Joanna BrooksReseñas

Okay... This was brilliant. Equiano (Vassa?) is an utterly fascinating historical figure and man, and his story is thrilling. Sold into slavery as a child, Equiano, by the providence of God, was spared the brutality of North American farm labor and consequential obscurity. Bought by a smattering of high-ranking British captains, Equiano was taught to read, allowed to practice Christianity, and generally live a very free life (not counting some particularly bad owners), eventually buying his freedom and continuing his journey around the world. He charts his adventures traveling the world, the many injustices he must encounter, and the Christianity that was his bedrock. You just feel with him.

There is a lot of heartbreak in this account. How could there not? One thing I will recognize informs my high esteem of this story is the religious tone it uses. Equiano was what we'd call a true believer, and it's one more layer of interesting given the broader imperialism of Christianity. I implore the less religiously inclined to not fault him; I think it is incredibly dehumanizing to question this too much. His Christianity gave him strength, gave him a strong moral compass to battle for the abolition of the slave trade, and allowed him many great connections in a world where being black could be so tenuous. His Christianity was truly beautiful and made me yearn for church once more—Crazy how good, upstanding people can convert, no?

On a side note, the more I read 18th-century writing, the more I really think the period of the 1770s-1790s was the pinnacle of the written English word. The command of language Equiano employs is exquisite and commanding, and really quite arresting when relaying his life. It's a bit similar to how Du Bois' utilizes language a century later—both men show the "mental faculties" so many suppose they can't have on account of their skin.

Anyway, I can't recommend this enough. It's just... amazing. Equiano is a fascinating man caught between two worlds, and while his 18th-century Britishness can raise an eyebrow sometimes, it illustrates the breadth of thought of the period. I just spent an hour on York University's webpage about him, and I can't get enough. Ah!

Olaudah Equiano (?-1707) was kidnapped from his home in Nigeria in 1745, brought to Virginia on a slave ship,
then sold to a British Naval Captain. They sailed to England where Olaudah went to school in London.

Captain then sold him to a Quaker and he bought his freedom.

During his life he was over and over betrayed by his former maste and other white menr as they traveled the ocean and back

He submitted his written Narrative to the Queen.

He worked hard to abolish slavery, describing to all who would listen in England
all that he had witnessed of the
"...tortures, murders, and every other imaginable barbarity..."

(Still not sure why he never learned to swim when he spent so much of his life at sea.)½

I was looking for more than this book offered. I was 100 pages into it (of a total of 203 pages) before she even made any reference to why she has dissented from the ranks of Mormonism. She didn't give a lot of understanding into the why of Mormon but just stated facts leaving me still boggled as to the reasoning behind some of the restrictions, preferences, etc. I just felt it was juvenile writing.

So much of this book resonated with me, and as I read, I regretted not being more informed while I was at BYU--because Ms. Brooks and I were there, in the same department, at the same time, and I had zero awareness of what was going on. Really enjoyed reading stories of the ongoing process of how she makes peace with her faith. Made me feel less alone in my own process.

I liked the book...
Unlike some other readers (Mormon) I actually really did not enjoy the first few chapters. It was sort of painful to plow through her writing style. At the "Files" chapter it started picking up and I really like the rest of the book. I have read other things she has written and they are more like articles which work better (I think).
Of course, I have had different experiences and similar experiences. I disagree in someways and agree in others. I relate to many of her experiences and appreciate her honestly. So...for me, I really enjoyed reading about her journey and her struggles and thoughts but the writing style I just didn't love :)

I'm usually intrigued by memoirs of the post-religious style, and I was a bit surprised to find myself not all that interested in this story. Joanna writes of a background similar to the fundamentalist Christian -- raised as a conservative, home-bound, modest young girl, but I did not find her narrative style to be particularly engaging.

A moving slave narrative, a heartfelt confession of faith, a thought-provoking historical record, and a seafaring adventure story all in one. It gets a little slow at times due to the period language, but it's a thoroughly absorbing read.

insider's description of Mormonism. The view from a young girl growing up in the 1970s. Sees the good and the bad. Touching

This was a really compelling read. Though I don't think this is Brooks's best writing, Alex and her story draw you in and don't let you go. Two days of few breaks. What hit me the hardest was realizing that Alex is younger than I am. I knew this was a recent story, but I've read a lot of memoirs and they are all by people older than me, so that was the mindset I was reading this book with. But no. She's about the age of my younger brother. This was just a couple years ago, and conversion therapy is still very much a thing in Utah.

