91. Read and Review 100 Books (30/100) The Lonely Polygamist - Brady Udall

'Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging. 

Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family—with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy—pushed to its outer limits.'


What a great novel... I spotted this in hardcover in a little itty bitty bookstore in Telluride, Colorado at christmas time when I was trying to escape the cold for an hour or two while Paul was skiing the slopes... the initial attraction, of course was the insight into the Mormon world... but in the end the story itself  caught me hook line and sinker. If you can get your hands on this book do it... devour it... laugh, cry and enjoy the story of the polygamist family (3 wives and all 28 children) spiralling out of control... in the end.. they're just a normal family, dealing with normal day to day issues... just in a foreign way..