Amity and Sorrow

Jun 04, 2013 ♥Robin ♥ rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-book-challenge, nbrc-reading-2013, netgalley

Normally I am drawn into books about the polygamist lifestyle as I find it very interesting. For some reason, this book just didn't satisfy that curiosity. The plot was interesting but the author failed in the delivery as there are many different areas she could have explored. This would have been a much better book if more time was spent on the past lives of these women rather than their boring escape.

The book's pacing was VERY SLOW but then again why hurry when it's going no where. The writing...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

The idea was intriguing, but it was the opening that captured me.

A woman driving, desperate to escape her past, with her two daughters who were much less certain about whether they should go, whether they should leave the only home they had ever known.

Amity & Sorrow HBK dark.inddAfter four days they stopped. Because, and only because, Amaranth crashed the car. She had no money and no idea what to do. A local farmer found them. He noticed their strange dress, their rather old-fashioned manner...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, egalley, book-club-pick

She didn’t know that preparing for the end of the world would make it that much more likely to come.

Amaranth is the first of the fifty wives of the prophet, and mother of two daughters, Amity and Sorrow. Sorrow is the eldest and holds a special place at their temple. She is the oracle, the one who transmits the word of God to the congregation. Amity is the younger sister, less zealous and sweeter tempered, with a gift for healing.

The children don’t go to school, don’t know their address, don’t k...more She didn’t know that preparing for the end of the world would make it that much more likely to come.

Amaranth is the first of the fifty wives of the prophet, and mother of two daughters, Amity and Sorrow. Sorrow is the eldest and holds a special place at their temple. She is the oracle, the one who transmits the word of God to the congregation. Amity is the younger sister, less zealous and sweeter tempered, with a gift for healing.

The children don’t go to school, don’t know their address, don’t know how to read, don’t know anything not decreed by the prophet. This ignorance is encouraged as a way of keeping the group off the radar of outside society, who might object and attempt to intervene, especially when it comes to the children.

But the prophet’s behavior is increasingly erratic, and a police officer does come knocking at the door. The ensuing confrontation spins out of control and Amaranth, fearing for their lives, takes a car and flees with her children.

It takes all Amaranth’s courage to leave, and she is haunted by the feeling that the prophet is in pursuit. She is unused to the outside world, not to mention driving, and soon crashes in the area of Oklahoma known as no man’s land. There they are offered refuge by Bradley, a struggling farmer, and Dust, his ward.

Amaranth struggles to rebuild a life for her family. This is a hard task, complicated even more by Sorrow’s fury at being forced to leave the only home she’s ever known. She is determined to return to what she knows is her rightful place as a religious leader and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this, no matter the consequences.

The resulting struggle between Amaranth and Sorrow is primal and riveting. Amity is caught in the middle, which turns out to be a dangerous place.

This is not an easy story, but I found its depiction of life within a cult gripping and memorable. Peggy Riley’s writing is lean and evocative. The narrative switches back and forth between the present day and flashbacks of how Amaranth came to join the prophet and what finally made her leave. The wonder of Amity at the outside world is beautifully conveyed. The portrait of the world of Amaranth and the prophet gives the reader a taste of a world with few familiar moorings. A memorable story of faith and redemption.

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May 17, 2013 Tara Chevrestt rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, 2013-release, netgalley

I couldn't stand this book for many reasons.

1. I'm all about STRONG women and this does not contain one. I was expecting the adventure of a group of a women smart enough to up and walk away from a cult and while the mother took her daughters away, she is so brainwashed and dumb and was such an ENABLER all along, turning a blind eye to the most ridiculous of crap (Fields are evil??? WTF?) that I could feel no pity for her.

2. Some should have just offed Sorrow. She's a menace to society and the m...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Although Amity & Sorrow is a fairly short novel at just 284 pages in the advance paperback edition, it is an intense and at times very difficult story to read. The subject matter is quite harrowing, and a subject that is rarely touched upon in fiction, and the writing is quite unique and distinct - it takes a little while to get used to the style.

Amaranth and her two daughters; Amity and Sorrow are fleeing their home, they have driven across country for four days and the only reason that the...more Although Amity & Sorrow is a fairly short novel at just 284 pages in the advance paperback edition, it is an intense and at times very difficult story to read. The subject matter is quite harrowing, and a subject that is rarely touched upon in fiction, and the writing is quite unique and distinct - it takes a little while to get used to the style.

