The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel by Brady Udall
To cleanse the palate of the last horrible book log entry, I turn to my favorite book I’ve read this year, The Lonely Polygamist. This is the story of a man, his four wives, his 28 children, and a few others. The book is very well written, with rich and well rendered characters. It is funny, touching, and tragic. A very believable portrait of a plural family emerges with all the potential and inherent flaws presented engagingly and sympathetically, but not through rose-colored glasses.
I’ve mentioned before (in my log on The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress) that I have a fascination with alternative marital contracts1. But mathematically, I can’t see polygamy as feasible in a society without corresponding polyamory. The math just doesn’t work out, which of course leads to tragedy in the case of sons of polygamists2. The Line Marriage proposed in Moon still seems like the strongest alternative marital contract I’ve heard of.
I don’t remember how this book ended up on my Amazon Wish List, but I’m awfully glad it did.
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1 And like in my Moon book log, I’ll note that my fascination is purely academic, implying no dissatisfaction with my plain vanilla marriage. Vanilla is my favorite flavor.
2 There was a good essay about cast-out sons of polygamists called The Lost Boys that I read a long while back in a Best American collection.