grace inevitably shine through his struggles. He frequently brings to mind another wayward son from literary history, Norman MacLean鈥檚 brother Paul, in the autobiographical novel 鈥淎 River Runs Through It.鈥� As MacLean wrote, 鈥�(It) is true we can seldom help those closest to us鈥� It is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them 鈥� we can love completely without complete understanding.鈥�

Della鈥檚 character is never as clearly delineated as Jack鈥檚; it鈥檚 sometimes hard to see how this successful, beautiful, warmhearted woman, 鈥渁 perfect 海角大神 lady鈥� up to this point, will risk so much for his sake. But Robinson reveals new depths to her as well, as when she confesses聽that the world as it is fills her with wrath. 鈥淚 think I feel a little like God must feel the second before He just gives up and rains brimstone. I鈥檝e heard people blame Him for that! I don鈥檛 blame Him. I can imagine the satisfaction.鈥澛�

Between rage and love, generosity and mercy, betrayal and forgiveness, we can鈥檛 help but hope better things lie ahead beyond the painful history we already know.