Review of The Lost Book of Mormon by Avi Steinberg

The Lost Book of Mormon: A Journey Through the Mythic Lands of Nephi, Zarahemla, & Kansas City, Missouri by Avi Steinberg
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Length: 288 pages
Source: Publisher, through NetGalley

Avi Steinberg’s The Lost Book of Mormon is a tough book to characterize, a hybrid of memoir, travelogue, literary and cultural criticism, and humor. Steinberg, a non-Mormon, sets out on a journey, both literal and figurative, to explore some of the landscapes important in the Book of Mormon. Along the way, he considers the meaning of scripture as a kind of uber-fiction, and makes a case for treating the Book of Mormon as an important work of 19th century American literature. Steinberg’s book is thought-provoking, interesting, and even hilarious in parts, but contains perhaps a few too many distracting tangents.

The Story: In 1823, Joseph Smith, the son of a backwoods farmer, swore that a visiting angel told him to dig in a hill near his family’s farm in upstate New York. Smith dug, and allegedly found the hidden history of America engraved on a series of gold plates. Smith “translated” these gold plates from an ancient hieroglyphic language into English, and published this as the Book of Mormon in 1830. The book became instantly popular with an American public deeply fascinated by both Indian lore and treasure-hunting.

Steinberg, who grew up in both Israel and Cleveland, Ohio, describes himself as a lapsed Orthodox Jew and professes to a fascination with religious texts in general, and the Book of Mormon in particular. In The Lost Book of Mormon, Steinberg travels the path of the characters in Joseph’s Smith’s text, from Jerusalem to the ruined Mayan cities in Guatemala and southern Mexico, and Hill Cumorah in upstate New York.

At every location along his journey, Steinberg offers an analysis of Smith not as a religious prophet but as a writer, a “regular Joe” as Steinberg calls him, who wrote a story and then had the tremendous audacity to publish it not just as a work of fiction or nonfiction, but as a bible. To Steinberg, Smith should be considered as one of 19th century America’s literary giants along with Melville, Hawthorne, and Twain. His Book of Mormon, Steinberg argues, is a quintessential American literary epic with a picaresque hero, Nephi, who predates Melville’s Ishmael and Twain’s Huck Finn; perhaps it’s even the Great American Novel. And yet few literary and cultural critics have given serious consideration to Smith’s work.

My Thoughts: I confess to a strong fascination with Mormonism as a cultural phenomenon, although I’m not a Mormon myself. It’s hard not to be fascinated with a religion less than 200 years old, whose origins seem like something out of a science fiction tale. Therefore, I jumped at the chance to read a copy of this book for Nonfiction November.

And I did find The Lost Book of Mormon truly interesting. Steinberg writes movingly of his interest in Smith as a writer and of the process of writing itself, that amazing act of creation that brings to life the stories that become so important to us. Steinberg can be enormously funny, as well. The middle of the book is a long set piece about a bus tour of Mayan archeological sites, with Steinberg as the only non-believer among two large clans of Mormons; it had me laughing out loud and quoting lines to my somewhat bemused family.

The book, however, is a tad heavy on personal anecdotes. Steinberg deviates frequently into lengthy, sometimes meandering digressions that don’t add much to his argument about Smith’s place in American literature. The book is, sometimes, a bit of a glorious mess. Maybe it’s best to go into The Lost Book of Mormon without expecting too much of it as a work of literary or cultural criticism . . . Just let Steinberg take you on a strange and amusing journey, and enjoy the ride.

In the end, Steinberg is not very interested in whether the stories in the Book of Mormon—and by extension, ALL stories--are literally “true” or not. Instead, he’s concerned with what those stories tell us about ourselves, and how the tellers of those tales find their inspiration and bring the stories to life. “The world is full of buried books,” Steinberg tells us, and writers, like Joseph Smith with his gold plates, must unearth them and tell the tales for their readers. “They’re there. That’s no bullshit. Other people don’t need to believe in that, but if you want to be a writer, you do. You must have faith. The gold plates are real: every book is a translation of them.” As readers, let's hope that writers keep finding those gold plates of inspiration and telling us their wonderful tales.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration from the publisher, Nan A. Talese, through NetGalley.

