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coralrose's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book. Perhaps I shouldn't have. But I did.
wanderlustqueen's review against another edition
4.0
pretty good. a few parts I felt were unnecessary, but an interesting read nonetheless
karenreads1000s's review against another edition
3.0
This book was ok. It read as if it was historically accurate with documents etc. so I was a bit disappointed to read in the Author's Notes at the end that some (most?) of the historical information was also fiction.
alliereads's review against another edition
2.0
I was excited to read this because it was recommended to me. I was so upset at the beginning because the novel goes back and forth. When i got to the end of the book I was thoroughly disappointed. I had just read a huge book for that, simple ending! Seriously? I guess the story was still ok though.
smudpu's review against another edition
3.0
The murder mystery part of the book was a bit predictable but the historical fiction portion was fascinating.
jendula's review against another edition
3.0
This book was just ok for me. I did not really enjoy how it dragged on and on, and the double story was overdone. I really enjoyed the present day story so much more because it flowed much better for me.
This book did not have to be so long. David could have left out so much of Brigham's story and it still would have made sense to the average reader with limited LDS knowledge.
This book did not have to be so long. David could have left out so much of Brigham's story and it still would have made sense to the average reader with limited LDS knowledge.
emmamgregory's review against another edition
3.0
For Christmas I asked for Goodreads to grant quarter and half stars as ratings, as this book went up and then way down in my estimations. The 19th wife has two parallel stories running through it. The first is of Ann Eliza Young set in the late 1800's the 19th wife to Brigham Young one of the first latter day saints who believed in taking multiple wives would lead you to a bountiful heaven. The second is set in the now but also about the 19th wife of a polygamist. I found the historical story fascinating and was eager to learn about a religion I didn't know too much about. The present day story was total fiction and I found the writing poor and to use a word that Ebershoff used himself in the narrative corny. The last 150 pages of the book as Ebershoff was wrapping up what happened to both the 19th wife was a slog and by the end I couldn't care less what happened to either I was just happy to be done with the book.
affyfe's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book to be very interesting and a pretty quick read (which was surprising because at first glace I thought it would take me longer). This book ties in historical fiction about one of Brigham Young’s wives with a modern day polygamous group. I liked how it went back and forth between the two stories, however I found at times that the Ann Eliza Young story got a little slow. I do wish I knew a little more about how much of Ann Eliza’s story is true because I find it all very interesting, so it may have been nice to have some actual historical documents weaved in with all the ones written by the author. I found the modern day story very interesting, especially with all the news recently about a polygamous compound in Texas, I felt like this was very similar. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending of the modern day story, I wish the end had been extended a little more, it seemed like it all ended in 2 pages. Overall I enjoyed the book, and that’s all I really want out of a book!
bookishblond's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the historical bits on the Mormon western expansion and the (rather unflattering!) portrait of Brigham Young, but the present-day murder mystery story seemed like a sidenote and failed to interest me. After finishing this 500-page novel, the only thing I'm wondering is whether or not the author is Mormon.
bkdrgn303's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting read. I always wonder about the motives of people who write books about the LDS church. I have no idea how true to history this one is but I did find it interesting.