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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
LOVED IT. Udall's writing style and the plot itself reminded me a lot of John Irving, which is likely why I enjoyed it so much. Multiple characters are focused on, and Udall effectively captured and differentiated the multiple voices. As EW reviewed, I genuinely laughed and then wanted to cry within pages. This was the first time I've read anything by Udall, but I am going to check out his other works, now.
Quite a different book dealing with the issues of polygamy. Golden, the main character is a gentle bear of a man with 4 wives and 28 kids (not counting a couple of dead ones) whom he find it difficult to manage. The household distributed among three seperate houses function under the iron hand of Beverley, the first wife. Golden is into a construction business, which is slowly but surely failing. Things progress beyond expectations when Golden takes up the contract to build a brothel in the deserts of Nevada, falls in love with the owner's Mexican wife, all this when a fifth wife is waiting in the offing. His children too are not very happy. They feel pressurized, neglected and uncared for, especially, Rusty, whose mother is a frail neurotic. Trish the fourth wife too is lonely and neglected and is on the brink of an affair with an unattached man, not knowing all the complications awaiting the family. I immensely enjoyed the wit, sarcasm and dark humor, totally sympathetized with Golden, his wife as well as kids, and even most of the minor characters. Was mesmerized by the dog and the ostrich who are prominent characters of the story, and most of all, felt very very bad for Rusty, the poor troubled boy.
It was an interesting take to tell the story from the perspective of the polygamous husband. Had this ever been done before? If so, I haven't read one like this. There was a humorous bent to the novel that had me really feeling for poor Golden. As a character, he seemed like a giant oaf of a man that was being pushed from house to house, and wife to wife, with not even a "pot to pee" in (both literally and metaphorically). There are some pretty hilarious scenes of his children creating non-stop chaos around the home, bathroom waiting lines because of all the family members, and awkward romantic interludes with wives that just didn't work (to put it mildly). Through it all, Golden seems to go with the flow, trying to meet the needs of everyone and not succeeding. In fact, he then comes last on the list, and he feels disconnected and unhappy most of all.
Golden is just a funny character, and one you just can't help but feel sorry for along the way. It seems as if a million bad things happen to him, which makes him an easy character to like. I know it sounds odd, overall. I have to give Udall credit for writing a novel, with all its humor and quirky mishaps, that he created a character and story that we could embrace. Overall, I did enjoy this novel and liked it a lot more than I did some of the previous stories. I suppose that I don't need to be hit over the head anymore with stories of corruption, so it was nice to have a character-driven plot, where polygamy actually seemed more like a device than a philosophical theme!
Golden is just a funny character, and one you just can't help but feel sorry for along the way. It seems as if a million bad things happen to him, which makes him an easy character to like. I know it sounds odd, overall. I have to give Udall credit for writing a novel, with all its humor and quirky mishaps, that he created a character and story that we could embrace. Overall, I did enjoy this novel and liked it a lot more than I did some of the previous stories. I suppose that I don't need to be hit over the head anymore with stories of corruption, so it was nice to have a character-driven plot, where polygamy actually seemed more like a device than a philosophical theme!
It took me 300 pages to get to the point where I enjoyed this book. Udall creates a modern house of polygamy and the trials that go along with it. Focusing mostly on the lives of the father, Golden, a son, Rusty, and the fourth wife, Trish. Through the lives of these three characters we find how very lonely it can be to live in a house of 33 people. While I had some issues with vulgarity in language and content, I came to love Rusty and wanted to see how his story would play out. By the end, my distaste for Golden was replaced with a little bit of respect. And while I did not like the choices Trish made, I liked her and was happy for her in the end. While I can't give this book 5 stars because it took me so long to get "into" it, my 4 star rating is definitely not wavering.
I'd heard great reviews about this book, but I really wondered if I could must enough sympathy for a polygamist to make it through such a big book. However, the characters in this book are all too human, and you find your heart breaking a bit for many of them.
I do hope this isn't made into a movie...so much of the emotional story just wouldn't work well on the screen.
I was so proud of the author for not making the ending a "happy" one. It would have left a sour taste in my mouth if all the characters found joy and all their problems were solved...that's just not real life.
I do hope this isn't made into a movie...so much of the emotional story just wouldn't work well on the screen.
I was so proud of the author for not making the ending a "happy" one. It would have left a sour taste in my mouth if all the characters found joy and all their problems were solved...that's just not real life.
