Book Reviews of The 19th Wife

I found this to be a real eye-opener! Coming from a Mormon background (I grew up in Utah), this book was very relevant for me. I thought Ebershoff did a great job in telling this story that includes the roots of polygamy in the Mormon Church along with a modern day murder mystery in a polygamist cult and how the two stories connect with each other. I tend to agree that the story would have perhaps been better if only the story of Ann Eliza Young was told, but I did get engrossed in the modern-day story as well. Reading the story of the Mormon beginnings and Brigham Young was definitely not the same stories I was taught in Mormon Sunday school. Especially the baser aspects of why Brigham and Joseph Smith entered into polygamous relationships and some of the other historical aspects such as the "hand-cart tragedy." This is a work of fiction and it is hard to separate the fact from the fiction, however, I think the author tried to accurately portray the events as much as possible.

The story within the modern-day cult reminded me a lot of the HBO series "Big Love." I would recommend this series highly. This book also piqued my interest in reading more about Ann Eliza Young -- I would like to read her book "Wife No. 19" at some point. I didn't realize she had such an impact on the Mormon Church's renouncement of polygamy. Overall a high recommendation for this book.

This book contained quite a bit of Mormon history along with murder mystery. The mystery, set in the present day, involves a "Lost Boy" trying to figure out if his mother killed his father,.

The history, unknown to many, is the story of the building of the Mormon faith. I did not think this would be compelling, but it was.

Well written, fascinating, and worth reading.

The simultaneous story of two 19th wives: Ann Eliza Young, married to Brigham Young, left Utah, divorced him after five years, went on the lecture circuit talking about the truth of polygamy, and wrote a memoir. She was instrumental in ending polygamy in LDS. Meanwhile, in the now, Jordan is surfing the web in California and sees his mother BeckyLyn on the front page of the local paper where he grew up in Utah. His father is dead and his mother has been charged, they too have a celestial marriage. Jordan, who was dumped on the side of a highway as a 14 year old, and excommunicated for holding his sister's hand, plays private eye because his mother has no one else. The historical fiction and contemporary parts of the novel are buoyed by various documents: IMs Jordan's dad was having when he was killed, flyers advertising Ann Eliza's lectures and performances as an actress, a wikipedia entry, history papers written by a BYU student.

What Ann Eliza and Jordan both say, show and write repeatedly is how very much polygamy warps, harms and limits the wives, yes, of course, but *the children*. FLDS communities continue. Texas returned all those children, including the very young wives and mothers. States, especially Utah, must enforce the law. Maybe The 19th Wife just like Wife #19 before it, can have that impact and help to end the tyranny. It's a terrible practice. But a pageturner and a terrific book!

I did not like "The 19th Wife". It is two stories in one, one is set in the early 19th century and the other more modern. I was bored with both stories! One story is about the 19th wife of Brigham Young, prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the other is about a young man who was thrown out of his polygamous fundamentalist sect and the murder of his father. The book takes on polygamy, gay rights, faith, and God. Quite a list of things to deal with. The book cover states "...a historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense. There was no suspense and the book is certainly not brilliant." I would not recommend this book to anyone.

This was one of those books that once I picked it up it was hard to put down and stay away from. The intertwining of past with present took a moment to get used to but once the story got moving it didn't matter. Story well told from the perspective of a wife and of a child.

I really enjoyed this book. It combines a murder mystery with a historical look at plural marriage as practiced by the early Mormom settlers. It sounds like an incongruous pairing but it works. I was drawn in from the first page and barely put it down until I finished.

Quite the page turner! I enjoyed reading about the present day/early days back and forth of Mormon history. Found the book to be fascinating. Cannot wait to read other books by this author.

I really tried to like this book, but found myself skipping the chapters where it went back in time and just reading the present day ones. To me it would have been better to split the two stories into 2 separate books. I ended up not finishing it. It was just too much.

I knew very little about this side of religion, so to me this book was very interesting! There was a lot of history on one side of a story and on another side a modern day murder mystery. This all intertwines into one great book! This book makes me want to read more about this and more by this author.

I really enjoyed this one. The Mormon church is secretive and fascinating and this gives a little bit of its history and a lot of the implications of that history. Three months later I still hear the story playing in my head.

Two storylines intertwine: an historic fictionalized version of the origins of Mormonism, and a modern-day murder.

Excellent rendition of the story of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and the earliest days of the religion as followed from the life of the 19th wife of Brigham Young. You will learn much historical fact as well as insights into the lives of the early Mormons.

Also found the modern-day story engaging and relevant, if not representative of most Mormons (or so I hear).

Everyone in our book club enjoyed this book; we had a fascinating discussion about religion and its relevance to historical and modern-day lives, pros and cons. We were fortunate to have an ex-Mormon participate in our bookclub!

Fascinating history of the Mormon church, modern day fundamentalist sects and polygamy. I was constantly wondering which parts were historical and which parts were fiction. Read this alongside Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" {non fiction account of Ebershoff's fictional settings)and you'll see how much research Ebershoff did for this novel. Great novelization of the psychological and emotional impact of polygamy that I never considered. Very good read.

*****