Book #81: The Book of Mormon Girl by Joanna Brooks

I waited for this book to become available at the library for FOREVER, and I finally got it and got around to reading it. It would have been interesting to read this book at the same time as Nienie's memoir because they're pretty polar opposite--Nienie is so just flat-out Mormon and Joanna Brooks is very "unorthodox," a word she uses to describe herself about a gajillion times. But they started out in the same place--growing up in a very traditional Mormon household and very enmeshed in their Mormon faith. It was kind of unsettling to me to read the beginning chapters of Brooks' memoir, while she was describing her childhood and introducing her faith and life to her readers. I felt a bit like I did when I was reading Bound on Earth--like it was too personal and too close to my own life for comfort. Brooks describes herself as a "root beer among the Cokes" and talks about how she felt different from all her friends growing up--but how comfortable she felt in all that difference because she was a part of this bigger group of the Saints. She describes the ward activities and members and Girl's Camp, but it's all with a tone of being an outsider looking in and being amazed at how odd it all is. And I totally understand why she did that: first of all, she's very far from that feeling in her life now, and second, her audience is people who aren't members of the church and she's writing partially so that they can become more understanding and familiar with the LDS faith. But man, it still felt weird to me to read all of that.

I felt less uncomfortable when she started talking about how/when she started to fall away from the Church, oddly enough. And I can understand why she did--the mid-nineties were a pretty stressful time for feminists in the Church (to say the least). For someone who feels so strongly about the issues that were being fought over, it would have been traumatizing to be a part of it. I am just more amazed by her strength and courage in coming back to the Church and in dealing with her history and the Church's history, and how strong her love is for the Church despite her experiences with it's faults. I think that's the really beautiful thing about her story, and I really enjoyed hearing about that part of it. I'd really love to talk to her and find out more about what she really believes. For example, she's married to a Jewish man and is raising her daughters "Jewish-Mormon"--how on earth do you reconcile those two faiths? The central tenet of Mormonism is that Christ is our Savior, while Judaism believes the opposite. LDS doctrine states that to be with your family forever you need to be sealed in the temple--what does that mean to you being in an interfaith marriage? I am sincerely interested to know what she believes about these things in more detail, and I think her book and blog are very interesting.

Long story short, despite her unorthodoxy, I think Joanna Brooks has done some really valuable PR for the Church (maybe even because she IS so unorthodox) and I really admire her dedication and courage in sticking to her guns in being a part of the Church AND in disagreeing with the Church over some of the things she feels strongly about. It definitely has given me things to think about.