Although the title of this book sounds like something I might have stumbled across in the BYU Bookstore, I actually learned about it from Ira Glass on This American Life. This is an autobiographical book by a young single LDS woman in New York City about her experience of being a young single LDS woman in New York City. It's written for a general audience, and her religion is not incidental to the story. In fact, it's kind of the central theme. She's very candid, and if you read this book on my recommendation I have to warn you in advance that it's not Sunday School reading. There are some scandalous bits. Just so you know.
Usually I feel like I have to review a book on two levels: the literary level (was it well-written? did it have interesting themes?) and the personal enjoyment level (did I like reading it?). One of the reasons it's been so hard for me to write this review is that I feel like I have to review it on two more levels: how did I react to this book from the perspective of my own faith? And what are my thoughts about the book's portrayal of the LDS faith and community to a broader non-LDS population? But since I keep getting bogged down, I'm not even going to try to cover all the bases, although I have much to say about each aspect (particularly the last two).
Instead, I'll first state simply that I liked the book. It was a quick read (I made it over halfway through in my first sitting) and it was entertaining. Even though the author is very unlike me (she's only a little younger, but we greatly differ in personality, life experiences, and our choices in how we live our life and our faith), I could identify with her. Sometimes I was surprised how strongly I identified with her. There was a lot in this book that really resonated with me. But knowing that most of the readers of this blog haven't read the book makes it hard to explain in more detail. There were also things in the book that bothered me, and things I wasn't sure how to react to. This is also hard to explain in detail if you haven't read the book.
More than anything, though, it gave me a lot to think about. Would I recommend this book? Honestly, it would have to be on a case-by-case basis. For some people, definitely not. For others, absolutely - I'd be interested to hear what you thought and to share more of what I thought.
3 comments:
I heard that TAL segment too, and I've been wanting to read the book. I have a hold on it at the library, so it'll be fun to talk about it after I'm done.
Oh, I really wanted to know what you thought of this book. I read it early on last year after three separate people recommended it to me (none of who were LDS). I have recommended it on a case-by-case basis. I have also had my seventh graders listen to some of her podcasts, dealing with self-image and family, as good examples of memoir-writing.
She's right, of course, it's difficult to negotiate love and faith. On a side note, I love her cartoons and lists. However, I don't recommend ever making your own list. Either way, not many or so many, it's depressing.
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