The 19th Wife: A Novel
by David Ebershoff
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Book Reviews of The 19th Wife: A Novel
Book Review: I'm Torn About This Book
Summary: 4 Stars
Ebershoff wisely wrote much of this book from the point of view of Jordan, a young man whose mother was accused of murdering her polygamist husband. Jordan was abandoned by his parents when he was 14 years old and left on the side of a road, told never to return. Why? The prophet of the First Latter Day Saints heard of his holding his sister's hand, a pretty young girl destined to be one of many wives of an older saint.
This story is interwoven with that of Ann Eliza, the 19th wife of Brigham Young, who after her apostasy, helped rid the country of plural, or celestial marriages, a foundation of Mormonism until the late 19th century.
Both stories are fascinating independently, but the wisdom in combining them is that you really get the picture of how children are affected by plural marriages. It's usually seen as an insult to woman.
Ebershoff is talented enough to write this convincingly thru many voices, but there are so many voices-- Ann Eliza, Lorenzo Dee, Jordan Scott, Kelly Dee, Brigham Young, that at times it's not clear why he needs to shift back and forth so frequently. Also, Ebershoff claims this is a work of fiction, but uses historical characters. I prefer as much accuracy as possible when using real characters. If you're not going to be accurate, then why not make up all your characters?
Book Review: Very entertaining work of fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
The novel tells the story of a present day 19th wife, Becky Lyn, who is accused of murdering her husband. Her son, Jordan Scott, comes to her rescue even though he was banished from the polygamous sect at fourteen. He perseveres to find the true killer and save his mother from a disastrous fate.
The author also tells the parallel story of the real Ann Eliza Young, the nineteenth wife of Brigham Young. She was known as the "rebel wife" because she divorced her husband, wrote two autobiographies (the first of which help put pressure on the Mormon community to outlaw polygamy) and gave lectures on the evil ways of a polygamous life.
Histories intertwine, stories are told, and the deep psychological complexities of polygamy are examined in a very entertaining work of fiction.
For a lighter take on the subject, watch HBO's television series Big Love: The Complete First Season, which follows a Salt Lake City man and his three wives. For a true account, check out Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife by Irene Spencer.
Book Review: Life as a Mormon
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is the story of two people, raised as Mormons but who gave it up.
The first story is about Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Brigham Young. This part of the book did not attract me so I skipped that part of the story.
The second one is about 20 year old Jordan Scott. He was raised in an offshoot of Mormonism called the First (loosely based on the real life FLDS) When he was 14 his mother kicked him out after his father found him holding the hand of his step-sister Elizabeth II or Queenie (her mom was named Elizabeth and was called Queenie because it made her sound like the present Queen Elizabeth II.)
Jordan struggled for a little, but now has a semi comfortable life in California until he reads a newspaper article saying that his mother (Who was his fathers 19th Wife) had killed his father. Jordan doesn't know why, but feels compelled to go to Utah and see his mother. At first Jordan thinks that his mother actually did do the killings, but with the help of his new boyfriend and another lost boy (boy kicked out of the First) as well as another "apostate" Sarah or 5 he investigates the murder.
Who actually killed his father? Read the 19th Wife
Book Review: Was the Nineteenth Wife a Wife at All?
Summary: 4 Stars
How could a woman handle a situation in which her husband had several other wives? This amazing book explains a lot. Dealing with the history of what the Latter Day Saints call "celestial marriage" and exposing the background to such a seemingly inhuman practice, one can begin to understand... sort of. This book is very interesting because the author, David Ebershoff, weaves his own fictional murder mystery with other remarkable sources. One, and the most interesting of these sources, is the actual first-hand account of Ann Eliza, often referred to as the 19th wife of Prophet Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon Church in the 1800's. Ann Eliza, who was more likely the 27th or 52nd, or even the 56th wife of Brigham Young, describes the devastating feelings she experienced as a wife of the Mormon leader. Her book was very popular in her day and was instrumental in changing this precept within the church. Besides the excerpts from Ann Eliza's book, there are unexpected sources of narrative from Wikipedia, newspaper accounts, letters, and research papers. Although this combined approach was a bit confusing at first, it was well worth the effort of sorting it out.Book Review: An Interesting Mix of Mormon & Murder Mystery
Summary: 3 Stars
I love mystery novels and am particularly interested in Mormon culture, so I picked this book up as soon as I heard about it. Overall, Ebershoff did a good job of blending 19th century Mormon history with a contemporary murder mystery and connecting the dots between the two stories and time periods. However, I felt myself far more interested in the story of Jordan Scott than in the story of Ann Eliza Young. While Jordan takes us on a compelling adventure to find his father's killer and exonerate his mother, the Ann Eliza story drags. I often found myself skimming through the Ann Eliza chapters, full of background information and Mormon history, so that I get to the Jordan chapters and solve the mystery. The novel certainly contained a few twists and turns and there were a few chapters where I simply could not put the book down. However, I was disappointed by the ending. I was able to predict who the killer was about 3/4 of the way through and, for all of the work the reader has to put into the book, the climax fell rather flat. Ebershoff has all the making of a great murder mystery in this novel, but his execution could have been better.