The Lonely Polygamist

The Lonely Polygamist
By Brady Udall (624 pages)
Published by W. W. Norton & Company
Bookish rating: 4

Obviously, the irony of The Lonely Polygamist is right there in the title. How can a dude with four wives and close to thirty children be lonely?

But lonely our male polygamist lead, Golden, is. In this rather long novel, Udall examines the dynamics and weirdness of polygamy. Although I do think that Udall glosses over some extremely problematic aspects of polygamy (e.g., sexual exploitation of young girls, its community's often cult-like isolation), his nonjudgmental approach allows characters to be more fully developed. Overall, I Udall's overall portrayal of polygamy is too freaking rosy, but that rosiness also differentiates the novel from other literature and tell-alls dealing with the topic (e.g., The Chosen One [which I highly recommend], The 19th Wife, Escape).

With a cast as large as Golden's huge family, Udall neccessarily focuses only a select few: Golden, the husband; Trish, the discontented and bored fourth wife; and Rusty, the neglected and somewhat wacky child. Through these three main characters, Udall manages to effectively illustrate the power struggles and competition among wives; the kids' yearning for attention, the chaos of almost 30 kids; the preciousness of each child's life, even in the midst of SO MANY of them; the pressure to PROVIDE for everyone; and so on.

The novel has no overarching plot; instead, it moves forward with a simmering pressure, and eventually all hell breaks loose at the climax. It works. That said, Udall's writing can get a tad long-winded, and at over 600 pages, it's really not neccessary. He also does a LOT of jumping back and forth, depending heavily on flashbacks. For the most part, jumping backward timewise works just fine, but it can get distracting.

Overall, The Lonely Polygamist is a must-read for anyone interested in the bizarre world of polygamy. The characters are incredibly drawn, the writing is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious (especially when we have Rusty's point of view), and the nuances of the family life are extremely believable. Recommended.