A review by emmamgregory
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

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.