LGBT issues are divisive within the Mormon church. Alex wrote her story mostly for kids like her who know deep down that they're not broken, but this book also has the potential to soften some hearts. There is power in listening to the stories of individuals we lump into general groups. I was impressed with the charity Alex had toward her parents' beliefs and where those beliefs came from. While I'm sure hurt and anger were and probably still are there, she doesn't blame her parents. She stresses how important it was for them to believe in a plan where everything would be alright in the end. When Alex didn't fit that plan, her parents had to find a way to make things right. Letting go of the plan you have clung to for your whole life is hard and painful, and it's easier to try to get the people you love to fit back into the plan; after all, they used to fit, they can fit again. Throughout the book Alex does an excellent job of understanding and helping the reader understand her parents' worldview. This is an important read.

Minor nitpick: I can't stand the click-bait-y subtitle.

Interesting book, autobiography of a lesbian Mormon teenager whose parents sent her away to be "cured". Well-written, her experience is unimaginable to this straight WASP, and an indictment of so-called religious values. I know my Bible pretty well, and cannot think of an instance when this sort of thing was embraced by Jesus. -- While Alex did get out of her situation, I do wish she had done something to prevent other children from going what she went through, by testifying to prosecute the people who tortured her.½

There are so many reasons why this is such an important book and story!
I have such an emotional attachment to Alex's story being from Utah and having grown up involved in the Mormon religion. While I personally didn't face any of her circumstances I know people who have to some degree. It's so important for people to hear her story and to understand that this IS happening!
It's important too, to understand that there can be a happy ending. For anyone who may be going through feelings of doubt, shame, or suicide because they are LGBTQ, in a religious and unaccepting family, please read this book along with any other story you can get your hands on of survivors! It gets better, and that's why Alex told her story! Not only to shine a light on the abuse and torture of conversion therapy, but to also show people that it can get better!
I hope that this book makes its way into so many peoples hands! People in the LDS faith who may not quite understand LGBTQ, people struggling to accept their homosexuality, parents with homosexual children, and anyone else.
Thank you Alex for sharing your story, however hard it must have been to relive your horrible circumstances.

Amazing. There was a part of me that was hoping this book would change how I feel about some things, and it didn't. But the book is one every Mormon should read, and I'm so glad I finally did. Joanna's experience as a Mormon kid was very different from mine, but there are elements any Mormon will be able to understand, and what she has to say about them is absolutely essential. As something more personal and immediately relevant, this book is a must-read for Mormons; as a fascinating, deeply insightful and moving memoir, it's a must-read for everyone else.

Are all autobiographies and memoirs now required to be vague? First Unorthodox, and now this. Both books were written by intelligent women who had something to say and then spent half the book refusing to say it.

Look: If I'm reading your story, it's because I want to hear your story. So tell it, already.

If you're a Mormon and a feminist, what does that mean to you? What does feminism mean in the context of Mormonism? You mention that when you were growing up in the Mormon church, twelve-year-old boys got the priesthood and girls got a Marie Osmond beauty manual. You mention the fact that men get the power of the priesthood and women have "the gift of motherhood." You claim that Mormon married women are never supposed to work outside the home (though I've known plenty who do and see no contradiction between paid employment and their faith). And then you stop talking. What does all that mean to you?

You talk about what the church tells girls about sex and sexuality, and hint at flashbacks of sexual abuse. Then you talk about meeting a terrific non-Mormon guy and marrying him. That's it? Was it hard for you to become a fully realized sexual being? Have you managed that, in fact? Did getting close to you in every sense require a lot of patience on his part? If you don't want to talk about sex, fine; but if you tell me a story about getting felt up in a car as a teenager and then having to confess to your bishop and feeling really weird about the fact that the whole time you felt nothing at all, you've made me want to know when (or that) everything clicked for you in that department.

You talk about being terrified of being excommunicated by the Mormon church for your writing, your activism, and your feelings. Maybe that's why so much of this book seems so vague. If you don't give too many specifics, you can't get in too much trouble.

I'm not sure that's a tenable philosophy.

Five stars for the historical importance and the first nine chapters, which are gripping.

