Tag Archives: Marriage

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

Synopsis: Amina is a Bangladeshi woman who moves to Rochester to marry George, a man she met on the internet in the hopes of securing a green card and bringing her parents to America. Review: I had really enjoyed Nell Freudenberger’s Lucky Girls story collection when I read it years ago, but she fell off my radar as an author until I came across a description of The Newlyweds while aimlessly browsing for new fiction. I found the premise intriguing and I was curious to…

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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Synopsis: When his wife goes missing, an angry writer-turned-bar-owner struggles with feelings of guilt, as the circle of suspicion hones in on him. Review: Gone Girl is the kind of thriller I swoon for–a killer hook, messy interpersonal dynamics, and the kind of twists that feel inevitable and fresh at the same time. I was definitely drawn into the game in a big way, and was glad I didn’t know much about the book beyond the blurb. I am not sure it ever hit the…

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The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Synopsis: A present-day murder case in a fundamentalist Mormon enclave told alongside the story of Ann Eliza Young’s escape from Brigham Young’s polygamous harem. Review: I think the fact that I kept falling asleep while listening to The 19th Wife says it all–I was so primed to love this book, given my obsession with the FLDS, but I was just so disappointed with the execution. I finally gave up near the end when it devolved into a story-free lecture on stuff we’d already seen. I’m…

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Triumph: Life After the Cult–A Survivor’s Lessons by Carolyn Jessop

Synopsis: After fleeing the FLDS with her 8 children, Carolyn Jessop becomes involved in the events following the raid on the FLDS compound where 400 children were taken by CPS because underage girls were being forced into plural marriages with old men. Review: I am fascinated by closed communities, and Triumph taught me so much about the inner workings of the FLDS, a radical sect of Mormonism that puts plural marriage at the forefront of their theology. Even better, I learned so much about what…

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Grace by T. Greenwood

Synopsis: A father takes his son out to the woods–and takes aim, calling him a monster, and only the events of the previous year can explain how things went this far. Review: In Grace, T. Greenwood returns to Two Rivers for this intimate, gut-wrenching tale of a family gone so wrong that their troubles spiral out and affect everyone around them. Elsbeth is unhappy, her only pleasure in life her six-year-old daughter Gracy. Her husband Kurt is breaking his back in fear of a looming…

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Daughters of Zion: My Family’s Conversions to Polygamy by Kim Taylor

Synopsis: A memoir by a girl who grew up in a Mormon sect practicing polygamy that spawned a feud between brothers that became a massacre. Review: In Daughters of Zion, Kim Taylor really made me understand the inner life of a girl who would accept polygamy. I really appreciated her honesty and candor in portraying the spiritual abuse she suffered and how she never questioned what was going on around her. She also showed the positive side of growing up in a tight knit community,…

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The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Synopsis: A semiotics-enthralled English major falls for a manic depressive scientific researcher, while being loved unrequitedly by a religious studies major for whom Mother Teresa is his last hope in a fruitless quest to find faith. Review: The best thing about The Marriage Plot is that it’s a fantastic story with characters that I connected with on a very deep level. Jeffrey Eugenides’s other two novels were good but didn’t fire up my emotions the way that this one did. Now that I’ve gotten that…

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The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer

Synopsis: When the new drama teacher chooses “Lysistrata” for the school play, the women of the town find themselves suddenly and completely uninterested in sex. Review: The Uncoupling was a quick read, but not a very satisfying one. The premise was too gimmicky and the insights into love and romance felt perfunctory. I couldn’t really relate to the characters, who felt generically suburban as opposed to individually human.

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Another Kind of Paradise by Trevor Carolan, Ed.

Synopsis: Short Stories from the New Asia-Pacific. Review: Another Kind of Paradise is a collection of stories from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and more. My favorite was “Their Son” by Hong Ying from China, which takes expectations about parents and children and totally upends them. It was sad, sweet, funny, and provocative. “Third Meeting” by Mi-na Choi from Korea had a narrator that really grabbed me, even though the story was heartbreaking beyond words.

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Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott (Crossroads, Book 1)

Synopsis: A democracy known for peaceful governance by reeves riding giant eagles falls into chaos and possible civil war when the reeves of the north stop responding and a military captain fleeing his murderous brother lands right in the middle of it; meanwhile, a slave sells an eerie, ghost-like girl into prostitution in order to free his sister, who, as a temple prostitute called a Devouring girl, has a few tricks up her sleeve as well as a personal stake in the larger story. Review:…

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