![]() There is a saying, “To understand is to forgive.” Papa, John Boughton, ssaid, “You must forgive in order to understand.” The intricate characterizations in this story define courtesy, kindness, shame, forgiveness, transgression, grace and love. It is some time in the 1950’s because Jack is paying close attention to news of the Montgomery civil rights movement. ![]() Glory, Jack’s 38 year old sister, has also returned home to nurse their ailing and aged father. Jack returns home to Gilead after a twenty year absence, complete with two decades of secrets. Jack is one of seven Boughton children and carries the image of “the poor scoundrel brother”. Then all four pieces will be in place and the Gilead Books will be complete (for now).įrom the Ames family at the center of “Gilead”, we find a shift in “Home” to Reverend Robert Boughton’s family. Robinson addresses social, familial, and spiritual aspects of relations in a gentle, honest and accepting embrace. These stories of the Ames and Boughton families are powerfully moving. I believe reading “Jack” before “Home” was helpful in understanding Jack’s return to his Iowa hometown, Gilead. Recently, I read “Jack”, the most recent in the series. ![]() A few years later, I heard Marilynne Robinson speak at Princeton Theological Seminary. Over ten years ago, I read “Gilead”, the first book in the series. I have not read Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead Books in order, however, I am not certain that it matters. ![]()
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