Character

Neil ruminates on Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Marilynne Robinson's "Jack" Boughton.

It has been said of the first two novels in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series that the first, Gilead, is perfect, the second, Home, the better novel. I would agree, and add that Lila, the third, is a failure on almost all levels, and the fourth, Jack, while at times technically flawed, also at times hits the heights of the first two.

Which us brings on…