New Voices #4: Literary Novels

This is the fourth “New Voices” collection of reviews from Shelah Miner’s Mormon Literature students at BYU-Salt Lake. These four reviews are from the second assignment, reviews of “literary novels” by Mormon authors. The reviewers are Kristian Ciarah Cook (Lost Boys, by Orson Scott Card), Tanner Arnett (A Short Stay in Hell, by Steven L. Peck), Russell Peck (The Backslider, by Levi Peterson) and Amelia Ence (Aspen Marooney, by Levi Peterson). Please be encouraging towards the students, most of whom are new to college-level writing assignments.

Lost Boys, by Orson Scott Card

Reviewed by Kristian Ciarah Cook

[Cook begins with a detailed summary of the novel, which has been redacted.]  I have nothing but good and emotional things to say about this novel. It was probably the most disturbing thing that I have ever read. Partly because of the deeply evil ambience the prologue set and partly because, if it were not for the prologue, you could honestly be reading a simple book about an LDS family dealing with the heartache of changing jobs, financial insecurities, children not getting along and having and hard time at school, and dealing with strange neighbors and coworkers. A story of every day life, yet, you knew the whole time that something was seriously wrong. And there was no way of figuring it out until the very last page. By that time, I was in tears. I ended up crying for weeks after I finished this story, and would start to think about the characters that you grow to love or despise. You become frustrated with Step and DeAnne, even though you know they are trying so hard, because they always get distracted and never sit Stevie down or investigate his mysterious video games or imaginary friends. There were so many times that Step almost goes over to find the game or DeAnne almost gets a moment to connect to her son, then some other crazy thing comes up and Stevie just becomes more and more lost.

It was also disturbing because, while nothing about the gospel was preached wrongly, there is something about the concept of ghosts portrayed in the way that they were that did not quite resonate with my testimony of the gospel. This is, perhaps, the only weakness of the novel. But without this plot twist there would not have been a novel. In fact, it is the elements of the gospel that are used that made me love this book so much. DeAnne and Step are constantly finding ways to share their testimony and Book of Mormon stories with their children. It is their faith in the gospel that makes it possible for them to get through all the difficulties and situations they are faced with. They are the ones who encourage Stevie to do what is right and Stevie to relates back that it is because of this that he knew helping the lost boys was how he could honor his parents and do what was right.

I also loved how honest Card is in his writing. This novel is so real. It is the most far-fetched LDS-related novel I have ever read because it steps across the boundaries that most LDS writers do not include in their novels about Mormon families. But Card includes it all— swearing, sex, crude dialogue from some of the more perverted characters (even about little children), etc. It was like reading events in real life. There was not room for assumption or interpretation. He did not have any reservations in his writing and I appreciated that.

I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone who is ready to read a deeply disturbing and emotional book that makes you take another look at life and want to be a better person. It is intense and intriguing from start to finish but for those who read to escape the world, this is not the right novel for them. I have read a lot of Card’s work and I think that this is one of his best, most emotional pieces. In my research of the book I discovered that Card considers it one of his hardest books to write because of how emotional the truth of it was. This novel throws all the stereotypes typical of LDS novels out the window and explores areas of gospel-inspired writing that would make any author of literary fiction proud.

 

A Short Stay in Hell, by Steven L. Peck.

Reviewed by Tanner Arnett

The idea of “Hell” is one of mystery and depth. Nothing in the human existence is more vague and full of anguish. “Short Stay in Hell” is probably one of the greatest books I have read in quite some time.

Soren is our main character and is the focus throughout the book. He is a Mormon, geologist, and has a family. A very typical guy, who believed that one day he would be reunited with his family and live with them forever. All is well until one day he dies, and he appears in what he thinks is “spirit paradise” a place to wait for the Resurrection. He is plunged into a hopeless hell and changes his thoughts on life, and it purpose, finds new love, loses hope, and finds it again. It is a story of the innermost thoughts of every human soul. Why am I here, and where am I going? He knows he is dead, and needs to find his life story in a book to ever get out, but the one thing he is lacking is hope.

My favorite part of the book is the beginning, I think it is unique, and the authors’ dialogue is skillfully worded. I could imagine every detail so perfectly as if I was there myself.

Before he knows it he is told that the Zoroastrian religion (a religious sect in Asia) is the one true religion and everyone else is here in hell. He sees through a window the pains of Hell. “Occasionally from the lake of fire a blazing fountain would erupt violently, spackling the ceiling of the great cavern with hot lava, which then would drip in large globs slowly back to the enormous magma lake, creating high, thick splashes of bright orange liquid rock. Inside the lake, scores of wailing people could be seen wading through the pool, screaming in agony, and even through their cries could not pierce the thickness.”

