I loved their love of and sharing of books, Frost and Shakespeare. By the very nature of who they are, children of ministers, they talk about God, about the hereafter, reflections on faith. I loved their conversations as their love grew. It was a true marriage before each other, the meaningful joining that is the only one that mattered to them. It would be illegal for Jack and Della to marry in this time and place, yet they married, not a marriage before a minister or a justice of the peace. The dark moments of his inner struggles are offset by so much joy - the joy they find in just being together. I think to appreciate the fullness and beauty of the story, it makes sense to know the stories of the Gilead series. I can’t say that I would recommend this as a stand-alone. I can’t say for sure, but I can say that I was pulled in - head and heart. I wondered as I was reading if I would have been as captivated with Jack if I hadn’t read the other books in the Gilead series, already at this reading knowing Jack’s past and knowing where this journey will take him. Then he meets Della, a black woman, a teacher, herself the daughter of a minister. It’s a third person narrative, but Robinson takes us deep into Jack’s conscience, his thoughts on his low self worth, his failings, the mistakes of his youth that leave scars, the crimes he did commit, his drinking. Louis, recently out of prison, for a crime he did not commit. Jack Boughton, son of a minister, gone from his home in Gilead, Iowa, now in St. “After years of days that were suffered and forgotten, no more memorable than any particular stone in his shoe, here, in a cemetery, in the middle of the night, he was caught off guard by the actual turn of events, something that mattered, a meeting that would empty his best thoughts of their pleasure. This is one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve read in a very long time.

Gilead marilynne robinson review