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190 reviews for:
Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage
Meri Brown, Kody Brown, Janelle Brown
2.98 AVERAGE
190 reviews for:
Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage
Meri Brown, Kody Brown, Janelle Brown
2.98 AVERAGE
This book was not necessary, unless a person wants to get their reality TV fix through the reading medium. Otherwise, there was no point in slaughtering trees to mass produce this title.
Why? Because the book is a friendly, glossed-over view of the Brown family and their polygamist lifestyle. If you have Netflix, just watch their TLC show instead of spending your time reading this. I checked out this book at the suggestion of my whacky book club, and I was hoping to get some insight into why on earth these ladies would make themselves so jealous and sad constantly.
Thank you Browns, for not telling me ANYTHING about your beliefs. I want to know the celestial side of plural marriage. What's going to happen in the afterlife that makes it worth all the sniping and gripes over whether Kody selected Robyn's wedding dress? (As an aside, any man [hell, any spouse of any gender at all] that's been married for 16 years shouldn't be THAT oblivious to how his wife/wives would feel if they discovered that he picked out a dress for his foxy, young new wife)
While I appreciated getting opinions from each wife, their stories remained the same without any indication that the wives have personalities of their own. I felt as though I was reading testimony from a group of robbers that made DAMN sure to collaborate beforehand to get their story straight for the cops.
I do not "get" plural marriage, and after reading this, my opinion is stronger than ever that I could never enter into a plural marriage (apologies to my husband). Ladies (and Kody), if you want me to understand your lifestyle, you're going to have to actually TALK about it. Explaining everyday chaos can show that your family is normal, but I wanted to know not only the spiritual side, but the financial side. One day the Brown family is broke, the next everyone has nice convertibles? Wait, what? Also - what happened with that failed courtship? It's mentioned, and then immediately brushed aside. Don't tease out information and then not follow up on it.
Hoo boy. This book, man.
Why? Because the book is a friendly, glossed-over view of the Brown family and their polygamist lifestyle. If you have Netflix, just watch their TLC show instead of spending your time reading this. I checked out this book at the suggestion of my whacky book club, and I was hoping to get some insight into why on earth these ladies would make themselves so jealous and sad constantly.
Thank you Browns, for not telling me ANYTHING about your beliefs. I want to know the celestial side of plural marriage. What's going to happen in the afterlife that makes it worth all the sniping and gripes over whether Kody selected Robyn's wedding dress? (As an aside, any man [hell, any spouse of any gender at all] that's been married for 16 years shouldn't be THAT oblivious to how his wife/wives would feel if they discovered that he picked out a dress for his foxy, young new wife)
While I appreciated getting opinions from each wife, their stories remained the same without any indication that the wives have personalities of their own. I felt as though I was reading testimony from a group of robbers that made DAMN sure to collaborate beforehand to get their story straight for the cops.
I do not "get" plural marriage, and after reading this, my opinion is stronger than ever that I could never enter into a plural marriage (apologies to my husband). Ladies (and Kody), if you want me to understand your lifestyle, you're going to have to actually TALK about it. Explaining everyday chaos can show that your family is normal, but I wanted to know not only the spiritual side, but the financial side. One day the Brown family is broke, the next everyone has nice convertibles? Wait, what? Also - what happened with that failed courtship? It's mentioned, and then immediately brushed aside. Don't tease out information and then not follow up on it.
Hoo boy. This book, man.
Ugh Kody! I have no issues with polygamy if that's where your religion leads you. I could not see myself with anyone like Kody even in a monogamous marriage. It's his way or the highway. He makes it a point of alway saying he includes all his wives in his decision making but ultimately it is what HE wants.
The sister wives are said to be strong women. I just didn't get that. The constant complaint of jealousy and questioning their self worth in the family was grating on my nerves. They knew what they were getting into and voluntarily went into this plural marriage knowing that Kody would have other wives so they should have had their insecurities handled beforehand. I will say that I think this whole marriage/family arraingement works because of Robyn. She seems most capable to adapt to all situations that arise and knows how to work through them involving everyone fairly.
While I don't live this lifestyle, I don't judge it either. I learned some aspects of the faith and for that I'm glad I read the book.
The sister wives are said to be strong women. I just didn't get that. The constant complaint of jealousy and questioning their self worth in the family was grating on my nerves. They knew what they were getting into and voluntarily went into this plural marriage knowing that Kody would have other wives so they should have had their insecurities handled beforehand. I will say that I think this whole marriage/family arraingement works because of Robyn. She seems most capable to adapt to all situations that arise and knows how to work through them involving everyone fairly.
While I don't live this lifestyle, I don't judge it either. I learned some aspects of the faith and for that I'm glad I read the book.
What I liked about it: The Browns are somewhat more open about their relationships in the book than they are on the show. For instance, Meri admits that her relationship with Christine 'has no depth' and that she basically doesn't talk to Jenelle except for work. She doesn't even like Robyn that much, for all that she claims she saw her as a potential sister wife from day one. They also open up about their past: Meri and Jenelle's relationship was so bad that Jenelle lived 30 miles away for several years, and Meri and Christine had an enormous fight that their relationship has never recovered from. Christine is not over her bitterness at Kody for picking out Robyn's wedding dress after the ladies had all gone shopping together as a sort of bonding exercise. When Jenelle and Kody first got married, Meri and Kody kept on as if they were a monogamous couple, cuddling on the couch while Jenelle sat in a separate chair. Actually, at no point do they make plural marriage sound attractive, or show that they've mastered the thing that polygamy is supposed to teach them: suppressing one's jealousy.
