The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel (edition 2010)

I have to say, I really enjoyed The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint way more than I enjoyed this one. When I generally read books, I read them because I want to be enlightened or learn about something or sometimes for their wit and humour. The only thing I really learned more about in this one was the Mormon lifestyle and, having just looked up this author, I see Udall grew up in a large Mormon family, which makes me wonder if some of this may be based on autobiographical life events.

Udall captures quite a bit of what it must be like both being the male of the family with multiple wives and multitudes of children to provide for. He presents the story in third person but focuses on the husband of these wives and his interest in another woman that is not involved in the Mormon community. He focuses on one of the many children, Rusty, but mentions the many others in little instances. He talks about the logistics of being Mormon, at least during the Carter administration, and the decisions that must be made-home school vs. public education for example. What the reader sees or what seems fairly obvious is the difficulty of such a life in terms of both financially providing for so many and in terms of devoting enough emotionally to your family fairly and equitably.

I can't really hold back my own subjectivity and say that of all the religious I'm familiar with, I find Mormonism the lead favorable. Why is it they think it's okay for heterosexual men to marry multiple wives and they fund the passing of hateful legislation prohibiting same sex marriages? This seems very strange and homophobic to me...really very ignorant too. This lifestyle does not seem the least bit intriguing or pleasurable to me and I have a hard time fathoming why anyone would choose it except if you were raised into it and it was all you knew or you were just a really emotionally insecure woman? It literally drives me crazy that one of my favorite bands, Low, is Mormon. (As much as I have tried, I just can't quit them).

In any case, I think what I might be trying to say is here is really, "Dear God, please don't let Mitt Romney get elected!!!"

It isn't clear to me exactly what Udall's motivations and biases are in writing this but I suspect he's just trying to lay out a story in the best way he knows how with his own life experiences to guide him. The plot is interesting and exposes some hypocrisy as well as American paranoia. It makes you feel sorry for the wives and the kids and even the dumb dad who just can't seem to get it together in any way. The gum scene is probably the most hilarious part of the book. The other funny parts are all inadvertent as one of the characters is named Ted Leo (though only those into the indie rock scene would know that is also the name of a musician..Here, Ted Leo is definitely not an indie rock musician by any stretch of the imagination.)

But, in the end, I was just left with a bunch of characters I couldn't relate to and a minor tragedy I saw coming from the minute explosives were introduced earlier on. It seemed a little obvious and predictable and I'd rather read about and learn from characters I'm more interested in at the end of the day. I guess it's good to know that these people's exist and what their lives are like but that doesn't mean I want to hang out with any of them (except for Low.) This is 600 pages that should have done more with all that girth.

I also found Udall's writing on this one stylistically a little too straightforward and not engaging enough but I tend to favor the more poetic lyrical type anyhow.

( )

Delightful book about a repugnant sub-culture. Upon reflection, 3.5 stars. ( )

Personally could not make it through the book. I was so bored that I finally gave up on it. I have a friend who loved it but this was just not for me. ( )

I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved Rusty and his story, and I quite liked Trish and her story. However, they're co-stars; Golden is the main character and thus gets the bulk of the book, and I was never fully invested in him or as interested as would have liked to be. I found him sympathetic enough, and in a broad sense I *did* find his story interesting -- it certainly got me thinking about polygamy and polygamist men from a different point of view than I have before. But even so, I found myself often skimming a bit through the Golden-focused chapters and hoping a Rusty chapter would come soon. Since the book is called "The Lonely Polygamist" rather than "The Lonely Plyg Kid," that makes it a little disappointing. And, although I never contemplated quitting (I am not afraid to quit a book that isn't working for me), I did feel like I had been reading it kind of forever! Even if a book IS long, it shouldn't FEEL long. ( )

surprising--found myself oddly sympathetic to a character who, on paper, would seem utterly unsympathetic: a man with 4 wives, dozens of children, who he neglects/avoids--falls in love with yet another woman who happens to be his boss' wife.
Moments of incredible poignancy. weird book. Probably wouldn't have finished it if hadn't been listening to it in the car on a long commute--and would have missed out.