Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Red Water

Red Water
Red Water
Author: Judith Freeman
ISBN-13: 9780375420924
ISBN-10: 0375420924
Publication Date: 1/22/2002
Pages: 336
Rating:
  • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
 14

3.2 stars, based on 14 ratings
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

8 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Shervivor avatar reviewed Red Water on + 97 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
This is an interesting look into the lives of early mormon sister-wives. The author allows you to view what life was like in the rugged west during the mid 19th century. it is well written, giving beautiful descriptions of the barren west. Freeman does a wonderful job of bringing to life three of John D. Lee's numerous wives. If you are like me and know nothing about this man and the Mountain Meadows Massacre this book explains a lot about that event and also about Bringham Young. The three wives are Emma; an English woman that converted and was much younger than Lee but fell in love with him. Ann, a girl he married when she was just 13 that had a wild spirit for adventure. And Rachel, the sister of his very first wife and who became a sister-wife to her own mother when Lee married that woman to 'save her soul'. I enjoyed this book and was fascinated by the inside look at a polygamous family.
reviewed Red Water on + 404 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Fascinating look into pioneer life in the mid-1800s. The author had the journals of the three real women to refer to as she researched this historical novel.

... It is beautifully written. It can invoke such strong emotions.

It is not a book about the Mountain Meadows Massacre... It is a book about three very different women who were involved in a polygamous marriage to one of the most strong willed and charismatic men of the time.

It is their stories of survive in a harsh place and in harsh times. Whether you agree with the doctrine of the Mormon Church of the time is irrelevant. This is a wonderfully written book of three women who along with the other Mormon women of the time changed the face of the west forever.

This book is more than worth your time and effort to read.

This is very well written and very well researched. It is a small insight to what Mormonism was under the eye of Smith and Young while it was still a living entity. It is also a beautiful insight to some of the most harsh and spectacular places on earth. amazon reviews
reviewed Red Water on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Insightful perspectives told by three of the wives of John D. Lee. Each woman's story so different and each pulls you in. Interesting views of the Mountain Meadows massacre. if you enjoy historical fiction you'll enjoy this book.
harmony85 avatar reviewed Red Water on + 982 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
"Red Water" is the story of the life of John D. Lee as told by three of his nineteen wives. I enjoyed this book very much!
LouJones avatar reviewed Red Water on + 13 more book reviews
I read 53 pages & gave up.. I thought this was about the Mountain Meadows slaughter.. This was a fiction book based on the slaughter.. the writer seemed to be more interested in the sex life of the Mormon family than the facts of the history.
reviewed Red Water on + 6 more book reviews
"An unforgettable portraitof the unceasing labor, passion and danger of frontier life, recalling the best of Willa Cather" Los Angeles Time.

A great read. I really enjoyed it.
jazzysmom avatar reviewed Red Water on + 907 more book reviews
Red Water was an unforgettable portrait of the unceasing labor, passion and danger of frontier life. This was a vivid read and smooth flowing. In 1857 at a place called Mountains Meadows in southern Utah a band of Mormans and Indians massacred 120 Emigrants. This is the story about this massacure and the after effects. Loved this read.
GrkMum avatar reviewed Red Water on + 32 more book reviews
This book is an utterly fascinating tale from the viewpoint of 3 of his wives. Very interesting look into the pioneer Mormon lives.