3.52 AVERAGE


Udall's hilarious, absurd, and deeply mournful story about a polygamist family scratched an itch I had just verbalized to a friend: how I missed reading John Irving's The World According to Garp.

As much as I hate comparing artists to others, I'm also secretly thrilled by these connections. Just as I had finished describing The World According to Garp to a friend as a novel about one man's dogged attempt at vigilance in order to keep his loved ones safe from harm and failing at it because life doesn't work that way, and how that was why I loved the book so much, here comes Udall's Golden Richards, the oafish husband of a plural family of four wives and 20+ children, who is in over his head when he takes on a construction job at a brothel. From the absurd, laugh-out-loud beginning the reader slowly descends toward the not-so-funny reasons why Golden is a silent chunk of a man who avoids his family to the consternation of his wives who, too, have made their own sacrifices to join the family.

It would be pretty shallow to label this novel a story about polygamy; while that is the framework, and we get a glimpse at modern polygamy through it, the story reads strongly as a metaphor for relationships and families, and the absurdity and logic in making commitments to each other.

It's quite amazing how one novel can be so dang funny, yet also have some of the saddest moments I've read in fiction in a while. Maybe it's hyperbole on my part, but this novel truly seems to grasp the absurdity and unpredictability of human life (unless, of course, you're given the bird's eye view of a narrator and can see disaster approach a mile away).

This book wasn't extremely good, yet I couldn't put it down for some reason.

About 180 pages into this, I'm putting it down. Who knows if it was the book, or the time/space in which I chose to read it, but I found it awfully boring. I think the writing is good, the characters well formed, but it seems the author could benefit from some editing. Essentially, nothing happened. One knows from the beginning that the polygamist will involve himself in an "affair." But after almost 200 pages, the polygamist is barely winking at the would-be adulteress. And I've lost interest. Next book!

What a terrifically big, sprawling, chaotic, funny, sad, accessible, compelling, complicated and gorgeous book. After recently reading Wolf Hall I wasn’t sure I wanted to jump into another long book, but I’m SO glad I did – I was totally involved from the first page to the last and now I’m sad it’s over. This is the story of Golden, a polygamist patriarch, and his four wives, 28 kids, ugly dog, three houses, scary mobster boss and new love interest. On paper there is nothing in this book that reflects my life, particularly, but the characters and emotions are so real and human it was surprisingly easy to relate. I will say that there were some decisions made that I was hoping would go differently, but it’s also the sign of a good book that you feel so close to the characters you become invested in their choices. This book is getting a lot of attention and I’m so glad, it really deserves it. Very highly recommended!

I kept waiting for this book to pick up. Too many characters and none were fully formed in my opinion. While not surprising the ending was disappointing.

i really enjoyed this one! some info about the oddness of living in a polygamist community, but mainly just a good insight into the human condition. some of the drama at the end seemed a bit overwrought to me, but i still enjoyed it a lot.

mutney44's review

3.0

Part of me liked this book; the characters were interesting. The other part hated it. I'm conflicted. But at least I finished it.

It was a slow start but it got better the longer I read it.

Udall's writing is funny and irreverent, but what makes it excellent is his ability to illustrate over and over again, how a person can be so incredibly lonely even in the midst of many other people (in this case a HUGE polygamist family). He also suggests, and I agree, that it is this loneliness (or unmet needs) that often drive people to do crazy, irrational things. There is a passage between the father and son that is one of the best I have ever read at illustrating how tragically bad people can be at communicating and meeting the needs of the people they care about.

I do have a couple of criticisms of the book. Udall's characters are so flawed that I think he gives short shrift to the more redeeming qualities of human nature. There were also times when the book was a little too irreverent for me.

All kinds of fun. Either it, or I, got a slow start but we picked up steam. Some great characters, including an ostrich, make it enjoyable.