Title: The Book of Laman
Author: Mette Harrison
Publisher: BCC Press
Year Published: 2017
Genre: Historical/scripture-based novel
(Reviewed by Rebecca Bateman)
I’ve followed Mette on Twitter for a couple of years, and I’ve always been impressed with her ideas and perspective.
When I heard that she had written a book that provided a different perspective to the storyline of the Book of Mormon, as first told by the rather self-righteous and oft annoying Nephi, I was excited to see how she would approach it.
Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed in this retelling. I felt that it read like a young adult fiction (of which I am generally not a fan, so take that into account). The characters lacked depth and the descriptions felt anachronistic, like the author took for granted that these peoples from 600 BC would have the same religious structures, as well as the same colloquialisms and relationship behaviors that we have today. I sensed that she didn’t do much by way of researching cultural standards of the time.
As it was published by a smaller organization, I shouldn’t critique it as harshly, but I found many errors that an editor should have caught.
I would have liked it to have a similar tone and style as The Book of Mormon, that would have perhaps existed had Laman also kept his own record. I would have liked to see real application of Jewish law and standards of the time. This would have required more than I think this author was prepared to give, as she simply wanted to provide a new alternative for others to imagine. This idea had the potential of being an outstanding alternative guide for reasoning that scripture, while inspired by God, is still written by men (I won’t go into the lack of women writing scripture), who each have motivations, biases, and failings.
There were moments that definitely gave me pause and opened up a better understanding of how it might have been in the original story. For example, I gained a new appreciation for Nephi’s energies in building a boat to cross over to the Promised Land.
A Mormon who enjoys YA fiction might enjoy this book. It didn’t meet my hopes for it.
*Side Story:
I ordered my copy from Amazon, and it didn’t show up for weeks. When I finally got ahold of someone in customer service, it was a man somewhere in South Asia, and I could tell he was very intrigued with the book. He kept asking me, “Is this a religious book?” I surmised he had somewhere been exposed to the Book of Mormon and recognized the name or cover image. I responded, “Well, it’s based off of a religious text, but this is NOT a religious book. It’s just a fictional story.” He kept insisting, “But it’s a religious book!” He was adamant about this, so I finally said, “Yes.”
Rebecca worked in the Utah State House of Representatives, helped to organize the 2015 Parliament Of World Religions, and is currently the Executive Director for LDS Earth Stewardship. She spends her spare time with interfaith work, mentoring a refugee family, and serving on the Board of the Golden Rule Project.