Maud recently asked for work-skipping, bus-missing book recommendations, and I felt a pang on remembering I'd just finished John Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, a page-turner I found so transporting I wish I could discover it again.
Living in New York the past few years has given me little occasion to think about Mormonism. The earnest missionaries don't tend to buzz one's apartment door around here. I'm also too much of a ninny to really get into the true-crime genre; when I finally picked up In Cold Blood recently, I had to read it to myself in Philip Seymour Hoffman's funny Capote voice to get past the worst parts. So I was surprised to find myself missing a few subway stops while immersed in Krakauer's book about Mormons and murder.
Nominally a true-crime (non-fiction) thriller about a horrifying killing that took place amongst a fundamentalist Mormom spin-off sect in 1984, it's actually more about the history of Mormonism itself -- and on a larger scale, the uneasy balances between fundamentalism and mainstream religion, historical facts and religious faith. Aside from sharing some alarming tales of polygamist sects from Utah to Mexico and Canada (many of which continue to get away with flagrant child and domestic abuse on a regular basis), Krakauer carefully delves into historical documents that tell a fascinating story of the mainstream LDS church -- a religion invented not so long ago.
It's a religion that constitutes a powerful political force. According to Krakauer, there are more Mormons than Presbyterians or Episcopalians in the U.S. today, and more Mormons than Jews on the planet. He also cites figures predicting that by the end of the century, the LDS church will boast nearly 300 million members. You can guess what this means for conservatives' future voting power.
These fun cocktail party facts are reason enough to pick it up -- but the artful storytelling and engaging voice keeps the pages turning. You really get the sense that this guy -- who basically describes himself as agnostic -- has made a sincere, empathetic effort to understand this religion, and religion in general, from both an intellectual and an emotional perspective. It's an honest and brave book.
I guess my second page-turner of the summer thus far has been James Salter's Last Night, a short story collection I apparently came to kind of late, judging from its lofty literary rep. I raced through it last weekend in a delicious rush -- how could anyone resist a story with a line like, "He was mannerly and elegant, his head held back a bit as he talked, as though you were a menu"? The characters are all brilliantly drawn like that, totally compelling.
But in the end, I have to admit, I put it down feeling a bit dirty, like I do sometimes after devouring one of those mega-issues of Vanity Fair in an afternoon when I should be writing a dull business article.
The writing is gorgeous, yes, and so are the people, and so are their sparkling conversations and surroundings, and it's hard to turn away from them until you've flipped the page just once too often to find yet another well-to-do person, some aging lawyer or arts patron or such, whose material needs are so satisfied he has nothing left to worry about but the achingly beautiful nape of his young mistress' neck. Is this how grown-ups live? I found myself wondering. And will I ever be one of them?
Statistically probable sentence: "Westhampton, her tanned legs and pale heels." Oh, do tell.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just so burned out from working and battling summer roaches and my creaky old air conditioner every damn day in this hair-destroying, soul-crushing humidity, I can no longer appreciate high-brow literature. Let's see if my tastes escalate after I get back from Newport next week, dahling.
RELATED sort of: Was anyone else baffled by this New Yorker cartoon?
What the hey? Is this what goes on in these "Hamptons" I keep hearing about? And is it funnier there? A free Book of Mormon to anyone who can give me a reasonable explanation ...
You're a joy to read, City Mouse. This smaller city mouse thanks you!
(P.S. It's good to know Krakauer got out of the woods.)
Posted by: Em | June 29, 2006 at 10:32 PM