Salem Falls
question
Young Jack?
Emily
May 17, 2015 11:53AM
Hi everyone. I'm re-reading Salem Falls and I've just gotten to the same part of the book I couldn't skip over the last time. The flashback to Jack's college years. Now up until this part of the book we're set up to feel sorry for Jack and his unfortunate luck however through this part of the book it is revealed that Jack was already involved with the sexual assault of other girls during his time at college. I find this incredibly frustrating because I don't understand Jodi's angle here. How are we meant to remain compassionate to a character who willingly allowed his best friend rape a woman he was with the night before? Or participate in a gang rape? It doesn't matter how much Jack has "grown" since then, how can anyone look over that? Why is this not touched on again? Why does Jack never reflect upon this during the present? Why does he deserve a fresh start with Addie, a woman whom herself has been the victim of a gang rape, who believes he is innocent? I ask everyone to please give me their opinions on this because this is the part of the book that completely ruins it for me.
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I know my comment comes very late, but this is when I saw it. If you are still interested in this topic, here is my view: I totally agree that his college years are very disturbing and it's difficult to understand what Picoult wanted to do here (maybe making Jack's character more complex? To just warn that nothing is what it seems?), however I think we should keep in mind when this book was written (2009 I think?), which was way before the #metoo movement. I'm not saying that it wasn't unacceptable then too, but it could go away with a simple "boys will be boys" and "what did she do there in boys' dorm?" - you know what I mean. In any case, reading the book now (as I did), feels like very much against the current, as it's in fact about a man being victim of not one, but two females framing him out of sheer stupidity or wickedness. This is very hard to believe or buy-in. I mean, this guy had a PhD! So, really? How stupid could he be? I won't insist much here, but I was very disappointed by this book, when I had high expectations from Picoult after reading "My Sister's Keeper".
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