[December 2010]
The 19th Wife, David Ebershoff
number of voters: 8
percentage of voters who finished the book: 88
highest rating: 8.25
lowest rating: 4
average rating: 6.5
average star rating: 2.9 stars
*****
We must convene in secret. None would understand our fascination with the written word. By all accounts, we are mere housewives who should be occupied with our matrimonial and domestic duties and nothing more. Thus, when I confide in you, dear reader, that we ‘simple’ housewives collude in concealed corners in the dark of night, I entrust you with our deepest secret. We discuss the merits and shortcomings of the latest publications. Often we are required to attain these titles in back alleys, in disguise and under constant threat of discovery. Our latest procurement is a jewel, indeed, worth every danger. It concerns one of our own, a sister wife who defied her husband, her prophet, her faith, and her God. Oh, Ann Eliza! The ‘nineteenth wife’ of our dear Brigham has woven quite a tale. There is truth in these pages, yet no one save God himself shall ever know how much. Some of the sister wives believe every word, perhaps tempted by the perceived freedoms beyond their grasp. Others shun every word as fantasy, apart from the few indisputable facts. A small number believe that the book--no matter how factual or preposterous--will be our very undoing. I silently wonder if someday another writer will not take pen and paper in hand only to defame the history of our faith with tales of modern salacity. Dear reader! Should you endeavor to master this effort by Miss Young, take care! It may ask questions you are not suited to answer. It may answer questions you were not prepared to ask. If the written word can incite such quarrels amidst habitually loving sister wives, if one story can arouse such doubt and suspicion and protectiveness amongst our own, what, pray-tell, will the effect be on the unbelieving soul?