I feel that for the better part of the several days that I have dedicated to reading this book I could not wait to be finished with it. And now that I am, I don't really feel as though there was any specific reason for it to be written. The main character has nothing about him to recommend him. In the beginning, this is the entire point to the book. And so I embarked on this journey about a middle-aged man with some kind of delayed coming of age expectation. However, even though Golden shows some major positive development toward the end, I still can't muster up any feelings of respect for the guy. The interesting parts of this novel actually come from what's going on in the lives of Golden's family, so when the focus switched back to Golden, I just grit my teeth and bore (ha, so true in so many ways) it until things picked back up with someone different. And the one character who actually had character, who actually was able to come up with some kind of plan to make changes in the poor excuse for a life that everyone was living, ultimately doesn't make it. And that was the price he paid for being different. But Golden isn't even half aware of what's going on at home since he took a job far enough away for him to have to live onsite. And while onsite he falls in love with someone (honestly, why do all these girls keep falling for this man? The phrase that kept popping up in my mind when this happened was "wet rag"...). And while this part of the narrative was progressing, I discovered that maybe this man was a lonely polygamist because he was a BORING polygamist. He doesn't understand who he is or what he has. And that's probably the point of this book, too. But Golden takes his sweet time getting to the point where he realizes his shortcomings (somewhere around page 550 there's a transformation) and, like I said, even at the end his changes don't really change anything. So I would say that if you have an extremely healthy interest in the inner lives of polygamists, this book will probably meet your need. If you like a book with lots of different (and I mean slightly eccentric) characters, then this is for sure for you. But at the end of the day, for me it was just kind of meh. Maybe a 2.5 stars...
soooooo dull. you'd have thought, with all those wives, there'd have been SOME sort of plot action.
The first thing that catches your eye is the title: The Lonely Polygamist? Talk about an oxymoron. But it's actually a perfectly succinct way to describe one man's rise and fall (or is it fall and rise?) within a small community of polygamist Mormons. And it's a very powerful, literary read.
Brady Udall's novel focuses on three characters (and thank goodness, since the cast encompasses nearly 30 people!): Golden, husband to four wives and the lonely polygamist of the title; Trish, Golden's fourth and youngest wife; and Rusty, son #5 and the "weird kid" of the family. Chapters alternate between the three of them, and span from Golden's and Trish's dysfunctional childhoods to the present day. Each character also has their own arc, from Trish moving forward from past hurts and finding her place in the family to Golden fleeing his family through his attraction to another woman (and its unpredictable aftermath) to Rusty trying to find his place in the world through acting out. Though Golden's is ostensibly the main story, and takes up the most pages, I thought Rusty's was the most heart-wrenching.
Now, it would have been easy for Udall to simply villanize the polygamists--but it also would have made a boring and one-dimensional book. I think he instead paints a really nuanced and fair-handed picture of how the polygamist lifestyle affects different people. Trish, for example, craves the noise, the warmth, the constant presence of other people; throughout most of the book, Golden is trying to escape from those same exact things; and it's the noise and stress that makes Wife #3, Rose-of-Sharon, break down. Most of the kids don't seem troubled by having 12 brothers, but lack of attention and care makes an outcast and a troublemaker out of Rusty. Instead of sharp, black and white judgements, The Lonely Polygamist takes the harder, but ultimately more rewarding, tack of making us feel what Golden's family feels about their lifestyle and draw our own conclusions. Udall treats everyone gently and with respect--even when you just want to shake Golden until he makes a decision, damnit.
The novel also goes in completely unexpected places--at least, I was surprised by what happens to Golden and Rusty by the story's end. It's a page-turner in the best sense. How will Golden handle his attraction to Huila? Will Trish leave the polygamist life behind? Does Rusty find a way to fit in without alienating everyone around him, or is he doomed by the limitations of the church?
The Lonely Polygamist is a perfect example of readable, moving literary fiction--well-crafted, thoughtful, funny, emotional--and I highly recommend it.
I received this book as an ARC from W.W. Norton, through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. The Lonely Polygamist comes out May 3, 2010.
Bookwanderer Rating: Four and a half out of five stars
Bookwanderer Tagline: Four wives, 20+ kids, one husband, and a lot of family drama.
Brady Udall's novel focuses on three characters (and thank goodness, since the cast encompasses nearly 30 people!): Golden, husband to four wives and the lonely polygamist of the title; Trish, Golden's fourth and youngest wife; and Rusty, son #5 and the "weird kid" of the family. Chapters alternate between the three of them, and span from Golden's and Trish's dysfunctional childhoods to the present day. Each character also has their own arc, from Trish moving forward from past hurts and finding her place in the family to Golden fleeing his family through his attraction to another woman (and its unpredictable aftermath) to Rusty trying to find his place in the world through acting out. Though Golden's is ostensibly the main story, and takes up the most pages, I thought Rusty's was the most heart-wrenching.
