Saturday, February 27, 2010

The 19th Wife

Being a fan of the HBO television series, Big Love, a book about the Mormons and polygamy is right up my alley!  The 19th Wife is a very informative story on the beginnings of the Mormon religion and its subsequent division into the Church of Latter-Day Saints and the "Firsts".  Adding to my enjoyment of this novel is the fact that it is not written in a traditional format.  The book is technically 3 books in one.  There are 3 stories being told:  Ann Eliza Young's narrative of her life as Brigham Young's 19th wife, a present day mystery story of the an accused murderer, also a 19th wife, and her son's quest to prove her innocence, and finally, a graduate student's dissertation, which brings the two stories together.

I will admit that my favorite portions of the novel were Ann Eliza's stories and the research done by Kelly Dee, the graduate student.   I felt the sections with Jordan Scott, the murderess's son, were a bit weaker and distracted me from the more historical sections of the novel.  However, I was impressed by the near seamless way the various parts of the novel were joined.

Although a fictional account, Ebershoff admits to doing an abundance of research and even includes a bibliography at the end of the novel.  Even so, readers should not take this novel as a completely accurate representation of the Mormon faith, nor any of its spin-offs. 

3 comments:

Stacey said...

I read that book last year and really enjoyed it too- I agree that the parts with Ann Eliza Young were the most interesting overall. It took me a while to get into the format of the book, but I wound up really enjoying it!
I had borrowed it from a friend and it is definitely one I will buy to read again at some point.

Geniffer said...

Wow Mrs.Gottschalk this sounds like a wonderful book! I want to read it but I cannot seem to find it anywhere. I would like to know more on the subject of polygamy.

- Geniffer

Kristin_G said...

I borrowed the book from a friend, Geniffer! Did you check the library?

Post a Comment