Nonfiction November: My Year in Nonfiction

It's the first week of Nonfiction November! This is a project to celebrate great nonfiction books and to encourage book lovers to read nonfiction during the month of November, co-hosted by Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness, Katie at Doing Dewey, and Becca at I'm Lost in Books. I hemmed and hawed about participating, but you know what . . . I've already been commenting on other blogs about this, so I'm kinda involved. I might as well officially participate and link something to the Week 1 topic. Ok, so here goes . . .

What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?

I have been commenting all over the blogosphere that I only read ONE single, solitary nonfiction book this year . . . but looking back over my Goodreads account (good thing for that), I did read a few others. Um, whew. It turns out I read a whopping FOUR nonfiction books so far this year. I know, I know--you are blown away!! I will pause and let you recover.

Alright, so my favorite nonfiction read of this year, out of that overwhelming and impressive number, is the one I have just completed ....

And that would be Suki Kim's memoir of her year teaching in North Korea, Without You, There Is No Us. I just posted my review of this book yesterday, which you can find right here.

What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?

The nonfiction book I've recommended most over the past few years is probably Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken--although I think everyone in the entire world has read it now, so I can stop recommending it! Hooray, my work is done.

What is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven't read enough of yet?

I'd like to read more nonfiction about topics I don't know as much about--science, for example. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a great example of a nonfiction book about science that allowed me, as a non-scientist, to learn something new and push me out of my comfort zone as a reader. I'd love to hear some recommendations for other science books that I might try. I've heard many great things about On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss, so that ought to go on my list.

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

Well, primarily, to read a few more nonfiction books! Although I mostly read novels now, for pleasure and entertainment, I used to read plenty of academic history books. My degrees are in history, and long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I taught American history at the college level. I still enjoy reading history, but sometimes I have issues with history books written for popular audiences that aren't adequately researched or sourced, or that include too much speculation or conjecture (it's hard to let go of that professional training! No joke--it's like a curse).

Right now, I am reading Avi Steinberg's The Lost Book of Mormon: A Journey Through the Mythic Lands of Nephi, Zarahemla, and Kansas City, Missouri. Steinberg, a non-Mormon, traveled to the landscapes associated with the Book of Mormon, searching for clues about the Mormon holy books, and makes an argument for considering the Book of Mormon as an influential work of American literature. It's about as quirky as it sounds, and so far I'm enjoying it.

Two other nonfiction books I'd like to read soon are Jenny Nordberg's The Underground Girls of Kabul and Lives in Ruins: Archeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson. I'm in the queue at my library for these, so we'll see when I can get my hands on them, but they both sound terrific.

Thanks to Kim, Katie, and Becca for organizing Nonfiction November! I will look forward to reading many interesting posts over the next few weeks, and adding to my Toppling Tower of TBR.

Review of Certainty by Victor Bevine

Certainty by Victor Bevine
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Length: 358 pages
Source: Publisher, through TLC Book Tours

Synopsis from Publisher: When you’re fighting an injustice, can it be wrong to do what’s right? Inspired by the scandalous true story that shocked a nation at the close of WWI.

With America’s entry into World War I, the population of Newport, Rhode Island seems to double overnight as twenty-five thousand rowdy recruits descend on the Naval Training Station. Drinking, prostitution, and other depravities follow the sailors, transforming the upscale town into what many residents—including young lawyer William Bartlett, whose genteel family has lived in Newport for generations—consider to be a moral cesspool.

