Tina's Reviews > The Lonely Polygamist

Done, done. Finally done. Am still processing how I feel about this one, but my gut reaction is: it was okay. At times it was fascinating; the polygamist life seems so closed and taboo that you almost can’t help but get drawn in by the idea of the story. But for me, sticking with Udall through all 600 pages was an arduous journey. Udall doesn’t vilify polygamists; he also doesn’t embrace them. And perhaps that is where I found much of the difficulty with The Lonely Polygamist; there wasn’t a strong pull either way. I didn’t much care about the people in two of the three main storylines. Golden Richards, “the lonely polygamist,” is going through a mid-life crisis of sorts … only his involves four wives and a couple dozen children, not to mention a failing business that exists in the shadow of his larger-than-life (deceased) father. His fourth and youngest wife, Trish, struggles with loneliness and her position as the “newest” wife---and the only wife to have just one child (obviously not a favored position in polygamist families). And as one of Golden’s many children, Rusty is an 11 y/o boy who simply wants to be noticed over the cacophony of voices and needs that swirl around the burgeoning Richards family--and to be heard he acts out in bigger and bigger ways.

It was Rusty’s storyline that I followed with the most interest, perhaps because the life as a polygamist child is not something you choose; you’re born into it and there you shall stay until you’re old enough to make the choice to break away. Rusty’s struggle for a place and a voice was heartbreaking at times, and that’s when I liked the book the most: when it was able to break my heart a little … to make me feel something for the characters. Unfortunately the book wasn’t able to do it often enough for me to feel much more than ambivalent about the whole thing.