It is funny, it can be moving, it is ambitious and it is tender about man's endless absurdities and failings…Sometimes, reading The Lonely Polygamist, one wishes the author had a little less respect, but then the book might be that much less charming.
Udall's long-awaited novel (after The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint) depicts a lively, humorous, and sometimes tragic picture of Golden Richards, his four demanding wives, and his 28 children. They are an unruly Mormon clan, scattered among three separate houses in rural Utah. Richards, a hapless graying contractor with a limp and a sinus condition, supports them with his less-than-successful construction business. To avoid bankruptcy, he takes a job in Nevada, a project he tells everyone is a senior citizens' home but in fact it is a bordello. That's only one of Golden's secrets. The sister wives hold weekly summits to schedule Golden's visits from wife to wife, house to house. He doesn't have a home of his own, so he frequently takes refuge in a playhouse built for a daughter who died in a tragic accident. In trying to help, he often makes things worse, but he valiantly makes one last effort to bring harmony to his fractious family. VERDICT Udall observes with a keen eye for the ridiculous while showing compassion. Think of the zany theatrics of Carl Hiaasen paired with the family drama of Elizabeth Berg. Enthusiastically recommended—Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO
Unhappy families are different, quoth Leo Tolstoy-even when they're headed by the same patriarch, the situation from which Udall's (The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, 2001, etc.) latest unfolds. "There's hard things we have to do in this life," says a wizened desert rat to an existentially confused Golden Richards, the protagonist. "We bite our lip and do 'em. And we pray to God to help us along the way." Golden is in need of such guiding words. At 48, he calls three houses home, each of them stuffed full of children. Things aren't going well out in the world that he's unsuccessfully tried to keep at bay; his construction business is mired in recession, and he's working in Nevada, far away from the comforts of home(s). To complicate matters, Golden, though already blessed or burdened with three wives, has taken up with another woman, a fringe effect of which is that now he has a fondness for mescal. Golden's life occasions a series of hard choices and often-rueful meditations, and Udall smartly observes how each plays out. His novel opens with a tumultuous welter of children who, though tucked away in a remote corner of Utah, have access to all the media and know, aptly, what a zombie is. As Golden's saga progresses, he learns about the mysteries of such things as condoms (as a friend meaningfully says, "so you don't go fucking yourself out of a spot at the dinner table") and the endless difficulties and intrigues of family politics, with all their plots against the patriarchal throne. Udall layers on real history with the tragedy of atomic testing in the Southwestern deserts of old, and imagined tragedy with some of the unexpected losses Golden must endure. In the end, Udall's story hassome of the whimsy of John Nichols's The Milagro Beanfield War but all the complexity of a Tolstoyan or even Faulknerian production-and one of the most satisfying closing lines in modern literature, too. Fans of the HBO series Big Love will be pleased to see an alternate take on the multi-household problem, and lovers of good writing will find this a pleasure, period.
Udall's dark comedy of polygamy and American anomie has as its protagonist, the overworked father and (polygamous) husband, Golden Richards. Surrounded by wives and children (so many that he occasionally has trouble remembering their names), Golden is nonetheless a solitary spirit, finding little companionship amid the hubbub of his multiple homes. Udall's nimble prose dances lightly between farce and tragedy, and David Aaron Baker's reading manages a similar feat. Comic episodes are suitably breezy and Baker's pace grows stately when faced with darkness, his reading slowing to a molasses crawl for heartrending moments like the loss of a child. A Norton hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 22). (May)
"A rich, poignant look at a family whose lifestyle may seem absolutely aberrant, but for whom life’s issues are wholeheartedly normal."
"I don’t know how true to life this story may be. But it feels right, and it reads beautifully and often hilariously, and I liked it an awful lot."
"Entertaining . . . very moving . . . Impressive."
