The 19th Wife

I decided to buy this book after watching a 4.5 hour marathon of Sister Wives.  Polygamy is hot right now, I guess.  This book is one of those kind of cheesy historical fiction novels that weaves together jazzed-up stories about real historical figures with a made-up story about fictional modern characters.  In the modern story, the main character has been kicked out of his polygamous community because he is a teenage male and a homosexual.  He learns that his mother (wife #19) has been accused of murdering his father, and returns to try and clear her name.  This is paralleled with the story of Ann Eliza Webb Young, the 19th wife of Brigham Young who publicly divorced Brigham and fought for the abolition of polygamy.  One thing that I liked about this book is that I really couldn't figure out where the author stood.  At some points, it seemed like he was being kind of apologist for the LDS church and its role in the polygamous offshoots that still exist today, but at other points I felt like he was pointing out how oppressive and strange Mormonism was and is.  A book revealed to some random guy on golden plates, baptisms of the dead, guys with 50+ wives, sacred underwear...weird but also fascinating (hence the 4.5 hours of Sister Wives).  In my opinion, the author wrote an unbiased but still very entertaining story.  I just wish there had been more of the modern part - I really liked the main character Jordan and I missed him when I was reading all of the Ann Eliza parts.  The only thing that seemed really contrived with how the stories were tied together by Jordan meeting another character who happened to be writing a masters thesis on Ann Eliza, I thought the stories had enough connections and shared history without needing something that direct and artificial.
One very unique aspect of this book is the incorporation of different "sources" - the author tells the story in part through newspaper articles, letters, Wikipedia entries, diaries, depositions, and others.  All made up of course, so he really had to use a lot of different voices.  Obviously a 21st century teenager who is angry and hungry and scared (lots of f bombs) is going to be written very differently from a 19th century Mormon wife, mother, and authoress (no f bombs).  I think it's hard enough to create and give voice to one character, so I appreciate how much work this book must have been to research and write.
And finally, a note from Wikipedia - apparently a Lifetime tv movie starring Lexie Gray from Greys Anatomy based on this book premiered in September.  And no one told me!!!  It will not air again in the next 6 weeks, but I will keep checking the Lifetime website so stay tuned :)

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