Soren along with the other few people in the room with him are shocked when the devil who is sitting at a table deciding their fate tells them that scene of hell is all fake, and those are actors. They are so shocked the don’t know what to believe anymore, One man believes so passionately he was right he is quoted as saying, ““No you see I was saved. Forever and for all time. I came forth at the preacher’s call and was washed in the blood of the lamb. I’m saved by Christ. Who can snatch me from God’s hand? Yes that is why I shouldn’t be here. I’ve been saved,” the man shouted, through with waning bravado. “Well there’s your problem. You didn’t join the one true religion.” To me this is the most important part of the book, what would we think if everything we have ever believed is a lie? Would we doubt our beliefs, or would we stick true to them?

Our main character is placed into a hell of endless books going on for what seems like eternity up, down, and to each side. The purpose is to find your life story in these books. This task is one that seems impossible, and incredibly frustrating.

I want to talk about that aspect of the book. I loved how the author made it such an infallible task. The fact that over hundreds of years of searching when they find one sentence that makes sense everyone freaks out is depressing to me. Although applying it to our lives, tiny moments that make us happy might seem insignificant, but it is millions of those moments compounded that makes a lifetime so great. That is what Steven L. Peck does well in this book. In one hundred pages he makes you think, and ponder about your life and where it is headed.

I could easily imagine this gigantic library that held all of these books. It seemed serine, amazing, and overwhelming all at the same time. There is a scene where Soren runs for weeks and weeks hundreds and hundreds of miles and doesn’t find an end. Stories are told of groups who walked for years and never found an end. All of the human existence is expressed in its book. Love, war, cults, binge drinking, murder, sex, pain, fear, it is all there as it was in the real world. Except here you can never die, and the probability of ever finding your life story is light. It truly is hell, a place of little hope, and downright madness at some points.

The craziest part of the book was the cult started by Dire Dan. He believed he had a vision from God to purge the library of all who would not join them. It is terrifying to think about, and the idea that humans would be capable of such acts is a scary thought in itself. After being caught by this clan and tortured, Soren finally regains consciousness days later. They say to him, “Don’t think about jumping. We’ll catch you before you get to the foot of the railing. Then we’ll torture you in ways that you would find rather unpleasant. The great thing is, every day we get to start fresh. We have people we have tortured for over year. Great sinners, of course. They deserve it. It’s God’s great work.” This paragraph makes me shudder. My face got red and hot when I read this because it’s so evil and full of hate that I had a hard time even reading about it. The fact that he said he was inspired of God makes me want to punch him in the face, I hated Dire Dan. Peck developed this character so well and he was only n the book for about ten pages. This is one of the great examples of how your emotions can feed into a characters development that Peck does so well.

One weakness was the length of the book. I believe he made it short on purpose to stick with the title, but there could have been more detail. However there is a quote that says, “hell is sameness, heaven is variety.” I believe that rings true in this book. Another weakness was the dullness of some of the explanations of the dimensions of the space, and how impossible the task was. But it is hard to criticize, I admire his work and really engaged with this novel.

At first I chose this book because it was short, and seemed interesting, but I got a lot more out of it than just that. It gave me perspective and a knowledge that my Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to be happy. He would never want me to go to a place of such misery and pain for no reason. He is just and will judge according to my actions and faith, I love my Father, and am grateful for this book.

 

The Backslider, by Levi Peterson

Reviewed by Russell Peck

The first thing I need to say is that this book isn’t for everyone. It focuses on a boy doing all of the things that Mormon moms teach them not to do. It talks bluntly about sex, masturbation, pornography etc. In fact I know many Mormon families that would think that reading this book is the same as looking at pornography themselves. Please do not read this book if you are worried about those topics and speaking bluntly about them will offend you.

On the other hand, Frank’s story is an appealing one that speaks to the reader of real life experiences that are rarely spoken of. I found myself intrigued by Frank’s character and I kept reading till the very end because I wanted to see how his life would turn out.

Frank is a farmhand, rancher, truck driver. He is Mormon but doesn’t act like it for the most part, although he thinks about it sometimes. He feels bad about making love to Marianne, his boss’s daughter, but that doesn’t stop him continuing to do it eventually; however he breaks up with her to live with his mother after his brother Jeremy cuts off his testicles, goes crazy and starts calling himself Alice. That event shakes Frank up into saying that he needs to “live his religion”. Later he finds out that she is pregnant and they end up getting married and even though they don’t like the idea at first they end up being a great couple and falling in love and she joins the Mormon Church.