Amaranth and her two daughters; Amity and Sorrow are fleeing their home, they have driven across country for four days and the only reason that they have stopped is because Amaranth has crashed the car. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, not knowing where they are, or where to go, they are discovered by Brad - a farmer who seems unconcerned by their plight, doesn't comment on their strange dress and allows them to camp out on his land.

Amaranth cannot let go of her memories and despite the fact that she knows that she had to flee, her thoughts return time and time again to her husband; the father of her girls. Amaranth is his first wife, the first of his 50 wives and she was instrumental in establishing the cult that they have left behind. Amity and Sorrow have no idea what it is like to speak with ordinary people, to allow anyone to see their hair, to walk through a field. They have no conception of what is acceptable behaviour in the real world. All they have known is life as part of a huge family, with rules, with terror, with abuse.

Amity relishes this new world, but Sorrow wants nothing more than to return to her father and their old life.

A lot of this story is told in 'flash back' form - when Amaranth remembers their life and how they were treated. The reader has quite a lot of reading between the lines to do - as events emerge slowly and are often hinted at, rather than explained fully.

Reading Amity and Sorrow reminded me of watching films by director M Night Shyamalan, especially the film The Village. There is a darkness about the writing and about the story that can be quite creepy at times.

Amity and Sorrow is an intriguing story with an ending that is unexpected and quite shocking and leaves the reader with lots of questions.

Peggy Riley is an accomplished author, with an unusual and quite quirky writing style that although fairly difficult to engage with at the beginning, becomes enchanting by the end.(less)

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May 21, 2013 Naomi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read my full review: http://bit.ly/13ID9uT

My opinion: Although I had liked the general story of this book, I couldn't get past the writing style of this author. Although I do feel it was intentional to fit the storyline, I really couldn't get used to it. There was just something off to it that I can't at this immediate time put my finger on. Now, I have to admit that I have Goodreads friends who loved the writing style which was present in this book.

On a side note: Although I was approved for t...more

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Jun 16, 2013 Terra Kelly added it

Amity & Sorrow is a really interesting story about two children raised in a cult, their mother and their flight for freedom. It begins with Amaranth who is fleeing into the dark away from her husband, her 50 sister wives, and the horrors that lingered behind her. 4 days and nights Amaranth drove until she crashed the car and was rescued by a beaten down farmer.

Amity and Sorrow are children who have lived their whole lives in the cult, surrounded by prayer and sister wives. Suddenly thrust i...more Amity & Sorrow is a really interesting story about two children raised in a cult, their mother and their flight for freedom. It begins with Amaranth who is fleeing into the dark away from her husband, her 50 sister wives, and the horrors that lingered behind her. 4 days and nights Amaranth drove until she crashed the car and was rescued by a beaten down farmer.

Amity and Sorrow are children who have lived their whole lives in the cult, surrounded by prayer and sister wives. Suddenly thrust into a world that confuses them, they are burdened with rules and laws that don't work in the every day world. But as they find space on the farmer's porch Amity begins to find her freedom. She begins small by breaking the rules to speak with Dust, the farmer's adopted son. Sorrow, on the other hand, can not seem to find her place in this new world where she is just like everyone else. In the cult she was the prophet's first daughter, born from his first wife, and was also the oracle. She would stand beside her father and look into the bowl of water and call out prophecies. Now in a world with no prayer, no wives, and only a broken piece of the bowl, she longs for her father and the world she knew and she will do whatever it takes to go home.

Amaranth looks at her children and wonders were she went wrong. In the beginning they had such ideals. The religion was created with the idea that all women deserved a place where they could be safe and loved. She had been his first wife and he had been the first person to make her feel fully loved. But now years later she feels like the meaning of what they had tried to do has been lost and now, now there are hints that Sorrow might be his newest wife and that she can't allow. And so she had fled from everything familiar in the hopes of protecting her daughter who didn't want to be protected. But in getting lost Amaranth found herself. After the farmer lets her and the girls stay on his porch she begins to find herself drawn to the this enigmatic man who continues to struggle against the dirt of Oklahoma.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it gave a really interesting insight as to what could start a cult and then how it can change as the people mature and change and seek things that they had never longed for before. It was entertaining to see how the girls interacted with things that we see everyday like candy and soda pop. And it even made me think much more kindly about Grapes of Wrath which is one of the few novels that I genuinely don't enjoy.

