Bound on Earth

This week I finished reading Angela Hallstrom's debut novel, Bound on Earth, a character study of various members and generations of the Palmer family.

I loved that it's a story about an ordinary Mormon family without being apologetic of that fact (no embarrassment about the peculiarities of faith and culture, no superfluous explanation of those peculiarities) and without being prissy-preachy. The characters all felt very real, very true to the life I know. I've always suspected that part of my holy envy of other faiths (Catholicism in particular) stems from their representation in popular culture, from high to low. My denomination of choice, when shown at all, has only ever been a punch line or a scare tactic; it's so rarely understood as the hum-drum, sweetly banal life of flesh-and-blood people with flaws and ideals and fears (just like everyone else, of other faiths and no faith).

I loved that it's a story of relationships. The title hints at the specific Mormon belief that families can be bound together (or in other words, their family relationships made permanent) in the life after death. The novel pokes around at the idea of what that means for each of the characters now, when they're down in the trenches together. What are their responsibilities to each other? To themselves? How do they know when it's best to let go? How does a person ever let go of someone she loves?

Each chapter is a vignette told from the perspective of one member of the Palmer family; each spare little picture, sometimes only tenuously connected to the rest, builds on the last until at the end you see this very full and moving panorama of a family. I loved the one about Great Grandma Tildy's baby, the first Christina, and the one about 5yo Beth's attempt to help with dinner. Both of those chapters broke my heart.

At just under 200 pages and compellingly written, Bound on Earth is an easy read. And it's beautiful! Without being sentimental, though, which is a feat I can't muster lately: I'm still in that emotional place I was in after Christmas, wherein thoughts of love and babies and the interconnectedness of the human family reduce me to a puddle of blubbery goo. Sigh! But really, it's wonderful, this book, and everyone should read it. I have a copy I'm willing to lend, but it wouldn't kill you to support the author and spend the $12.95 (slightly cheaper at Amazon!).


~RCH~