Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Lonely Polygamist

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall  602 pp.

It took me awhile to get through this, and not just because it was long. I loaded it on my Ipod and started listening to it, then set it aside for a long stretch before I went back to it. I can't imagine why a man would want four wives and 28 children but that's what Golden Richards has. In spite of being the patriarch of this clan, he is a man not in control of his own life. The household decisions are made for him. He is told how and when to discipline his children. And his wives beg him to take charge and make decisions that he prefers to avoid. Son Rusty, the misfit of the family, has his own issues and is constantly in conflict with the #1 wife who is not his mother. Golden's youngest and newest wife, Trish, seems unable to have a child and suffers from depression. After the accidental death of his disabled daughter and the stillborn birth of a son, Golden finds himself at loss with how to deal with his life and the family he doesn't really know and who aren't interested in his emotional needs. Against his better judgment he begins an affair that jeopardizes everything. I enjoyed this book and I'm sorry I took so long to finish it.

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