"What is so great about this unflinching, superbly crafted, big hearted novel is the way it makes us recognize the polygamist(and sister wife) in all of us. Golden Richards' struggles and desires are no different from ours, he just has them in multiples of four. His story not only demystifies and humanizes polygamist culture, it takes a dramatic stand on behalf of families everywhere—from the most conservative to the most alternative—and suggests a way to foreground, amidst all our failings, the rare moment of success."
"A brilliantly crafted mini-epic that is at turns hilarious, terrifying, and heartbreaking . . . Cinematic . . . A potential classic."
"How often does The Great American Novel truly come along?"
"The Lonely Polygamist is a great American novel, perhaps the great American novel of the year."
"The Lonely Polygamist is both an astounding feat and a sumptuous feast. This is the Second Coming of the Great American Novel. Or is it the Third? Who’s counting? Read this brilliant book."
"The Lonely Polygamist cracks open the door to plural marriage and lets in the light. Brady Udall explores the Richards family with the greatest care and humor, building memorable characters that readers will immediately love. Funny and wise, The Lonely Polygamist stands with other great family novels such as The Corrections and Middlesex , and sets Udall on the top shelf of America’s writers."
"There's something cinematic about the way Udall presents this tale, with at least a handful of dramatic scenes that seem to beg for a big-screen treatment. Furthermore, Udall's poetic rendering of the Southwestern landscape brings to mind the lingering, panoramic shots of films like Brokeback Mountain and A River Runs Through It . But most of all it's Golden, Rusty and the novel's other complex characters that make The Lonely Polygamist a potential classic. They remain with the reader after the last page is turned."
"The novel you must read this summer.... a riveting emotional tornado of a novel."
"An audacious and frequently funny new novel."
Washington Post - Wendy Smith
"The novelist’s affection for his protagonist and sensitivity to his domestic despair yields characters and scenes that are precise and unfailingly rewarding. [Udall] has that gift for writing sinuous and convincing sentences that convey his affection without compromising clarity or truth."
All Things Considered, NPR - Alan Cheuse
"This is big-hearted American storytelling, the best new book I’ve read in years."
"A profoundly satisfying read, written with a ferocious verve and authenticity."
"[A] compelling, rollicking story."
"[An] exceptional tale of an exceptional family."
The New York Times Book Review
"If you're looking for a big, funny, moving novel to read this spring, look no farther."
"Uproarious . . . Udall’s storytelling [displays] ease and humor."
"The Lonely Polygamist is a hefty, eager, and bittersweet novel, and it is a page-turner. Brady Udall deals with familial chaos, reckless behavior, and alarming pyrotechnics with wit, grace, and tenderness. He’s an enchanter who casts his spell with exquisite sentences and unerring, evocative details. Here is a writer of inordinate compassion and formidable intelligence. Read this remarkable novel, friend, live with it, and I promise you this, little Rusty Richards will haunt your dreams."
"A wry, sympathetic portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional family."
"Terrifically thought-provoking . . . a constantly shifting but marvelously controlled story."
"An absorbing, moving entertaining novel that will transport the reader into Golden’s chaotic world."
"One of the best novels I’ve read in a while . . . Golden Richards, middle-aged, 6-foot-6 polygamist with an overbite, is one of the most appealing, original, and brilliantly tragicomic protagonists to appear in American fiction in some time."
"Funny [and] moving, [The Lonely Polygamist ] is ambitious and it is tender about man’s endless absurdities and failings."
The New York Times Book Review - Eric Weinberger
Comedy and pathos prevail throughout Udall’s novel about hapless Golden Richards, who has four wives, 28 children, a failing construction business, and a melancholy as deep as Utah’s valleys. It’s impressive enough that David Baker easily slips from companionable raconteur to bearer of tragic tales. But most arresting of all is when he deadens his voices to become the merciless, omniscient narrator that Udall occasionally uses to observe Golden's unhappy clan. Devoid of all the warmth normally in Baker’s voice, the transformation is truly frightening and sinister. That voice itself underscores what is the most salient characteristic of poor Golden and his brood: vulnerablility. M.O. 2011 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
