Quite a story. Jones begins in Indianapolis. Mother strong-willed, but not loving, person. Father ill and weak. Jones odd as a child, but charismatic. Preaching in the woods; organizing baseball league. Hints of cruelty. Luring a puppy to death. Good: orderly, concern for poor, integrationist. Evil: sense of personal importance. Builds a church. Learns from Jealous Divine, a Philadelphia preacher with strong following. Brings about change in Indianapolis racial politics through charm and the help of his canny (politically) wife. Fear of nuclear war sends him to Brazil looking for a new place for his church. While he's gone, church weakens. Returns . . . nuclear war fears take him to Ukiah in California. Harder to fit in. Redneck country . . . but he tries. Church isn't growing . . . no population to exploit. Where to next? He looks at Vancouver and Guadalajara. MLK and RFK killed in rapid succession. Visits San Francisco.
"To all humankind, Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends, she was only a frequently passing thought." Angel Clare is a good character. He's "enlightened," in so many ways, but when Tess's confesses her "crime," he reverts to ancestral form . . . Tess's "confession" comes earlier than I expected, right after Angel reveals that he has had a bad moment with a woman. Tess points out the similarity in their transgressions, though his is the only true transgression, expecting forgiveness. She doesn't get it. She returns to her mother . . . realizes she can't stay with her. Thoughts to suicide. Unhappiness that divorce is not possible. Departs. Tragic in that the two, if Angel could just see clearly, would indeed be a great couple, each adding to the other. Nature as a definite force involved in the tragedy. It's not neutral--when things go bad, the very skies mock Tess. Tess as unaware of the power of her bea...
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