HomeTorn by God: A Family's Struggle with Polygamy |
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 Vooworks.com book review Sep 12, 2009
My own introduction to Mormonism happened when I was about eleven and my father opened the front door to two fresh faced missionaries very keen on leaving us a copy of something called `The Book of Mormom'. They said they'd come back later to discuss it with us. `Not bloody likely!' was my dad's response before they and the complimentary book found their way back over the front wall. What was then - and it wasn't that long ago - a fringe religion has grown to the point where the last Republican presidential candidate was almost a Mormon, is campaign for by his own funds no less. Mormonism is certainly interesting - maybe for the wrong reasons: polygamy, men can become gods, Joseph Smith, a `Pearl of Great Price' scripture in hieroglyphics that actually reads (the original, not Smith's translation) more like a shopping list than a sacred text and those freaky underclothes.
Thanks to Orgazmo, a lot of the more weird surrounding Mormonism has been aired. South Park does much the same frequently. Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven and Beck's Leaving the Saints have been more serious in terms of their exposure and devastating in their effect. Torn by God takes the themes and masterfully reveals to the reader what happens when ordinary people get caught inside the human drama that flows from some of the aspects of Mormonism the mainstream Latter Day Saints would rather people didn't know about.
`Mainstream'? Yes. In order for 19th century Utah to achieve statehood and avoid some unwelcome attention from the US authorities, the Mormons abandoned polygamy (or `celestial marriage') as part of the deal. At more or less the same time, they stopped pooling their earnings and accepting that powerful divine revelations were as frequent as Smith claimed they could be. Not everyone agreed and the church split and as Krakauer points out, the smaller-fundamentalist groups have the scriptural authority and history on their side. They also attract more media attention for all of the wrong reasons.
In Torn by God, the principal character (whose narrative is made more powerful through the use of the first person - which the writer does very skilfully, especially for a first novel), finds herself in a strange environment where her father is flirting with a polygamist sect after a Smith-esque `revelation'. The character driving her father's integration appears intent on flirting with her - despite her being a child, him looking like he was dragged through a bush and him already having multiple wives. Her parent's marriage erodes and her mother is forced into a deep depression. The characterisation is so rich that the reader empathises with all of the family members and feels the sense of helplessness that consumes the mother and children. The lecherous Jacob Reuben is a poster boy (I don't want to call him a `man') for every anti-Mormon there ever was. Despite the heavy subject nature, valuable insights into the faith and their subculture are revealed and extremely engaging.
Few first novels are as rewarding as Torn by God. Murdock has created a piece of work very worthwhile that deserves to be celebrated for its insights into the human character and revelations surrounding its subject matter.
Torn by God Jul 12, 2009
This is a timely and very human book. Murdock's attention to small details makes this a believable novel. I felt like I had a privileged view of a young girl's authentic and honest diary which helped paint a portrait of Mormon families caught between conflicting factions of their church.
Though handed a challenging family to grow up in, Beth (the 12 year old narrator) retains her openness and innate compassion and never becomes blaming or bitter - quite an accomplishment. Because of this, the book can serve as a wonderful jumping off point for further discussion that can help us understand the variety of psychological motivations that lead us to our worldviews. Because fundamentalism is inherently black and white, this book's compelling story brings us welcomed shades of gray.
A moving human story with important meaning. Jun 18, 2009
I found this family drama, by Zoe Murdock, to be a well-written, emotionally driven novel, dealing with several meaningful themes. Part of the power of the story comes from how it is told through the eyes and mind of the family's twelve year-old daughter, Beth. She sees the events of the story unfold and has enough insight to have serious thoughts about what is taking place around her, yet, as a child, she is helpless in changing her father's mind, when he decides that God wants him to have the family return to the older Mormon traditions of Polygamy.
The skill with which this novel is written keeps us in suspense. Beth sees her mother grow seriously ill from the psychic pain she suffers due to her husband's desire to have multiple wives. Beth also sees the disturbing possibility that she could be taken out of school and forced to marry an unpleasant, sex-obsessed older man. Even her younger brother, Mickey, can sense a feeling of doom arising from the path his father is taking. Meanwhile, the father, Michael, caught up in his fanatic religious obsession, remains blind to the affect it is having on those around him. In spite of how bad it gets, Beth doesn't lose her sense of love for her family and the desire for things to return to normal. That feeling of love she has and tells her story with provides part of the human quality of the novel.
While the story had significance for me in terms of how it deals with polygamy, and I learned a lot about Mormonism, I think that Murdock provides insights beyond those themes. The story relates to fanaticism as it exists in any religion, a type of destructive fanaticism which we see so much of throughout the world today.
As seen by his daughter, Beth, Michael doesn't come across as a bad man, he is more a man with weaknesses. He can be seen also as a man, who out of his own egotistical needs, takes too literally, and without question, things others have told him. For someone like myself, who previously knew little about the Mormon Church and had tended to view it from a negative view point, this sensitive portrayal of a Mormon family was enlightening and enabled me to understand the religion and it's members in a more complex, human way.
I fully recommend this novel especially since it can be appreciated on a number of different levels.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
A story that, although fiction, is saddening in that similar events have likely happened many times in the past Jun 07, 2009
Every group has its fundamentalists, and Mormonism is no different. "Torn by God" is a story of a family torn apart by fundamentalists. Beth doesn't know what to think when her father joins a radical sect of Mormonism which holds polygamy as a vital part of Mormon doctrine. This belief tears their family apart as Beth must fend for her mother and brother at the age of twelve, fearful of being married off to a cult leader. "Torn by God" is a story that, although fiction, is saddening in that similar events have likely happened many times in the past.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Torn by God Doesn't Tear the Reader Jun 05, 2009
"Torn By God" touches on polygamy and the devastating effect it can have on families. The setting is the late 1950's and starts with a father searching for his own answers following a vision he had. He is carefully recruited into a group of polygamists and while he searches for his answers, his family struggles to stay alive. Described in a gripping way, the reader sees what it's like to live in a small, close-knit Mormon community that has no tolerance for a family like the Sterlings. The book touches on the LDS doctrine of excommunication, but doesn't delve deeply into Mormon dogma. It's not about polygamy; it's not about the LDS faith, but everything in the book surrounds it. It is the first book of this nature I have read, since my experience as an active Latter-day Saint is most books of this nature tend to tear down the LDS Church, or are written in a way to criticize the Church or its doctrine. I was ready to discard it should that happen, but surprisingly to me, I didn't find this to be the case in "Torn By God." I felt myself sympathizing with the Sterling family, who found themselves torn between loving their father, abiding his interest into a polygamist cult, and paying the price that comes from neighbors who are quick to judge. Couple this with the meager circumstances they find themselves living in as their father breaks promises and is lured away from home for a season. When you add to their disappointment, heartbreak and discouragement, the ever-present hypocritical attitudes of their pious neighbors, (many of whom are fellow church-goers), you find yourself thinking "There but for the grace of God go I." "Torn By God" is thought-evoking, and a real page-turner. It's a book you'll find yourself reading in one or two sittings!
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