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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
What makes this book so appealing is the writing. It's wry and sardonic and full of life. The characters are colorfully drawn and the action and emotions feel real, albeit weird. Just when you grow frustrated with the protagonist--Golden-- and his seeming inability to do anything at all right, something hilarious and pathetic at the same time will happen.
It's very difficult to understand why families are drawn to polygamy, but Brady Udall fleshes out one scenario: people are drawn to polygamy so they will never have to be alone. There will always be someone around to comfort and console them, or uncover their deepest secrets.
The book's a little long--Udall could use an editor to make the story move along a little faster--but it offers many pleasures.
It's very difficult to understand why families are drawn to polygamy, but Brady Udall fleshes out one scenario: people are drawn to polygamy so they will never have to be alone. There will always be someone around to comfort and console them, or uncover their deepest secrets.
The book's a little long--Udall could use an editor to make the story move along a little faster--but it offers many pleasures.
Udall's characters are numerous and varied, and for each-especially Rusty, Golden, and Trish, he creates a unique inner and outer voice. Although I hoped for a more John Irving-like resolution, this is still one of the best books I have read in a long time.
I really, really liked this book. I would have preferred to give it 4.5 stars, however as we all know, half stars are not an option. I think the two reasons I don't give it 5 stars are 1) the length and 2) a part that totally skeeved me out towards the end of the book.
The Lonely Polygamist examines the inside lives of those involved in the fringe polygamist groups in the Southwest. Golden Richards is a man with four wives, over two dozen kids, a secret life, and a mid-life crisis.
While a novel with such a setting and central characters could have the potential to alienate readers, this book does just the opposite. It draws readers in by offering both empathy and veiled condemnation for the family. Udall explores the complicated family dynamics and the results of growing up and living within a family without privacy and where one is constantly competing for attention. His main character Golden, around whom the whole family revolves, displays a genuine sense of befuddlement as to how he found himself in this predicament in the first place.
Brady Udall has also created one of my favorite characters in recent memory. Rusty's voice rings true with the troubles of a pre-pubescent boy. He lusts after one of his father's wives, acts out to gain attention, and has very stinky feet. His story arc alone would have made me give this novel five stars, but when it's juxtaposed against the experiences of others in his family, it's even more emotional without being over sentimental. I've read 35 books so far this year and this can comfortably sit in the top three.
While a novel with such a setting and central characters could have the potential to alienate readers, this book does just the opposite. It draws readers in by offering both empathy and veiled condemnation for the family. Udall explores the complicated family dynamics and the results of growing up and living within a family without privacy and where one is constantly competing for attention. His main character Golden, around whom the whole family revolves, displays a genuine sense of befuddlement as to how he found himself in this predicament in the first place.
Brady Udall has also created one of my favorite characters in recent memory. Rusty's voice rings true with the troubles of a pre-pubescent boy. He lusts after one of his father's wives, acts out to gain attention, and has very stinky feet. His story arc alone would have made me give this novel five stars, but when it's juxtaposed against the experiences of others in his family, it's even more emotional without being over sentimental. I've read 35 books so far this year and this can comfortably sit in the top three.
I will admit I had high hopes for this book but sadly only found it okay. I had to push myself to finish the book. I am not opposed to the idea of polygamy, as long as all parties are willing participants who are able to make such a choice. I was curious to see, from a fictional point of view, how these families balance the needs of the many with the needs of each individual. What I learned, at least in this view point, was that there is no real balance.
The biggest problems I had with the story was I could not tell WHEN all this was supposed to be happening...today, 20 yrs ago, in alternate reality.
Then it was really hard for me to connect with any of the characters or to care really what happened to them. They all seemed to be charactures of members of a polygamist family instead of real people in a unique family structure.
It was an okay read, a break from the long list of YA books on my nightstand, but not one that I would read again.
The biggest problems I had with the story was I could not tell WHEN all this was supposed to be happening...today, 20 yrs ago, in alternate reality.
Then it was really hard for me to connect with any of the characters or to care really what happened to them. They all seemed to be charactures of members of a polygamist family instead of real people in a unique family structure.
It was an okay read, a break from the long list of YA books on my nightstand, but not one that I would read again.
I FINALLY finished this book. It took my a long time to get into it, and it was sometimes very difficult to keep track of all the characters. I enjoyed how candidly it was written, and how the characters were developed. But the ending was very abrupt.
uhg. I hate deciding between 3 and 4 stars. It stresses me out.
Liked Rusty and Trish, didn't like golden.
'
It was a little too long with a few parts I found myself skipping not just paragrpahs but a page or two and not missing anything neccassary.
It didn't seem to make sense that everyone fell into "place" and maintained the lifestyle because no one in the story seemed particularly driven by religeon but rather involved in polgyamy for individual reasons or by chance. It seemed more a "eh, sure, why not!" type of choice meaning Trish and even Golden had more wiggle room to escape. I can't believe Trish didn't leave.
Liked Rusty and Trish, didn't like golden.
'
It was a little too long with a few parts I found myself skipping not just paragrpahs but a page or two and not missing anything neccassary.
It didn't seem to make sense that everyone fell into "place" and maintained the lifestyle because no one in the story seemed particularly driven by religeon but rather involved in polgyamy for individual reasons or by chance. It seemed more a "eh, sure, why not!" type of choice meaning Trish and even Golden had more wiggle room to escape. I can't believe Trish didn't leave.
I'm not exactly sure how I truly feel about this book. I'll give it 3 stars for now with options for change after I spend some time sitting with it.
This is a strangely appealing book about....a polygamist family. I am ambivalent about this book because it feels like a fantasy - we know these secretive polygamist communities in remote corners of the desert are rife with monstrous abuse and neglect and cruelty and this book contains only hints of that. I guess this book is contemporary with the HBO show Big Love and I vaguely remember a reality show... Sister Wives? So I'd file this book in with this harmless polygamist genre that is generally quite kind to it's characters and despite my skepticism, I found reading about Golden Richards and his four wives to be absorbing and tender and often quite funny. It has a sort of Mormon John Irving sort of feel, complete with a strange animal on the periphery, a rambling house full of chaos and casual, careless insult leveled best by siblings (only there are dozens of them), requited and unrequited crushes, and the fulfillment of plot details in heartbreakingly inevitability.
I chose this book because at some point, 10 years ago, something piqued my interest. Did I hear a review on Fresh Air? Or read about this in the New York Times? I have no idea, and can't say this is a forgotten gem but it was diverting enough for a long week of covid isolation and boiling summer temperatures.
I chose this book because at some point, 10 years ago, something piqued my interest. Did I hear a review on Fresh Air? Or read about this in the New York Times? I have no idea, and can't say this is a forgotten gem but it was diverting enough for a long week of covid isolation and boiling summer temperatures.
I just cannot finish. There are hysterical and intriguing moments in the book, but they are too far and few between to spend any more time reading the book. I'm about half way through and nothing has happened. Literally, nothing. Three hundred pages into a 600 page book, I need something to hang onto. Every time I think something is going to happen, the author spends another 25 pages describing how sad and angry everyone in the family feels. I don't like to give up on books, but this one is simply not worth it.