For most of us, the concept of polygamy is an abhorrent, unrelatable one. Shows like “Big Love” or “Sister Wives” did little to erase the absolute revulsion we feel about the practice. Of course, most American citizens far removed from the Utah state border uphold little to no familiarity with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and even less with its ultra-authoritarian counterpart, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. “The Lonely Polygamist” offers a brief glimpse into this world.
Golden Richards is a prominent Utah businessman, a prominent member of his Church, and has four wives, twenty eight children, a faithful dog and an epic midlife crisis. Udall’s novel forces readers to contend for its 600 pages with two dissonant stories: the exceptional tale of an exceptional family, part of a phenomenon so minuscule and remote a part of American society as to be freakish, known only by lurid headlines torn from the news; and, more conventionally, the story of a family man’s burnout, temptation and redemption. This family man just happens to have four nuclear families, which makes his midlife crisis and ensuing affair a little more complicated than most. Divinely provided male dominance seems irrelevant in a society that seems to be ruled by its women, starting with the “algebraic formula” set at the Summit of the Wives to determine the bed rotation of the husband. Mothers have the sole right to name their children and make their own home, with the result that the father has, as it were, no room of his own.
Constantly fleeing and hiding from the demands and power plays of his wives and a melee of kids in three different houses, fighting to revive his failing construction business, deeply wounded by grief and guilt over the accidental death of a daughter and the still-birth of a son, he finds himself attracted to another woman who clearly needs help and attention but is precisely the wrong person for him to be seeing. Apart from Golden, the narrative most often inhabits the minds of Rusty, a troubled 11-year-old lost in the pack, and Trish, the fourth and youngest wife. We get plenty of back stories along the way: the origins of Golden’s father Royal, the courtship of his first wife Beverly, critical past moments in the history of this odd, sprawling family.
The book is often touching and hilarious. Despite his transgressions, Golden is a sweet, often bewildered, somewhat pathetic man trying to do his best. Trish is well-drawn and relatable, but it is Rusty who steals the show. I challenge any reader to get through this book without tears and without wishing you could give Rusty a much-needed hug. Bottom line: Udall succeeds in making the sprawling Richards family and their many struggles (some of them tragic) seem familiar, even in their oddity.
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