Joanna Brooks grew up a good Mormon girl in Orange County, CA. She identified deeply with the tenets of her faith and joyfully reveled in its celebration. Wanting nothing more than to grow into a good Mormon wife with a strong Mormon husband and an absurd number of children in a blue Econoline van, she was unfortunately confronted with the discriminatory and almost cruel practices of her church's hierarchy. As a pacifist, feminist, and egalitarian, she has struggled with church doctrine and feared excommunication for a large portion of her life. Somehow, she has come to terms with her faith and found a way to remain a believer in Mormonism without giving in to repression or losing her religion. Her story is well-written, thoughtful, inspiring and hopeful.
I would, however, like to know how her dog came to be a pagan Episcopalian, something she mentions briefly in one of the last chapters.

Though not Mormon, I read this book wanting to find out more about the life of one raised Mormon. Her childhood experiences, particularly being the only root-beer in a sea of cokes, was interesting. However, I felt more could have been written on her experiences at BYU and beyond, towards the end, it felt a little lacking. However, I still enjoyed reading this book, particularly for the "insider's" testimony of being LDS and the struggles one faces in faith.

As a librarian, I was given a digital galley of this title. I am very grateful to the publisher for making this available to me.

This is a wonderful book for our library collection. I have read several books by former Mormons. They have not been entirely complementary. It is great to have a book that can explain the wonderful parts of this controversial religion.

I really related to what Joanna Brooks had to say. I have had so many heroes turn out to be flawed. She had this in spades with her religion. She is able to share with us her way of cherishing the wonderful parts while working to change the bad. I am grateful to Ms Brooks for having the courage to share her journey.

I was in two minds whether to write a review of this book or just to leave the notes that engendered such a discussion in the comments. They are encased in spoilers at the end now. The comments are quite good as one Mormon defended the Church's policy of considering supporters of equality for women as an excommunicable sin by discussing its irrelevance in her own life.

If this review looks like it goes on a bit too much (it does, more than a bit too, I know, mea culpa), then head on down to the last bit, the paragraph that starts with a * and if you know anyone that applies to please let me know in the comments. Jews please read that paragraph with chin propped on hand otherwise if it falls open you might catch flies and they aren't kosher.

The book details the author's childhood growing up in a home where [b:Marie Osmond's Guide to beauty, health, and style|1964066|Marie Osmond's Guide to beauty, health, and style|Marie Osmond|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|1967167] seems more important a guide for girls than any other book, sacred or otherwise. The dominant theme might be such a scene as sitting on the sofa eating a (typical Mormon) dessert of prezels, Jello, Cool-Whip and sugar watching Little House on the Prairie, while Mom sits up late at night researching names of dead people to baptise into the Church so that they might... well not quite sure on that. This is not a review about Mormonism, but about the book.

Throughout this first, childhood, section and also the second, teenage and college years, there is a dominant theme of finding the right man to marry. This is tremendously important because a woman cannot get to the highest part of heaven unless she is married to a Mormon man in the Temple. Eternal life depends on a husband pulling his wife through the veil of this life, and life everlasting. And he doesn't have to.
Better do exactly what he wants.

There is discussion of polygamy (a practice that only ended for the mainstream Church when it became a condition of Statehood for Utah). The girls are taught that because there are more 'good' Mormon girls than boys, there will always be a shortage of husbands to take women into heaven, so that a good, believing girl, will not want to deprive another woman of the eternal life, and so will allow her husband to have more than one wife. So what are the boys up to that they are so naughty? Quite a clever justification for letting a man have a harem of some kind to bear his children, clean his home and warm his bed.

"The most important thing for a woman in this life is to be the wife of a worthy priesthood holder and the mother of his children." - Boyd K. Packer. 2/2/2012, LDS Worldwide Training Meeting

There was one 'training session' for girls that stood out. A rose was passed from hand to hand. At the end the moderator said what would you rather, the fresh, unsullied rose, or this faded, crumpled one that has been in so many hands? It is a sin for a girl to be touched, no one will want her, not even the boys her touched her and then called her slut 'a sullied rose'. In common with most other religions, it is her fault that she got so used. When men make the rules, men are not going to put blame on themsselves.

At college, although she is still looking for 'the one', examining each male that comes into her line of vision wondering if he is going to be her husband for all eternity and that they might one day aspire to their own world to run as gods with all the spirit children who were her real children on this earth. All children are spirits in heaven waiting for a body so it is a woman's duty to bear as many children as she can and to devote her life to looking after them and her husband. But the author falls in with the feminists and gays and understands that they aren't asking for heaven and earth, they just want the same rights and freedoms that straight men take for granted. And the gays would so like to marry.

