The 19th Wife: A Novel @ richardeward.com

The 19th Wife: A Novel
by David Ebershoff
from Random House

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• Good, but with some significant problems for the reader
  This is two stories woven together. Unfortunately, the two stories do not hold the reader's attention equally, thus you will find yourself wondering how many pages until he gets back to the story I'm interested in. I read it understanding it was a work of fiction, but, like most well-written historical fiction, the bits of historical "fact" blur the distinction. No matter. The book has some strong themes, the best of which is a clear argument against tolerance of polygamy, likening it to slavery, rejecting... more info

• a bit confusing at first, but worth it if you're interested in the subject matter
  Another ARC -- this one took me a very, very long time to get through. I read about a third of the way through it, got bored with the set-up, and it took me about two months to pick it up again. This was strange to me, as the Firsts are one of those things I enjoy investigating. I'm getting ahead of myself, though.
  The 19th Wife explores the story of Ann Eliza Young, a 19th-century woman whose apostasy from the Mormon faith eventually led to her writing a memoir exposing the truths (as she saw them) of... more info

• Good, Not Great
  This was an interesting book. It flipped between both a present day murder mystery, ostensibly committed by a FLDS wife, and a historical novel about the practice of polygamy in the early LDS church (and how and where the modern day Church and the "Firsts" diverged on the issue). While I appreciate the different feel that the author tried to create with his novel (modern and historical and the social contexts that still exist), it just didn't quite work for me. It really should have been one or the other,... more info

• Just 'OK'...not 'Great'
  My suggestion would be to borrow from the library since this book isn't for everyone and some may not have the patience to follow the plots all the way through. It could get dreary at times and I was eagerly anticipating the ending (so that I too could return my copy to the library).

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