I definitely recommend grabbing this book and reading it if you are looking for something deep and introspective! (less)

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Jun 12, 2013 Ginny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was interesting, verrrrry interesting. Getting glimpses of this particular cult's lifestyle was nice, pieces here and there interspersed between this present-day fish out of water story. At times it felt like this story could've been set in Depression Era, and then it was suddenly modern again, but I liked that. The characters were very interesting though sometimes I couldn't get a handle on them. Amaranth was up and down back and forth but I didn't totally get her "darkness" that she had....more

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May 29, 2013 Maxine McLister rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amity & Sorrow opens with a mother Amaranth running away with her daughters Amity and Sorrow. When her car crashes in rural Oklahoma, Amaranth is taken in by Bradley, a farmer who is reeling from the departure of his wife, the illness of his father, and the problems of farming in hard times.

As the story unfolds, we learn that Amaranth and her daughters are running from a polygamous cult. When the cult was raided because of allegations of child abuse, Amaranth grabbed her daughters and ran a...more Amity & Sorrow opens with a mother Amaranth running away with her daughters Amity and Sorrow. When her car crashes in rural Oklahoma, Amaranth is taken in by Bradley, a farmer who is reeling from the departure of his wife, the illness of his father, and the problems of farming in hard times.

As the story unfolds, we learn that Amaranth and her daughters are running from a polygamous cult. When the cult was raided because of allegations of child abuse, Amaranth grabbed her daughters and ran as far and as fast as she could. But no matter how far she has come, she never stops looking over her shoulder, convinced that she can never run far enough or fast enough to escape the husband she has left behind.

But her children know nothing of the outside world; they can't read or write, have never watched TV or seen a computer. All they know is Father and all of their mothers and the temple where Sorrow was oracle, first of all the children and perhaps more than daughter to her father. Amity can learn to adapt to a new life but Sorrow will not accept a place where she is just one of many prophets who speak in tongues and tell of the coming Rapture, where she isn't oracle, where she is not first among many daughters and wives. And she will do whatever it takes to get back to Father.

Amity & Sorrow is an interesting tale of love gone bad in so many ways: between wives and husbands, children and parents, and between love of God and carnal desire and greed. It is a tale of broken people leading broken lives but seeking love and redemption all the same and although they are usually looking for salvation in all the wrong places, it is the very act of seeking that gives the story a sense of hope.

I know nothing of polygamous cults so I cannot speak to the accuracy of the way this one is depicted. But it makes for a fascinating portrait of so many wives spinning around the altar, their long skirts flaring out around them, celebrating each return of their husband and each new wife he brings with them.

Although set in modern times, it felt much older, perhaps because of the isolation both of the cult and of the farm, but also because of the references to Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's wonderful novel of Oklahoma farmers during the Great Depression. The story also switches time as it slowly allows us to see how Amaranth's story and that of her children unfolded and how so much love and hope had become so tainted and why she was trying so hard to put things right even though it is clear that not everything or everybody can be fixed.

I won't say I enjoyed this novel; it was disturbing in a whole lot of ways especially in the characters of Sorrow and Father but it certainly kept my attention. It is a relatively short tale but not an easy one. But, then, whoever said things had to be easy to be good. (less)

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May 23, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people curious about cults and wanting some answers damn it

Shelves: 2013

This book ebbs and flows in the interesting department. The names of the main characters alone are rather amazing... Amaranth, Amity, Sorrow, Dust, Bradley... not a Joe or Jane anywhere to be seen. The premise, a mother (Amaranth) and her two daughters (Amity & Sorrow) escaping from a polygamist- cult situation, crash their car in Oklahoma and end up staying there a spell is intriguing. If you believe religious cults with crazy old men having 50 wives and a gazillion children are curious, th...more

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May 22, 2013 Sharon Vander Meer rated it 4 of 5 stars

The fire that sets this story in motion flames through “Amity and Sorrow” in every cleverly crafted scene. It is a dark story about sisters who grew up in what might be considered by some a cult atmosphere. In desperation, their mother Amaranth, snatches them away terrified by escalating threats from outside and unsettling changes from within.