When sailors accuse a beloved local clergyman of sexual impropriety, William feels compelled to fight back. He agrees to defend the minister against the shocking allegations, in the face of dire personal and professional consequences. But when the trial grows increasingly sensational, and when outrageous revelations echo all the way from Newport to the federal government, William must confront more than just the truth—he must confront the very nature of good and evil. Based on real-life events, Certainty recalls a war-torn era when the line between right and wrong became dangerously blurred.

My Thoughts: In Victor Bevine’s novel Certainty, a civilian minister and a group of sailors are accused of sodomy by a special unit of Naval Intelligence in Newport, Rhode Island just after the end of World War I. The homophobia of that time comes as no great surprise, of course. What makes this book interesting is Bevine’s exploration of why these events occurred and how they played out in court in what came to be known as the Newport Navy Vice Scandal.

While I thought the case itself was fascinating, Certainty didn’t completely succeed for me as a novel. Many of the characters felt flat and undeveloped to me. Bevine portrayed the minister, Rev. Kent, as a man too good to be true; I would have found him to be a much more interesting character if he had a few believable flaws. William Bartlett, the young lawyer defending Rev. Kent, did not come alive for me as a character, either. The motivations of Chief Petty Officer Arnold, the homophobic leader of the unit pursuing the “fairies” (to use the term popular at the time), are murky, so he comes across as nothing more than a cardboard villain.

The most complex character in the novel is Charlie, one of the sailors who testifies in court against Rev. Kent. Bevine presents him as a young man on the make, an opportunist who always puts himself first, in his career in the Navy and in his relationship with Dottie, a local prostitute. Only Charlie really comes off the page as a fully developed, multi-dimensional character. I would have loved to read more about Charlie; to me, the sections of Certainty that focus on Charlie are the strongest and most nuanced parts of the novel.

Bevine indicates in his Author’s Note at the end of this novel that he first wrote about the Newport Navy Vice Scandal as a screenplay. I don’t know if there are plans in the works to produce Bevine's screenplay, but I think Certainty would work much better as a movie or TV mini-series than as a novel. As I read the book, I kept thinking to myself that I could see each chapter enfolding as a scene in a movie; the narrative structure really felt more like a screenplay than a novel. I would love to see a well-produced movie based on the events detailed in Certainty.

I would rate Certainty a 3 out of 5 stars. Despite my criticisms of the novel, I do think the topic is interesting and worthwhile, and many readers would enjoy the story.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Lake Union Publishing through TLC Book Tours. Thank you to TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to participate in the blog tour for this book. You can visit the other stops on the Certainty tour at the official tour site here.

About Victor Bevine: For over thirty years, Victor Bevine has worked as an actor, screenwriter, audio book narrator, director, and more. A graduate of Yale University, his acting credits include many prestigious roles onstage as well as roles in the film version of A Separate Peace and countless television shows. He has read over one hundred and eighty titles as an audiobook narrator; in 2010, he received an Audiophone Award for his narration of the Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Beak of the Finch. He has written several screenplays, including Certainty, which was chosen for two prestigious writers’ conferences and which served as the basis for his first novel. His thirty-minute short film Desert Cross, which he wrote and directed, won accolades at the Athens International Film Festival. Currently, he serves as CEO of the World Freerunning Parkour Federation (WFPF), of which he is co-founder. He resides in New York City.

Review of Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim

Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Publication Date: October 14, 2014
Length: 285 pages
Source: My own copy

Without You, There Is No Us is journalist/novelist Suki Kim’s interesting memoir about the year she spent teaching at a college in North Korea. North Korea, of course, is one of the most closed societies of modern times, and Kim’s book sheds light on the strangeness of that world under dictator Kim Jong-il. Without You . . . is a fascinating and intensely personal account of life in an intimidating and repressive regime.

Kim, who was born in South Korea but moved to the US as a young teen, posed as a Christian missionary in order to get a job teaching at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). During most of the year 2011, Kim taught English to the privileged sons of the North Korean upper class—young men likely to become the future leaders of the country.

