I admit to one nasty laugh when I read, "'the work and the glory' isn't simply a set of serialized LDS novels but a sprawling, global effort that involves many more people than the Steed family and their 'Who's Who among Early Latter-day Saints' friends." (Trenton Hickman, Assistant Professor at BYU).
I further confess that I have read all nine (at least, I think there were only nine!) of Gerald N. Lund's Work and the Glory series AND his Kingdom and the Crown series.
I enjoy them for what I understand their purpose to be: making Church History a bit more accessible (and enjoyable) to many members that wish to know more about the founding years of the church (in both dispensations) but find it hard when faced with a list of boring dates and facts.
BUT
They are Not Great Literature. They are the Soap Opera version of Church History; the only reason I read all of them was because I had to know how they ended.
My question is this: Does anyone know of a Great Mormon Novel? One that explores the Saints' experiences without trying to make everything.. so rose-tinted? The closest thing I've encountered so far is Orson Scott Card's (appropriately named) Saints. But I'd like to think there are more out there.
9 comments:
I wrote a post a while ago about good Mormon literature. You can find my recommendations here:
href="http://foxyj.blogspot.com/2006/01/beating-dead-horse.html"
I especially like Virginia Sorensen's A Little Lower than the Angels as an alternative to soap opera history. I've also heard a number of good things about The Giant Joshua but I haven't read it yet.
I have no idea how many of those books are available where you are at, but there's always interlibrary loan if you really want them. Or you could come visit me in Seattle and we own a number of them :)
Um, let me try that link again:
Also, if you're interested in nonfiction I thoroughly enjoyed Rough Stone Rolling. It's a long, dense read, but very interesting.
So I apparently don't understand HTML, but I'm going to try one more time:
http://foxyj.blogspot.com/2006/01/beating-dead-horse.html
I've read good fiction, and I've read good church nonfiction, but can't think of any worthwhile fictitious church history. I did read Giant Joshua this year, it's alright, and it's at the library here...
Foxyj: got the link! thanks! looking forward to things to read. glad to see a margaret young one on there.
cchrissy: i find the same. good fiction, good churchy non-fiction, but not much in the way of good churchy fiction.
oops, typos - here's the edited version (I was too ashamed to leave the comment as it was)
Thanks foxyj - my library has a couple from your list, so I'm going to find out if we have similar taste in "good" books. Since I'm usually a sci-fi/fantasy reader, this could be interesting. :) I was a bit sad that they didn't have Falling Toward Heaven, but I'll try Dean Hughes and Virginia Sorensen. It was good to see someone else living around Seattle too!
sposita: I'm reminded of a book of plays we once read, called Heubner I think. I liked it enough to read the plays that we weren't assigned for our class. The plays were mostly about controversial parts of Mormon history - that was the first time I'd heard of Mountian Meadows. Other than that, I just haven't explored Mormon fiction very much. Sigh, so much to do in this life. Do you think we'll have time to read much in eternity?
I just remembered that there's also the "Standing on the Promises" series by Margaret Blair Young. They're about African American pioneers throughout church history. I actually own all of them after buying them on clearance but I've never gotten around to reading them. Maybe I should...
.
I'm looking for a favorite and noticed I missed this one.
The Backslider has just been released in an anniversary edition--I've never read it, but it's often cited.
If I remember to think about it when my brain is processing at a healthy level, I'll think about it in more depth later.
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