Their flight is interrupted when in utter exhaustion she crashes her car into a tree. Miraculously none of the three are seriously injured, and are rescued...more The fire that sets this story in motion flames through “Amity and Sorrow” in every cleverly crafted scene. It is a dark story about sisters who grew up in what might be considered by some a cult atmosphere. In desperation, their mother Amaranth, snatches them away terrified by escalating threats from outside and unsettling changes from within.

Their flight is interrupted when in utter exhaustion she crashes her car into a tree. Miraculously none of the three are seriously injured, and are rescued by a farmer who reluctantly and with bad grace, befriends them. The story travels back and forth from the uncertain present into a disturbing past. Amity and Sorrow are bound together by more than the strap that links them and keeps Sorrow from running back to the only home she has ever known, despite threats that await her.

“Amity and Sorrow” follows Amaranth, whose trust has been betrayed by the man she believes loves only her, and looks at the “perfect” world created by this man who through polygamy takes advantage of the broken and shattered lives of women with no place to go. His two daughters are caught in the middle with no understanding of what life outside the community is like.

There is a touch of mysticism, harsh lessons in how religion can corrupt and be corrupted, and a wrenching coming-of-age story.

The strict and structured world as Amity and Sorrow knew it is nothing like the farm where their mother insists they take refuge. There is more at work in the lives of these girls than their mother knows. Her only hope of saving them is to keep them away from the man who is their father. Their multiple layers of conservative clothing, prim aprons and cap-covered hair cannot protect them from what lies ahead.

This is a fascinating tale of a mother’s love, renewal, and the power of the mind to create what it will. Amity and Sorrow are at the mercy of a dangerous past they can relate to and a future they fear. Riley’s scenes are gripping and visual, and her character development is powerful.

Author Peggy Riley is a writer and playwright who lives on the North Kent Coast. “Amity and Sorrow” is her first novel.
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May 15, 2013 Kaie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

I do not know if the unforgettable "Amity and Sorrow" is, as the summary promises, but it is certainly disturbing book. This book explains, in my opinion, why the children should not be allowed to grow up in the spirit of religion. It can cause psychological disturbance, which couldn’t be undone.

As the mother Amaranth was pathetic. She was one of 50 wives in a polygamous sect. She never asked whether the environment where she and children lived, was quite right. At one point, however, Amaranth...more

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May 13, 2013 Cathe Olson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Amaranth and her daughters, Sorrow and Amity, escape from their religous cult/polygamist home and end up on a farm in Oklahoma run by a lonely widower. The daughters have trouble adjusting to the outside world and as their mother tries to start a new life.

I loved the premise of the book and the writing was good, but there seemed to be too many holes in the story or places that it didn't go deep enough, which made it hard for me to believe that the characters would do what they did (without getti...more

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May 08, 2013 Leeswammes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this book, we follow a mother and her two daughters for a few months, after they have left the religious commune where the girls have lived all their life. They are on the run for their father, their mother’s husband, who has a total of fifty wives and many children living with him.

Amity and Sorrow only know life in the commune and are totally ignorant about the world outside. They believe their father is God and are not at all happy that their mother took them away.

Bit by bit, the reader fin...more

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May 04, 2013 Lindley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Every time a religious cult is featured on the news, I wonder how anyone could have willingly joined it and put faith in its beliefs. Amity and Sorrow does a good job at presenting how something that seemingly starts out good can become so twisted, and how hope, love, and a desire to belong can become ties almost too powerful to break.

Although the novel begins with Amity, Sorrow, and Amaranth's escape from the religious cult, various chapters flash back to their experiences living in a polygamou...more

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May 04, 2013 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Amity and Sorrow is quite the unusual novel by Peggy Riley. It opens on the scene of a mother, Amaranth, driving her two daughters, Amity and Sorrow, down an Oklahoma country road. It quickly becomes evident that they are on the run from someone or something. Because the daughters are literally bound to one another via their arms in the backseat, and because the language is evocative of the south, I first assumed this was a story about an escape from slavery. Which it is, I suppose, but not in t...more

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May 02, 2013 Eustacia Tan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

Amity and Sorrow are running away. Well, their mom is running away, and they're bring dragged along. Amity doesn't really care, but all Sorrow wants to do is go back. And what Sorrow wants, Sorrow gets. Or so it has been her whole life. But when their car is smashed in Okalhama, things change.

