Judge A Book By Its Cover
Book Reviews and Synopses
Black Jack
Leon Garfield
Garfield, Leon. Black Jack. Pantheon. Great Britain. 1996.
Black Jack is a classic story of the struggle between the human will and long ingrained addiction. Written and published by Leon Garfield in 1999, Black Jack has intrigued the minds of readers for the past decade and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Black Jack takes place in early 20th century London. Black Jack, a gambler, learns that his sister has died and left her son as an orphan. Black Jack decides to take care of him, thinking to teach him the ways of a gambler.
Black Jack adopts him and takes Jacob (the boy) to a nightclub where he teaches him how to play poker for a few months until a fight breaks out when people learn that Black Jack has an ace under his cuff. Black Jack gets injured in the fight, and as he rushes Jacob to safety, realizes what a mess he has made of his life and how the boy must not do the same. He tries to change his ways by getting a job instead of relying on gambling and tries to distract himself from
poker.
Black Jack eventually gives in to his desire to gamble and loses all his money. He realizes how hopeless it is to gamble and decides to finally give up his ways and start anew, this time as a counselor for addicts.
Leon Garfield fails to capture the times of the depression era but makes up for it with a touching story of how one man changed his life completely. The book leaves the reader with the impression that nothing is impossible and is a good example for readers everywhere.
4 out of 5 stars.
Contributed by D. Ozesmi
Apr. 26 2011