As a teacher at PUST, Kim had the deeply disorienting experience of giving up her own personal freedoms. She was kept a virtual prisoner on the university grounds, with her movement on and off campus tightly controlled, for example. Kim had to provide each lesson plan for review, and felt under constant surveillance by the “minders” provided by the regime. At the same time, Kim kept up the charade that she was an evangelical Christian, because PUST is funded, in large part, by Korean-American Christian churches. Kim operated, in a sense, like a spy, secretly taking notes for this book and hoping that no one—either the North Koreans or the missionaries at PUST—would unmask her true identity as a journalist.

Kim found her young North Korean students to be bright and enthusiastic, and yet oddly uninterested in learning about life outside of their own country. The students had been brainwashed all of their young lives into believing that North Korea was the best and most powerful nation in the world. At a university for science and technology, these students were unaware of the Internet—and Kim, frustratingly, was not allowed to tell them. It is sobering, indeed, to think of these young men as the future of North Korea. They seem quite unlikely to question the regime or stage protests for democracy, as young people have done in other regions of the world.

Kim’s book will no doubt anger the regime of Kim Jong Un, the son of Kim Jong-il and the current leader of North Korea, as well as the leadership of PUST. Kim changed the names of PUST staff and students so that they would not suffer reprisals from the regime. She notes that, although her book will cause waves in North Korea, she felt obligated “to tell the stark truth” about what she witnessed, “in the hopes that the lives of average North Koreans, including my beloved students, will one day improve.”

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Without You, There Is No Us. As a reader very interested in the topic, I would have appreciated a bit more background on PUST itself and its funders, as well as, perhaps, a chapter at the end of the book with Kim’s thoughts on the new leader of the North Korea, Kim Jong Un. Nevertheless, this is an unsettling and powerful account of life in a frightening and restrictive world, and I do recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about North Korea.

It's Monday, November 3 . . . What Are You Reading?

Good morning, readers. Hope everyone had a great Halloween! I'm posting again on this weekly bookish meme hosted by Sheila at Bookjourney.

Last week I posted reviews of these books:

The Book of Strange New Things is Michel Faber's new novel, just released last week. It's a really interesting, genre-bending mashup of literary and science fiction. You can see my review here. And Stone Mattress: Nine Tales is Margaret Atwood's new collection of short stories, published earlier this fall. Check out my review here.

Also last week, I posted my October 2014 Reading Wrap-Up. And I also posted some discussion questions on the novel Ghost Horse by Thomas H. McNeely, which I recently reviewed on this blog; you can read those discussion questions here.

Currently, I am reading this book . . .

I'm enjoying David Nicholls' new novel Us, the story of a man trying to keep his family together as they embark on a Grand Tour of Europe the summer after his son graduates from high school. It's very interesting, and somewhat different from what I expected . . . the jury's still out, but I'm glad I selected this as my next read.

Over the weekend, I started playing around with Edelweiss. I've been a bit intimidated by this site, but I knew that it was time for me to start using it, so I finally bit the bullet and registered. I've been learning how to browse the catalogues, tag books I'm interested in, and request review copies. I got help, thank goodness, from tutorials posted by Shannon at River City Reading and Monika at A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall. I'm still learning the ropes, but I can see what a great resource Edelweiss can be for learning about upcoming titles. So, I'm just curious--are you registered on Edelweiss, and if so, do you find it helpful? Do you use it for information or requesting digital ARCs, or both?

Well, here is something kinda funny . . . I realized that I have passed a couple of milestones as a blogger: my 100th post and 6 months of blogging. I was so busy reading and blogging that I didn't really notice those milestones go by; I think I was supposed to celebrate them! Well, um . . . Hooray! I am still learning as I go, and I know that I have so much I can still improve upon . . . but it's been a lot of fun, and I'll keep plugging away. I love the community of fellow book lovers I've discovered, and I'm becoming aware of so many wonderful books through blogging (more, now, than I can possibly read!). I really appreciate all the support I've received from others in the blogging community. As always, thanks so much for reading this blog and for your comments!

