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jonmhansen's review against another edition
5.0
This is a marvelous read, alternately funny and honest and educational and most of all, moving. Bill is a wonderful writer. Read it. You won't be disappointed.
cinnachick's review against another edition
5.0
A good memoir not only lets us learn something about another person, but it lets us learn something about ourselves. I have never been a fan of organized religion, this book didn't change that. But it did give me conflicted feelings about people practicing their religion. It helped me see them as people, not sheeple. At least some of them. But William/Bill, I feel his internal conflict as he recognizes his true motives, and that realization makes me wish I could go back in time and hug his younger self and tell him to follow his heart. It also makes me reevaluate my actions to see if I am following my heart.
michelleful's review against another edition
5.0
Read this as part of my ongoing quest to understand Mormonism. This was a superb memoir of one of those clean-cut, white-shirted Mormon missionaries one sees all over the world, interleaved with a short biography of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of the Latter-day Saints. I thought it gave superb insight into how these young men (and sometimes young women) must feel as they go through the drudgery of their work, having doors slammed in their face multiple times a day, and what could motivate them to do all this for two long years for negative pay (though given a stipend, they largely have to pay their own expenses). In this case, we follow the author's journey and see what could possibly motivate him to call in a bomb threat on an airplane while on his mission (trust me, it'll make total psychological sense).
Overall, very absorbing. There were times in this book where I was on the verge of screaming advice at him - sign of a good book! (If I could've given him advice at any time, it would probably have been at the start, telling him not to do it! - after all, none of the top brass in the current church served 2-year missions!)
Overall, very absorbing. There were times in this book where I was on the verge of screaming advice at him - sign of a good book! (If I could've given him advice at any time, it would probably have been at the start, telling him not to do it! - after all, none of the top brass in the current church served 2-year missions!)
infinitejoe's review against another edition
5.0
Very interesting to see the inner lives of young, and sometimes reluctant, Mormon missionaries. Well written, and well laid out, with explanatory snippets of Mormon (Joseph Smith) history along the way. Glad to see that the author was able to escape that life.
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