What I didn't like about it: Just as in the TV show, the Browns are in total control of their message. While they say they agreed to do the programme so that people would see that polygamous families are just like yours and mine except they have more wives and more children, they never actually open up about their religion or how they actually support themselves. They take great pains to point out what's good in their religion - they ban child marriage, for example, even though at one point Kody and Meri wanted to add a 17 year old wife - but they never tell us what happens to the surplus boys in their community. Looking at the proportions of the Brown family children - they have 7 boys and 10 girls - they reproduce with the same statistics as anyone else, and clearly if both Kody and Jenelle are converts, women are not joining the religion at twice the numbers of men, so exactly how each man can have 2 or more wives without pushing at least half the boys out is unclear. And saying, 'Well, not all of them will want to be polygamous,' doesn't cut it, because again, I don't think the boys drop out at twice the rate the girls do unless it's made quite clear to them that they have no hope of getting married if they stay in the religion. In addition, the closest the Browns ever come to talking about their financial situation is to say that 'money was tight' quite a bit. They never mention that they have all declared bankruptcy or that Christine and Robyn were on food stamps as single mothers, despite their religion saying that they don't take advantage of the welfare system.
omnibrowbooks.blogspot.com
What I didn't like about it: Just as in the TV show, the Browns are in total control of their message. While they say they agreed to do the programme so that people would see that polygamous families are just like yours and mine except they have more wives and more children, they never actually open up about their religion or how they actually support themselves. They take great pains to point out what's good in their religion - they ban child marriage, for example, even though at one point Kody and Meri wanted to add a 17 year old wife - but they never tell us what happens to the surplus boys in their community. Looking at the proportions of the Brown family children - they have 7 boys and 10 girls - they reproduce with the same statistics as anyone else, and clearly if both Kody and Jenelle are converts, women are not joining the religion at twice the numbers of men, so exactly how each man can have 2 or more wives without pushing at least half the boys out is unclear. And saying, 'Well, not all of them will want to be polygamous,' doesn't cut it, because again, I don't think the boys drop out at twice the rate the girls do unless it's made quite clear to them that they have no hope of getting married if they stay in the religion. In addition, the closest the Browns ever come to talking about their financial situation is to say that 'money was tight' quite a bit. They never mention that they have all declared bankruptcy or that Christine and Robyn were on food stamps as single mothers, despite their religion saying that they don't take advantage of the welfare system.
omnibrowbooks.blogspot.com
I have watched the show several times and I decided to buy the book. New points of view on the book but nothing really nee.
I liked this book. I find it difficult to 'rate' non-fiction that's about people's lives - it feels a bit like I'd be rating how interesting their life was, or something along those lines.
The best part of this book, for me, was the insight into what Janelle, Meri, Christine and Robyn have experienced in their marriages to Kody. Their struggles and triumphs, and also their perspective on their choice and living with that choice. Janelle's story especially was fascinating to me - she chose Kody for faith and practical reasons, and love has sprung out of that over the years. Realising how hard these women have had to work, and how open they have had to be, really makes me admire them. Being a plural spouse is not easy and these women seem to handle it a lot better than I could ever imagine doing so. I admire their dedication and faith.
I'll admit that at times I was irritated with the impression of Kody that I was getting in the book - it came across a bit as a young kid, thinking 'Oh, this is great, I can be married to multiple women!' But he's stuck it out for the long haul, so I respect his determination as well.
I'd recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the show, it's interesting to get their perspective on things.
The best part of this book, for me, was the insight into what Janelle, Meri, Christine and Robyn have experienced in their marriages to Kody. Their struggles and triumphs, and also their perspective on their choice and living with that choice. Janelle's story especially was fascinating to me - she chose Kody for faith and practical reasons, and love has sprung out of that over the years. Realising how hard these women have had to work, and how open they have had to be, really makes me admire them. Being a plural spouse is not easy and these women seem to handle it a lot better than I could ever imagine doing so. I admire their dedication and faith.
I'll admit that at times I was irritated with the impression of Kody that I was getting in the book - it came across a bit as a young kid, thinking 'Oh, this is great, I can be married to multiple women!' But he's stuck it out for the long haul, so I respect his determination as well.
I'd recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the show, it's interesting to get their perspective on things.
Probably only interesting for fans of the show. "Sister Wives" on TLC is one of my guiltiest tv-watching pleasures, and I enjoyed this particularly because it explained more of the family's history than the show does, and the wives were more forthcoming about the challenges of plural marriage than I expected. Not exactly well-written, but a quick, easy read for those who are intrigued by the Browns.
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
I found this book to be quite enjoyable overall. I became enthralled with the Brown family after seeing them for the first time on TLC's show "Sister Wives" and having known nothing about polygamy, it was intriguing to me to see things from poligamists' point of view. You get a deep insight into the inner workings of a plural family as well as keeping it positive for the readers . Of course nothing is REALLY revealed that wasn't already revealed on the show which kind of sucks as a reader wanting more, but overall I thought it was a good read
You can understand the dynamic between the wives more clearly after reading this book. I still don't understand why anyone would want more than one wife and also why any wife would want to share her husband with another woman. I think they are semi-sane people though and if you are brought up in a culture then it seems more normal to you than if you are an outsider looking in.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Background to the tv show. Money grab to support four wives and growing family. I couldnt read it the whole thing. Saccharin sweet spin on a lifestyle that is certainly not the norm, let alone legal or supported by mainstream society.