What's on your reading agenda for this week?

October 2014 Reading Wrap-Up

October was an excellent reading month for me, I'm happy to say! After experiencing a hellacious Reading Slump earlier in the year, I don't take a good reading month for granted anymore. Nope--instead now I know to be very grateful to the Reading Gods! Here are the books I read in the past month:

Here are the titles, with links to my reviews if I've posted them yet:

Rainey Royal by Dylan Landis

How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

Some Luck by Jane Smiley

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim

Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes

Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Certainty by Victor Bevine (review to come on Nov. 5 as part of a blog tour for TLC Book Tours)

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood

Reunion by Hannah Pittard

Eleven books in one month . . . I couldn't get the twelfth in?! Seriously, this may be some kind of a personal record for me (well, that is, if I don't include college and graduate school. Eleven books read strictly for pleasure and not because they were assigned--that would be the record). I'm certainly reading at a faster pace since I started blogging. I don't know if that's because I feel like I should read more to add content to the blog, or if it's simply because through blogging I have become aware of-- and have access to--so many great books!

And my favorite book for the month of October? These were all good reads, so that is a tough question. But I'm going to say Some Luck by Jane Smiley, which I found to be a very satisfying and engrossing family saga.

I hope October was a great reading month for you as well. Onward to November, intrepid readers!

Some Discussion Questions on Ghost Horse by Thomas H. McNeely

Last week I posted a review of the novel Ghost Horse, by Thomas H. McNeely. Published this fall by a small, indie publishing house called Gival Press, Ghost Horse is a gripping and intense book about a young boy coming of age in 1970s Houston as his family falls apart. It is a compelling story that unsettled me at times, but I suspect will stay with me--and I recommended it for readers who love literary fiction and complex family stories. You can read my review here. I had the opportunity to read this novel through a blog tour at TLC Book Tours.

The author of Ghost Horse, Tom McNeely, was kind enough to stop by my blog and comment on my review. He left some discussion questions for readers of the novel, and I thought I would highlight them here. I do think that Ghost Horse would provide plenty of conversation topics for book clubs or reading groups, and I know from my own experience with book clubs that some thoughtful, guided questions can help generate deeper discussion among the group members. Here, then, are Tom's suggested questions:

Ghost Horse concerns a family in the 1970s which is breaking up in a divorce. How do you think divorce affects children in families? How do you think attitudes toward divorce have changed since the seventies? Do you think it is easier or harder for children of divorce now?

In Ghost Horse, three boys vie with each other to control a home-made movie that takes many shapes. How do you see children today using media to connect, and sometimes to harm each other, as in various cyber-bullying cases? Do you think children see themselves and their relationships differently because of their exposure to media today?

Ghost Horse explores the effects of class and racial tension in Houston, Texas, in the 1970s. How do you think attitudes toward race and class have changed in America since that time? Do you see a greater or lesser distance between races and classes now or then?

Thought-provoking questions, indeed, for a thought-provoking novel.

I'd like to add a few discussion questions of my own for readers of Ghost Horse. Here they are:

Children, of course, are greatly affected by their parents' attitudes towards other family members. They can overhear conversations they aren't meant to overhear, and misunderstand adult situations. As a parent, have you struggled with this? Have your children ever overheard a fight between you and your spouse, or a fight among other adult family members? Have you tried to temper your attitude toward other family members for the sake of your children?

On this same theme, children often mimic the actions of their parents. In Ghost Horse, do you think that both Buddy and Simon re-enact some of the actions of their fathers? How so?

What do you think Buddy will be like as an adult? How do you think the experiences related in the book will affect him as a father, if he chooses to have children? How can parents who have endured difficult childhoods leave those experiences behind in their own relationships with their children?

Please feel free to leave any comments, whether you've read Ghost Horse or not. And if you have read the novel, feel free to suggest additional discussion questions.