One thing leads to another and as the Church raises millions to fight and defeat California's legalisation of gay marriage, she fights for it. She becomes involved in feminism and when six members of the Church - the women all feminists, the men all supporters of feminism and critical of the authoritarianism of the Church leaders - are excommunicated, much as she loves the Church in her heart, in her practice she moves away from it. She writes stories of her experiences and receives much hate mail but also positive letters from gays and feminists and their supporters.

She marries a secular Jew, raises her kids in two faiths and never comes to terms with the Church's denial of equality for women and non-tolerance of homosexuals. She doesn't get into abortion and only touches fairly briefly on the extreme racism of the Mormons until recently.

*There is only one bit of the book I HATED and thought this is absolute egregious anti-semitism, it is truly nasty. But I thought how can she be happily married to a Jewish guy and still believe this? Did he tell her it as a joke and hasn't had the heart to disabuse her of her serious take on it? Has she never met another Jew? In the Caribbean we get lots of Mormon missionaries. I had two in my shop a few years back. I said I was Jewish and one of them looked at me like he was going to feel my head for horns. He said I've never met a Jew before (in the tones of 'I've never seen a cockroach up that close before'). The other Mormon shut him up in a very embarrassed way and they left. Sure he has seen many Jews, but we haven't got horns, so you can't tell. I don't look like Hitler's and the Arabs' caricatures of Jews, I'm red-headed with green eyes and a rather ordinary nose. But I'm still one of them!

*This is what she writes (talking about her husband) going to some Mormon prayers with her and their children: He stifles his sneezing and itching whenever the subject of Jesus arises, because he, like most Jewish people, has inherited something of a Jesus allergy, developed collectively over the last two thousand years."

Well I don't know about you, but I've never read such unbelievable shite in my entire life. My preference in music at the moment is Gregorian chants and the religious Masses of the Congo and I swear, I swear to you that I don't take an antihistamine before playing it.

I feel like knocking the book down to minus 75 stars for that, but hey, hopefully it was just a joke, right?

These are the notes I wrote when I was reading it that engendered the very many comments below. I was sailing today trying to distract myself from the rough sea and high winds by reading this book. I got so involved I failed to notice a huge wave coming right at me, although everyone else did. It was like having a bucket of cold sea water flung at me. Someone gave me some paper towels so while I wiped my shades and generally fussed around, I failed to notice the second wave. And that did for the book. It's drying out now.

I did get to the tampon bit though. Very amusing. Perhaps the only amusing thing I've read in the book so far. Or at least the only intentionally amusing thing. The first chapters of the book concentrating rather a lot on people being decaffeinated, as in Marie Osmond's glowing noncaffeinated complexion, were very amusing.

Reading about how she married a Jewish guy and thinking that
I have Mormon friends, they are all far, far more exclusive than any of my Jewish family/friends. My Jewish ones think if you've found the right person and you marry them and they aren't Jewish, well, there you go, that's what happens. My Mormon ones are much, much more upset. I think it is because there isn't a Jewish heaven to get to and the Mormons would be condemning themselves irredeemably to a lesser eternal life with no possibility of promotion to godhood and their own planet to rule.

The Book of Mormon Girl: a memoir of an American Faith is a fascinating look into the life of a woman who grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus – Christ of Latter Day Saints. While this book is not an exhaustive look into the Mormon Faith, nor a book of literary non- fiction, it is very readable and interesting. At times it is quite profound, causing me to look at my faith in a different light. I certainly recommend this book as way to learn a great deal about the Mormon Faith.
Joanna Brooks grows up in a devout Mormon home, gladly embracing the tenets of her faith as well as belonging to a rather closed society. She is so enthused about her faith, she cheerfully follows “ Marie Osmond’s Guide to Beauty, Health and Style.” As Johanna hits her mid –teens, “object lessons” are taught to the girls on the importance of remaining chaste until marriage. This portion of the book proved very eye –opening for me, as did the very patriarchal belief system within the Mormon faith.

Polygamy is touched on lightly in the memoir as Joanna asks “Will there be polygamy in heaven?” p. 87. As Joanna observes on page 88 “But if indeed the rule that you had to be married to go to heaven, and if there were (as all appearances suggested ) so many more righteous woman than men in the world, would I refuse to share my husband , even if it meant keeping a sister out of heaven?” On the same note, Joanna remarks “ Our whole Mormon world was organized into domains of the male and female.”

