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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
At times this read more like a history of Mormondom than I had expected/wanted, but it was all well-crafted context for the more contemporary story of the Lafferty family. Finished this book with an even stronger, more fervent distaste for organized religion than I had before.
I don't even know what to say...Krakauer has left me speechless. These are the facts of the Mormon religion. Wow.
dark
informative
slow-paced
This was an interesting read. Partly because it framed a modern crime in the violent roots of a religion, and partly because I didn’t know much about Mormonism and its various sects before this book. However I found the format to be disjointed (jumping around between time periods) and the book didn't really explain how Mormonism made the Lafferty brothers into killers. It did ask a lot of good questions around religion in general, beliefs va thinking for yourself, separation of church and state, and more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder
After at least three years of research, Krakauer completed this book, which was initially meant to be an attempt to correlate faith and logic, but became an examination of fundamentalist Mormons. I originally decided to read this book because I have a slight fascination with people who live and think on the extremes of societal norms, and am attracted to Krakaur's writing because of this. I found, instead, a fascinating history of a religion of which I know little (other than people coming to my door during the early hours of Saturday mornings, combined with a bit of American history) and an how this "bloody history" relates to the murder of a young woman and her baby.
There were three parts of this book I found particularly remarkable:
1) The racism apparently inherent in the Mormon religion
2) The "Meadow Massacre"
3) The apt comparison of religious zealotry with George W. Bush's view of good-versus-evil and John Ashcroft's Pentecostal beliefs...which brings the reader to question the "real" seperation between church and state
There were three parts of this book I found particularly remarkable:
1) The racism apparently inherent in the Mormon religion
2) The "Meadow Massacre"
3) The apt comparison of religious zealotry with George W. Bush's view of good-versus-evil and John Ashcroft's Pentecostal beliefs...which brings the reader to question the "real" seperation between church and state
Disturbing, fascinating, chilling, jaw-dropping and educational.
challenging
emotional
informative
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
4.6 stars. Woof Mormon history is violent! Not that I didn’t know that going in, but so much more than expected. This is a raw look at the LDS and FLDS churches, their histories, beliefs, and lifestyles. At times it is very hard to get through but there was a good amount that I learned that I didn’t previously know. The most thought-provoking question is: what does separation of church and state really mean, and how (who) gets to decide that? It’s also interesting to think about how things are taught, and how those beliefs; biased and otherwise, can showcase a lack of knowledge of what is reasonably accepted in society and what isn’t.
This is really 3.5 stars, and it is really 3.5 stars for one reason.
First, I have to say that Krakauer's writing is fantastic. He sweeps up the reader. He tells stories wonderfully. He never talks down to either his reader or his subject. For instance, in this book it would have been quite easy for Krakauer to protray every polygamist as evil. This he does not do; in fact, he seems to like DeLoy Johnson. Overall, his protrayal of people seems to be fair.
The problem I had, and it wasn't until I finished the book that I had it, is that Krakauer doesn't fully do what the book supposedly sets out to do. I understand much more about Mormon history and Mormon fundamentalism, but Krakauer does not do that good a job of showing how the Lafferty brothers were made killers. In other words, while it tries to discover why people do bad things in the name of religion, it doesn't fully do so. In fact, it doesn't really do so.
First, I have to say that Krakauer's writing is fantastic. He sweeps up the reader. He tells stories wonderfully. He never talks down to either his reader or his subject. For instance, in this book it would have been quite easy for Krakauer to protray every polygamist as evil. This he does not do; in fact, he seems to like DeLoy Johnson. Overall, his protrayal of people seems to be fair.
The problem I had, and it wasn't until I finished the book that I had it, is that Krakauer doesn't fully do what the book supposedly sets out to do. I understand much more about Mormon history and Mormon fundamentalism, but Krakauer does not do that good a job of showing how the Lafferty brothers were made killers. In other words, while it tries to discover why people do bad things in the name of religion, it doesn't fully do so. In fact, it doesn't really do so.
I thought the story was incredibly intriguing. I didn't want to put it down (by the way I felt the same when reading Into Thin Air by Krakauer). ALthough the history of the Mormon church is rather fascinating, what most interested me was the ideas that imerged during the trial of the Lafferty's regarding the line between faith and insanity. We all believe in things that aren't rational. What makes one crazy and another faithful? Krakauer raises some good points and certainly made me think deeply about the concepts of faith and belief. I read this just after completing the story of Mary Baker Eddy who started Christian Science, also in 19th century America and have since been pondering the similarities and differences in these two figures. Next on my list is a biography of the Booths who started the Salvation Army....
dark
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder