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The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebershoff
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The 19th Wife

by David Ebershoff

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1,0701513,732 (3.83)154
19th century (12) 2008 (18) 2009 (25) 21st century (8) America (10) Ann Eliza Young (14) ARC (28) Brigham Young (18) Early Reviewers (14) fiction (169) historical (14) historical fiction (108) history (9) homosexuality (10) LDS (22) Mormon (31) Mormonism (37) Mormons (75) murder (26) mystery (45) novel (15) plural marriage (9) polygamy (114) read (16) read in 2008 (21) read in 2009 (18) religion (38) TBR (19) unread (10) Utah (51)
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Showing 1-5 of 151 (next | show all)
Excellent read - mixture of historical fact/fiction about the Mormons and also a present-day story. I have an interest in the historical as one of my ancestors went off to Salt Lake City and the present day characters were very well drawn. A big book, a little too lengthy perhaps, but I enjoyed every page. ( )
  samsheep | Dec 12, 2009 |
The 19th Wife has taken me a long time to get into, and I usually read pretty quickly. Like other reviewers, I kept abandoning it and picking it back up weeks later because I knew I needed to review it for Early Reviewers. Each time I came back to it, I was frustrated by not remembering what was happening. The modern story had promise, and I wanted to figure out what happened with BeckyLynn, but lost interest in the shifting narrative. Maybe I'll come back to this book later in life, but I have too many more compelling books to read right now, and there's never going to be enough time to waste reading something that's not for me.
1 vote haloolah | Nov 15, 2009 |
An excellent fictional account of the start of Mormonism that is tied to present day fundamental Mormons (in this book, known as the Firsts). A searing look at how polygamy destroys those involved in it and affected by it. A great story that draws you in. I couldn't put the book down. ( )
  bookwormteri | Nov 14, 2009 |
This 507 page tomb, The 19th Wife, is compelling, interesting, and well written. It is a work of historical fiction (which I love), two stories told simultaneously, Ann Eliza from the late 1800's, bucks the polygamous life she was born into after marrying the powerful leader of the Mormon Church. While modern day Jordan Scott tries to solve the mystery surrounding his polygamous father's murder for which his mother has been accused.

This book started out as one of those "can't put it down," reads that kept me rapt until mid-way through when the details and story felt stretched beyond necessity. I love a great read and I rarely care how long it takes the author to tell the story but occasionally I run into a story that feels kneaded to death, the pie crust flat.

I have read as much as I can and sadly am abandoning this book. However, I do recommend The 19th Wife if you are a reader that demands a thorough and exhaustive account of the protagonist's lives. Overall it was an interesting story that dragged on too long for me, however, I do plan to read Pasadena, The Rose City & The Danish Girl also by Ebershoff because I enjoyed his writing style and effortless way he shares the story. ( )
  bbrrtt | Nov 12, 2009 |
I started and stopped and came back to this book multiple times over a series of months, but I just couldn't get into it enough to keep reading--or remember where I stopped reading from last time so I wouldn't have to read chapters over again. I never got more than a third of the way into it before I gave up. Life's too short and this book was too long to keep hacking away at when it didn't grab my attention immediately. I'll pass, thanks.
  octopedingenue | Nov 6, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 151 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. - Saint Augustine
Like all the other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. - Arthur Conan Doyle
And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men. - The Book of Mormons, translated by Joseph Smith, Jr.
Dedication
for my parents Dave and Becky Ebershoff and for David Brownstein
First words
In the one year since I renounced my Mormon faith, and set out to tell the nation the truth about American polygamy, many people have wondered why I ever agreed to become a plural wife,
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Book description
"This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult not recognized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormon church). Ebershoff (The Danish Girl) brilliantly blends a haunting fictional narrative by Ann Eliza Young, the real-life 19th “rebel” wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, with the equally compelling contemporary narrative of fictional Jordan Scott, a 20-year-old gay man whose mother, another 19th wife, is accused of murdering his polygamist father, a member of the fundamentalist First Latter-day Saints, in Mesadale, Ariz. Excommunicated from the church at 14, Jordan tirelessly works, with help from local sympathizers, to unmask his father's true killer. In an author's note, Ebershoff explains how his character differs from the actual Ann Eliza, who published two autobiographies, the first of which helped put pressure on the Mormon church to renounce polygamy in 1890. With the topic of plural marriage and its shattering impact on women and powerless children in today's headlines, this novel is essential reading for anyone seeking understanding of the subject." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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