Joanna begins to question her faith in her adolescence and later on at Brigham Young University, as she is exposed to the works of Mary Wollstonecraft (an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights) as well as those of Virginia Woolf. At this time, around 1993, several feminist Mormon’s are excommunicated from the church. Joanna finds herself at odds with the Mormon beliefs in this area and exiles herself from both the Mormon Church and her family. After much soul searching, Joanna eventually meets and marries a Jewish man named David , and they have two children together. Joanna and David acknowledge and accept each other’s faith, but the book does not offer an extensive look into inter-faith marriage.

After Joanna’s beloved Mormon grandmother passes away, Joanna returns to her family home and her Mormon church with her daughters and finds that she is welcomed with open arms by her family and is welcome in the Mormon church, though her service there is restricted. Shortly after Joanna returns to the Mormon Church, she once again finds herself at odds with the Mormon Church. As Mormons and many other faiths organize against gay marriage in a vote in California in 2000, Joanna finds herself supporting and working for marriage equality. Still, she retains much of her faith.

A thoughtful and interesting book, Joanna ends her memoir sitting with her young daughters as they snuggle together watching a DVD copy of “The Ten Commandments.”She says to her daughters” You see that? The big messy spiral of people, moving, trying to find God... That right there is Zion. Get there however you can.”

Well worth the read. 3.5 stars½

Loved this memoir of growing up in the Mormon faith. Writing was excellent and her personal crisis of faith story is compelling and raw. I am going to read it again.

This is a lovely memoir about growing up as a Mormon girl. As the author pointed out during a reading, she wanted to add something on the shelf for the "rest of us" beyond the ghostwritten polygamy escape tales and other Mormon expose "literature." Ms. Brooks was raised in Southern California, which is kind of part of the core Mormon area that stretches north through Utah and Idaho. She was often the only Mormon among friends and classmates.

When it came time to attend college, she was excited to be among the saints, so to speak, at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She also happened to be attending during a time when Mormon intellectuals and feminists were unceremoniously excommunicated (September 1993). She found herself sympathizing greatly, and so did not feel comfortable attending church for a few years. Now she's happily married to a Jewish man and has returned to regular church attendance (there's some good stuff on interfaith families).

She's also become a welcome and articulate voice for various news media on Mormonism, its culture and peculiar beliefs. The message of this book and her blog Ask a Mormon Girl is inclusiveness. She recognizes all the different members that are in the church and brings some love to those who have felt left out for various reasons. Great for Mormons--whether you're active now or not--and likely interesting for everyone else who are a little perplexed, but curious.

This book is an interesting window into a famous but still very unknown religion: Mormonism. Brooks, a national voice on Mormon life and politics who is an award-winning scholar of religion and American culture, talks with a refreshing openness about what it was like to grow up Mormon. Her religion and the community that came with it was a source of great joy to her, then and now. But she hit a major stumbling block when she became a young woman and embraced many feminist beliefs, which she did not find contrary to her religion, but the leaders of the church did. She witnessed first hand the massive dismissal of many Brigham Young female professors, and the excommunication of scores of women from the church during a very troubled decade, causing rifts that still exist today. Brooks was not excommunicated, but she is no longer allowed to participate in communion at her church, and is only allowed into certain activities run by the church now that she has married a Jewish man in addition to believing in women's rights. But she powers on, trying to bolster the positives while struggling in whatever way she can to change the negatives. This book is eye opening in several ways, and brings a welcome, balanced and timely perspective on a religion that is suddenly in the news more and more often.

Wow, this was a fascinating read, and so beautifully, powerfully, and intelligently written. Although I know some doubts have been cast on the veracity of parts of the narrative, Equiano is clearly a remarkable character.½

This is one of the, if not THE, first slave narrative to be recorded by an actual slave. This book would be challenging for high school students. However, I feel that students would gain both a historical perspective along with examining larger themes that can be applied to other literary texts. I think that using literature that has a historical setting is a good way to get students accustomed to viewing issues with the idea of other perspectives in mind. By using books that are all or part a historical narrative as much as a literature one, students gain the skills of using their critical thinking abilities developed form the study of other novels to the real world and the histories we all evolve from.

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