Now, it would have been easy for Udall to simply villanize the polygamists--but it also would have made a boring and one-dimensional book. I think he instead paints a really nuanced and fair-handed picture of how the polygamist lifestyle affects different people. Trish, for example, craves the noise, the warmth, the constant presence of other people; throughout most of the book, Golden is trying to escape from those same exact things; and it's the noise and stress that makes Wife #3, Rose-of-Sharon, break down. Most of the kids don't seem troubled by having 12 brothers, but lack of attention and care makes an outcast and a troublemaker out of Rusty. Instead of sharp, black and white judgements, The Lonely Polygamist takes the harder, but ultimately more rewarding, tack of making us feel what Golden's family feels about their lifestyle and draw our own conclusions. Udall treats everyone gently and with respect--even when you just want to shake Golden until he makes a decision, damnit.
The novel also goes in completely unexpected places--at least, I was surprised by what happens to Golden and Rusty by the story's end. It's a page-turner in the best sense. How will Golden handle his attraction to Huila? Will Trish leave the polygamist life behind? Does Rusty find a way to fit in without alienating everyone around him, or is he doomed by the limitations of the church?
The Lonely Polygamist is a perfect example of readable, moving literary fiction--well-crafted, thoughtful, funny, emotional--and I highly recommend it.
I received this book as an ARC from W.W. Norton, through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. The Lonely Polygamist comes out May 3, 2010.
Bookwanderer Rating: Four and a half out of five stars
Bookwanderer Tagline: Four wives, 20+ kids, one husband, and a lot of family drama.
The novel is told from four perspectives (mostly three though). Occasionally there are strange accounts coming from the houses themselves, but mostly, the main players are: Golden Richards, a polygamist patriarch with four wives who finds himself short on cash and working on building a brothel in the Nevada desert; Trish, his fourth and youngest wife, who is the only wife Golden might still find attractive, but who bears him no children due to reproductive difficulties and a tendency to miscarry; Rusty, Golden's pre-adolescent son who is an outcast in the family and believes he is in love with Trish.
The most compelling of these voices, for me, is Rusty. Rusty is a classic unreliable narrator. His is a warped view of the daily happenings in this overcrowded household, but he is perhaps the closest to the truth in the bird's eye view he seems to have of his surroundings. His awkward budding sexuality and his convoluted ideas about his masculinity also read as authentic, and his voice is the strongest and most distinct in the novel.
Trish is also likeable. I believe her and her desires to return to a life that is less complicated, a life of Cosmopolitan magazines and eye makeup. However, with the traumatic history of her miscarriages always weighing heavily upon her, her point of view reads often as too lighthearted and without psychological depth.
The big white elephant of the novel for me was the character of Golden. Golden isn't likeable to me, or even relateable. I read a review on Library Thing, where the author talks about how Golden never makes the choice to be an active participant in his life. I 100% agree with this. He isn't a victim to me, he isn't pitiable, and he isn't active enough to be interesting as the story's protagonist (if that is what he is). So, my inability to believe the characters - to understand their psychology - was the primary reason I had such a difficult time with the book.
That said, the Rusty chapters made me laugh aloud and there are some beautifully written, believable moments throughout the novel. The last 200 pages were very readable and propelled me forward. I think that some of the backstory regarding Golden's father and the subplots about uranium mining and nuclear testing were superfluous. The novel was too long, and omitting these (along perhaps with Trish's storyline) would have improved the pacing of the book significantly.
The most compelling of these voices, for me, is Rusty. Rusty is a classic unreliable narrator. His is a warped view of the daily happenings in this overcrowded household, but he is perhaps the closest to the truth in the bird's eye view he seems to have of his surroundings. His awkward budding sexuality and his convoluted ideas about his masculinity also read as authentic, and his voice is the strongest and most distinct in the novel.
Trish is also likeable. I believe her and her desires to return to a life that is less complicated, a life of Cosmopolitan magazines and eye makeup. However, with the traumatic history of her miscarriages always weighing heavily upon her, her point of view reads often as too lighthearted and without psychological depth.
The big white elephant of the novel for me was the character of Golden. Golden isn't likeable to me, or even relateable. I read a review on Library Thing, where the author talks about how Golden never makes the choice to be an active participant in his life. I 100% agree with this. He isn't a victim to me, he isn't pitiable, and he isn't active enough to be interesting as the story's protagonist (if that is what he is). So, my inability to believe the characters - to understand their psychology - was the primary reason I had such a difficult time with the book.
That said, the Rusty chapters made me laugh aloud and there are some beautifully written, believable moments throughout the novel. The last 200 pages were very readable and propelled me forward. I think that some of the backstory regarding Golden's father and the subplots about uranium mining and nuclear testing were superfluous. The novel was too long, and omitting these (along perhaps with Trish's storyline) would have improved the pacing of the book significantly.
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.