The 19th Wife: A Novel
by David Ebershoff
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Book Reviews of The 19th Wife: A Novel
Book Review: DID THE SAME AUTHOR WRITE BOTH PARTS?
Summary: 3 Stars
When I first began to read "The 19th Wife," I was excited. I've always found Mormonism fascinating, not the least because of it's strange beliefs. the Angel Moroni? I don't know. In any case, I found the history part of the book to be very interesting and well-written. I was constantly running to the computer to check up on Ann Eliza and Brigham Young. However, the Jordan Scott mystery part of the book was so amateurish that I wondered if the same guy wrote it. It could have been a Nancy Drew Mystery. Jordan, despite Mesadale's police force always on the alert, goes there many times with incident. Jordan sweet-talks everyone into giving him what he wants. Wow, Jordan solves the mystery. I skipped through the absurdity of Jordan's story to get back to the real one. The one for mature readers. In fact, the book would have been much better had it only been about the Mormons and Ann Eliza Young. I remain puzzled about why Mr. Ebershoff wrote Jordan's story at all, and why it was so very "young adult mystery."Book Review: a novel that perfectly reflects fundamentalist LDS mentality
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is a novel inspired by the real life of Ann Eliza Young, a woman who escaped polygamy in the Early LDS church and Brigham Young's 19th wife.
I purchased this book because, having previously read the real story of Ann Eliza Young, I was curious to see what Mr. Ebershoff changed and why.
I am familiar with quite a few real biographies of people who lived polygamy first hand and, reading this book, I thought that it reflects the same feelings and sorrow felt by these women.
However, this is only fiction so it should be read for entertaining purposes only, and not as a substitute for real-life accounts.
I have the impression that, with this book, the author wanted to compare early, cultish Mormon practices with what the FLDS does today. Strangely enough, whilst many people criticize Fundamentalist Mormons, few realize that mainstream Mormons have practiced the same atrocities over the years and still consider polygamy a holy practice (Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine page 578).
Book Review: Liked the Historical Part Not the Modern Day
Summary: 3 Stars
This book was about 2 "19th" Wives one in the 1800's and one modern.(19 is in quotes because neither of these women were really the 19th but thats what they were called).
Ann Eliza was married to Brigham Young ,the historical fiction part of the book about Ann Eliza goes from her childhood till she divorced Brigham and went on a tour of the country talking about abolishing polygamy.
I found Ann Eliza's story really good it kept me interested and those parts of the book were written very well.
I however did not like the present day story or that the author seemed to think that if Jordan said the F-word ever other sentence then we'd know it was the present day story.I just really didn't like this part of the book at all when it finally came out who killed Jordans father did I care ? No,I guess I really didn't.
If this book would have just been about Ann Eliza It would have gotten 4 - 4 1/2 stars but the present day story takes away from it too much.
Book Review: Curosity about plural marriage
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this book to be fascinating. My ancestors joined the Mormon church in Ohio, following them to Nauvoo, then to Missouri and on to Salt Lake City. Family lore has it that my great.....etc grandparents lived on the same street as Brigham Young. When he pushed my grandparents to enter into a plural marriage situation, they rebelled. My grandfather left to join a wagon train going to California. My grandmother with her 5 month old son and her 7 year daughter left in the middle of the night to join him. My grandmother had never driven a wagon.
I read this book in part to satisfy my curosity as to why anyone would be willing to go along with plural marriage. It didn 't quite answer my question but it peaked my interest enough to start learn more about what is the tenets of the Latter Saint Church.
I love the way the book went back and forward between the early years and current years
Book Review: You Had Me Until pg 400...
Summary: 3 Stars
When a writer elects to engage readers for 500+ pages, the last 100 better be good. They are not good. They are not even readable. While I enjoyed the characters of Jordan, John and Tom, I felt "ripped off" by the way their story ended. I'd use the word "resolved," but the story was not resolved. Instead the author cobbles together an almost slapstick wrap up, hardly worth the printed paper. As for Ann Eliza's saga, by p. 400 I was beyond bored. While she was living with the Mormons, it was interesting. The moment she hit the road for her show tour and big money, I couldn't care less what happened to her. That's never good... when a reader no longer cares. In screenwriting we call it "cheating the audience," when the real killer is pulled out of thin air.
Oh. Sorry if that last comment ruins the ending... Actually, I'm just trying to save future readers a little time and money.