The Lonely Polygamist
By Brady Udall
(W. W. Norton & Company, Hardcover, 9780393062625, 602pp.)
Publication Date: May 2010
Other Editions of This Title: Paperback, Paperback
Categories: Family Life
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Selected by Indie Booksellers for the Summer '11 Reading Group List“The Lonely Polygamist is the story of 45-year-old Golden Richards, a hapless soul, whose four wives, 28 children, and one paramour run his life. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and hauntingly sad, this novel is a big, fat, satisfying read that will make you reconsider what it means to be part of a family. Plus, it contains the naughtiest, goofiest 11-year-old boy who will ever break your heart.”
-- Roberta Dyer, Broadway Books, Portland, OR
Selected by Indie Booksellers for the May 2010 Indie Next List
Description
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.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Susan Stamberg gathers recommendations from booksellers Rona Brinlee, Lucia Silva and Daniel Goldin. Their selections for summertime reading include books about small-town America, a polygamist father in over his head, and a postmistress in New England during World War II. More at NPR.org
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Conversation Starters from ReadingGroupChoices.com
- What were your views on polygamy before reading the book? Did they change after you finished reading?
This book is on these lists:
TO READ 4 by sdgirardChristopherg's Wish List by christopherg
Fiction 1 by steverino
Family by chels6354
Katmorgan's Wish List by katmorgan
Tipsydaisy's Wish List by tipsydaisy
Btdunn's Wish List by btdunn
KM's Wish List by KM
Cabot Public Lib's Wish List by Cabot Public Lib
Happy Hour Book group by glutenfreemel
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