Although this book has enough appeal that it can be read by anyone, only the LDS or “Mormon” reader can fully appreciate all of the insights into the Mormon experience which the book contains. There are quite a few thoughts expressed and doctrine that is only found in the LDS religion. There is also a lot of misunderstanding and incorrect application of those of those teachings, although that seems to get straightened out in the end.

It is interesting that Frank is introduced spiritually to the reader before he is described physically. He is introduced praying to God to allow Frank to be married to a girl that he likes who has gone away to school and informed Frank in a letter that she met someone else and will be getting married soon. We are told that “Frank would be lucky to inherit even the Telestial Kingdom. A fellow who belonged to the true church and who believed in God but wished he didn’t was in big trouble”. This theme is played out through the book as Frank makes his mistakes, feels guilty for them and tries to repent. He is also ignorant of what the real meaning of many of the teachings are, taking them to an extreme that makes his professed dislike for God understandable. However outrageous his conduct or observations may be, Frank Windham is a true believer, who accepts the divinity of the LDS faith in spite of himself. His primary issue is the nature of his relationship to his maker and whether he is doomed to perdition because of his sins.

On the whole Frank is a decent Mormon cowboy who struggles with his own sense of damnation and resentment towards God. The important exception is Frank’s negative view of his sexuality. He loves life and all of its carnal pleasures, but he is convinced that God condemns him for it. In an effort to atone for his sins, he tries to deny his earthly impulses, including eating appetizing foods and trying to limit his sexual activities with Marianne after they are married. He feels guilty for eating with relish, swearing, exceeding the speed limit, and even for not thinking about spiritual things for a few hours. His self-punishment reaches a climax when he considers “cutting himself off” like Jeremy/Alice did in order to keep himself pure.

He is saved when, in front of a bathroom urinal he has a vision of “Cowboy Jesus”.

The rider raised his eyebrows but he didn’t speak. I love the world,” Frank said, “I love my wife and my little kid that hasn’t been born yet and I love a big truck under me and I love sunrise out over the Escalante breaks and I love the sound of the diesels running the pumps in the middle of the night. That’s what I love. I hate God”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. Myself I love God.”

“I know you do.”

“Go on now.”

“There isn’t much more to say, except I scraped all the skin off the back of my hand. It’s in my mind to do the same as Jeremy did. Except when I cut myself off, there won’t be anybody around to stop the bleeding.”

“Why can’t you believe my blood was enough?” Jesus said. “Why do you have to shed yours too?”

“I don’t know.”

“There’s a lot of crazy in your family.”

“Yes, sir, I know it.”

“Cowboy Jesus” goes on to tell Frank that he should enjoy the time he has with Marianne, and that he doesn’t need to eat only bland foods or sell his truck and other earthly enjoyments. Jesus has paid the price in blood for Frank’s mistakes and wants him to live a happy life.

This revelation causes a shift in Frank’s thoughts and the story ends when he describes his experience to Marianne who really is the love of his life and they put aside all of Frank’s misguided thoughts about denying all of life’s pleasures.

There are lots of side stories with Frank’s jobs, his mother, a polygamist family, and Nathan the old ranch hand. Some of the side stories, however, seemed to me to detract from the story and felt sort of tacked on. For example some of Frank’s short trucking jobs, most notably a job that Frank suddenly had delivering bread that he actively advertised against buying. This did help point out that Frank liked to be honest, but this section of the story didn’t seem to fit as well as the rest.

 

Aspen Marooney, by Levi Peterson

Reviewed by Amelia Ence

In Aspen Marooney Levi Peterson explores the many forms of love in a unique way, set against the backdrop of an almost exclusively Mormon ensemble of characters. Peterson manages to show both the idealist and disillusioned versions of love in an exploration of all kind of love–physical, romantic, platonic, and familial.

Aspen and Durfey had a fling during their senior year (1951) which culminated in the summer with regular illicit encounters. Forty years later they return to their hometown for their high school reunion, each with their respective spouses, having never spoken to one another since that summer. Durfey tries to work through his still very active feelings for Aspen, Aspen struggles with whether or not to disclose the secret she’s kept since that summer, and both futilely try to keep their past relationship a secret from their classmates and the town. It would be pointless to give a blow by blow of the book, since each peek into the past and the hearts of the characters was so thoughtfully layered the whole meaning would be lost in a summary.

