Lonely Polygamist - Softcover

Brady Udall

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099498030 ISBN 13: 9780099498032

Publisher: Vintage Books, 2011

Synopsis

Golden Richards is a normal dad. But with four wives and twenty eight children there just isn't enough of him to go around. Unbeknownst to his wives, Golden has taken a construction job on a Nevada brothel. Lying to cover his tracks, beset by familial rivalry on all sides, he seeks relief in the arms of his boss's wife.To put it simply this is the story of a polygamist who has an affair. But there is much more to it than that. Generous, wise and moving The Lonely Polygamist is a bittersweet tale of family, love and belonging.

About this title

Review:

Amazon Best Books of the Month, May 2010: EmNephiHelamanNaomiJosephinePaulineNovellaParleyGale... When times get tense--and they often do--for Golden Richards, the title patriarch of Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist, he turns to a soothing chant of the names, in order, of his 28 children. (It's also practical, when he needs to sort out just which toddler is showing him a scab, and which teen is asking if he can come to her 4-H demo.) While Big Love seeks the inherent soap opera in a man with many wives, Udall finds the slapstick: Golden's houses are the sort of places where the dog is often wearing underwear and a child or two likely isn't. But Udall doesn't settle just for jokes (though the jokes are excellent). Golden may be hapless, distracted, and deceitful, but he is large-hearted and so is his story. There's menace and more than a full share of tragedy there, as well as unabashed redemption and a particular sympathy for the loneliest members of this crowded family. With a fresh and faultless ear for American vernacular, Udall's big tale of beset manhood effortlessly earns its comparisons to tragicomic family classics from The Corrections to John Irving. --Tom Nissley

About the Author:

Brady Udall is the author of Letting Loose the Hounds, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, an international bestseller, and the newly released The Lonely Polygamist. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Playboy, GQ and Esquire, and his stories and essays have been featured on National Public Radio's This American Life. He teaches in the MFA program at Boise State University, and lives in Boise, Idaho and Teasdale, Utah with his wife and children. His great-great grandfather, David King Udall, was a polygamist. His second wife, Ida Hunt Udall, was his great-great grandmother.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0099498030
• ISBN 13: 9780099498032
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 599