Bound On Earth part 2

This is a longer, more detailed review of Bound On Earth that I wrote for the Association of Mormon Letters:

Bound On Earth is a rarity among a lot of contemporary literature and especially among the sub-genre of LDS fiction. It is unlike many stories published in the annual O. Henry or Best American collections in its sense of compassion for the characters. Rather than portraying the Palmer family as a collection of freaks and walking dysfunctions as is so popular to do, the book shows the characters as flawed and difficult, humane and striving, sympathetic and, ultimately, deserving of compassion. This is not to say that each member of the family has some easy, trite heroic moment or epiphany. On the contrary, it is their ordinariness, their familiar every-day-ness that makes them so authentic and relevant. A reader won't feel as though he or she is looking at a display behind glass in a literary museum with this book. Readers will feel as though they are visiting home, sitting next to familiar siblings, friends, and relatives at the dinner table.

Rather than the cold, arm's-length distance one has come to expect from authors who seem only able to focus on dysfunction, betrayal, and emotional disaster and death, Hallstrom ably and realistically portrays real people with real struggles. She does it in a way that never insults the reader's intelligence or lets the characters off the hook. The humanity and compassion for its characters and, by extension, for its readers are what set Bound On Earth apart from most of what you can find on the New Fiction shelf these days.

What sets the book apart from a lot of LDS fiction has to do with what the book is not. It isn't any of the things that are normally conjured by the label of "LDS literature." It isn't historical fiction like The Work and The Glory, it isn't weepy stuff targeted at youth like Jack Weyland's stuff, it isn't a missionary narrative. Nor is it centered around someone's struggle with faith and the climax is all about whether or not the hero stays in the church.

The book is distinguished even from wonderful, classic LDS novels like The Backslider simply because it is contemporary. Hallstrom has written about Mormon life as it is right now. This isn't a reformulation of some glorious historic heritage nor is it a fossil of LDS culture from the past. These stories are finely crafted tales that both speak to and show the experience of being a Latter-Day saint in the late 20th and early 21st century.

It's not intellectually popular to talk too much about emotional involvement with a book. It's okay to talk about themes, motifs, possible interpretations, extra-textual connections, etc. but it's quietly, definitely frowned upon to to just talk about how much you love a particular character or event in a story. Too much emotion is unseemly in the academic world. Emotion isn't thought, it might be said.

Nevertheless, I've got to say that I loved this book and I loved these characters. I saw pieces of myself and my loved ones in them and that, I think, is a large part of why people read -- to know that we are not alone in the universe. Bound On Earth makes me feel like I am in good company.

Of everyone, I have to say that I have a bit of a literary crush on the character of Beth. She's the youngest daughter of the Palmer family and her narratives are the head, tail, heart, and funny bone of the book of the book. My heart about broke apart during her Sunday Story of her trying to help her mother around the house as a five year old and I laughed out loud while reading about her crush on her high school English teacher. Her struggles to love and forgive a damaged spouse later in her life struck me as utterly authentic.

It's a small book, just over 200 pages, but it is a substantial, worthwhile read that makes you feel as though you have met people, been places, and done things. It's well worth the small price to buy and ship it to your door.