Durfey and Aspen are very interesting people. It was hard to read some of the things they did and feel what intense weakness and cowardice they had, but it is a testament to Peterson’s skill as a writer that he doesn’t condone what they did in the past or choose to do in the present but he makes what they do understandable from their perspective. Through them we experience the thrill of falling in love, the panic of reality crashing down, the guilt and pain that inevitably follows such acts. Durfey is a dreamer. As an adult he’s constantly dreaming of another life, always saying “I’m a farm boy at heart”, despite having been transplanted to California for the majority of his life. Unfortunately, the dreamer quality extends to dreaming of Aspen, constantly, always. It also leads to him believing the best of the people around him, which really doesn’t do him any favors. The whole time he’s with Aspen he believes that somehow they will actually, really and permanently be together. When she ends it and tells him to confess to his Bishop about what he’s done, he does it and has complete faith that she will do her part as well. After he gets married to Elaine he feel she has a right to know. He tells her “Aspen and I more or less lived as husband and wife that summer”, trusting that she will still trust him, trust his love for her. Instead from that point on its Elaine’s understanding that Durfey loved Aspen, and continues to love Aspen and only half of him loves her. And she’s not wrong.

If Durfey’s tragic flaw is being too trusting, Aspen’s is cowardice. Aspen was from a respectable family. She was raised to be a lady, but had her own wild side. She said of her upbringing, “brothers and sisters were supposed to pretend the entire world was neutered. They weren’t supposed to mention the private organs of either sex.” Durfey’s family was labeled “unrespectable”, apparently by Aspen’s mother. She fell in love with Durfey but was constantly backing out of a full blown relationship because her mother’s expectations. She broke things off with Durfey because of fear of disappointing her mother. She didn’t confess because she couldn’t risk her mother finding out. When she realized she was pregnant she married the first guy around, who was named Roger. The guilt and cowardice that build up inside her from keeping all these secretes for years and years leads to a very specific kind of suffering. “Sometimes when she had no satisfaction from a drink of water, Aspen knew it was confession she was thirsty for. She’d plan then on telling Roger very soon-next month maybe. For a day she’d really believe she’s do it. She knew half a dozen versions by heart, each an eloquent text. By now, of course, the original wrong was amplified by a thousand unseized opportunities. There was no logic in her silence. She knew Roger would forgive her”. She’s not afraid of Roger. She’s afraid of everyone else. She was afraid of public shame, her family knowing her wrongdoing. Her suffering is made even more tragic when it becomes obvious that the summer spent with Durfey was not a secret to the town or to her mother. Her secret had become her jail and her jail had become her identity.

The main themes of the book were love, sin and guilt. The setting of a small Mormon town was perfect for exploring these themes. Aspen and Durfey’s lives were used as counterpoint to each other to explore these themes. Both of them had pretty much given the best of their love to each other when they were teenagers, and while they were able to achieve a kind of respectful love for their spouses they never had that same kind of passionate love they had with each other. Maybe if they had married and lived ordinary daily life together their love would have transformed and cooled down. Either way their love never had a chance to mature and when they met again it was still very much there, begging the question that if they were still in love, still committing adultery in their hearts, was it even worth the struggle to be faithful to their spouses with their bodies?

Durfey confessed and repented of his sin so he was free to live his life without guilt, while Aspen chose not to. She is constantly full of guilt and unworthiness. She is not surprised –on the contrary, she expects it,when two of her children decide to leave her church. She views this and every other unpleasant experience in her life as punishment for her hiding her past sins.

Not much actually happened in the story, but the characters made up for the plot. Peterson switched perspective back and forth from Durfey to Aspen, and occasionally to their spouses. This made the slow story really interesting. It showed us each character’s fears and dreams. It was especially interesting to see things from their spouse’s perspective and to find out that they were more perceptive than Durfey or Aspen realized. This book didn’t seem like a story: it seemed real, so when the Durfey and Aspen met again and gradually had time alone together the emotions were palpable. It was almost hard to read, since it seemed so real.

There was a lot of unnecessary background that bogged the story down. It felt Peterson loved each character so much that even the most minor townsperson or 51’ alum got their own backstory, which was interesting in the moment but were ultimately tangential and weakened the overall arc of the story. If it was more tightly structured around Aspen and Durfey and their immediate families the ending would have been more impactful. As it was the ending was the weakest part of the story was the ending. It was a realist ending and fit well with the rest of the story, but it seemed the characters were in the exact same place as they were at the beginning. It was as if they were simply acting out the teenage fantasies and making the same choices they did in the first place. This was probably Peterson’s intent, to send some message about the uselessness of dreaming of second chances and what ifs, but it seemed a little self-defeating to write an entire book that would eventually lead right back to the beginning.

There were many layers to this book and to the characters, which definitely made it worth my time, but at the same time not all of it was enjoyable. The average Mormon reader will probably be put off by the choices made by the two main characters, while a person unacquainted with Mormon beliefs may be lost to the consequences or reasoning behind those choices. It’s for a very niche audience.