That, is as much of a summary I can give. It's not a pretty book - the subject matter is actually quite ugly. I think I despised almost all the characters, except perhaps Amity and Dust. But still, I finish...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Taunya R rated it 3 of 5 stars

Two sisters sit, side by side, in the backseat of an old car. Amity and Sorrow.

Two sisters tied together on a journey from all they know. Driving is their mother, running from a life that is not first clear. As the story continues I was drawn into a story of Amaranth and her 2 daughters. She is the 1st of 50 wives of a self-proclaimed God, who will bring the end of the world.

The story is riveting, even with the bouncing back-and-forth between mom, the sisters and pre-history information. I foun...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Suzy Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Peggy Riley has gifted us with a superb debut novel. I read it in two greedy gulps - it would have been one if I had timed my entrance better.

Amaranth has fled with her daughters Amity and Sorrow. As the novel opens, we find the girls sitting in the back seat of a car, bound at the wrists, as their mother drives them further and further away from home.

The cloth binding their bodies together is far from the only tie that binds them. Raised in a cult, the girls are bound by the constraints of the...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Kwoomac rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-lit, mormons, 2013, netgalley, fast-read, unlikely-hero, capital-d-dysfunctional, reviewed

Amity and Sorrow tells the story of a family growing up in a cult in Utah. There is just one man, Zachariah, the fifty women he takes as wives and the more than twenty children he fathers. Zachariah goes out in search of lost women, promising them a safe haven. They live off the grid so now one really knows what's going on out there.

The story is told from the perspective of Amaranth. She was his first wife, saved by Zachariah when she was just eighteen and already struggling to survive. When Za...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Shari rated it 5 of 5 stars

A woman named Amaranth escapes from a polygamist cult and is driving across the country with her two daughters in tow. The two daughters, named Amity and Sorrow, are bound to each other by a wrist strap in order to keep one of them from bolting and running away. The car crashes and they become stranded on a man's farm in Oklahoma. The farmer, Bradley, is kind enough to let them stay on his porch... and I'll let you read how the rest unfolds, because it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

This book c...more A woman named Amaranth escapes from a polygamist cult and is driving across the country with her two daughters in tow. The two daughters, named Amity and Sorrow, are bound to each other by a wrist strap in order to keep one of them from bolting and running away. The car crashes and they become stranded on a man's farm in Oklahoma. The farmer, Bradley, is kind enough to let them stay on his porch... and I'll let you read how the rest unfolds, because it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

This book contains some brilliant, lyrical writing. My favorite scene is one with Amaranth and Bradley as the rain began to fall around them. In this scene, the prose was so rich that I felt like I was watching a movie version unfolding. It was one of the most beautiful scenes in the novel, and I can still picture it in my imagination while I write this review.

Sorrow is dark and troubled, and her disturbed psyche gave me a sense of unease throughout reading the book, although I won't mention examples so as not to spoiler anyone. I could see this novel being optioned for a movie one day -- albeit a dark and creepy one. I didn't particularly care for how Amaranth was always blaming herself and saying the way her daughters behaved was her fault, yet not doing anything about it. I would've liked her to be a little less helpless and a little more forceful. However, I can understand how she would be conditioned to behave that way after living for years in a polygamist family cult.

There are definitely some scary, haunting scenes in this novel and towards the final few chapters, I found that I kept holding my breath due to the suspense. Even after having finished the book, I kept thinking about the scene where Sorrow is sort of "baiting" Amity into following her... moving almost like a ghost,it definitely creeped me out! You just KNOW something terrible is about to take place.

Even though the story is dark and the subject matter is disturbing, I felt like this was a fantastically well-written novel and would instantly pick up whatever Peggy Riley publishes next. I would highly recommend this book to a book club where it can be discussed in detail after everyone has had a chance to read and process it.(less)

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Apr 23, 2013 Eileen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Readers who enjoy a varied genre

Recommended to Eileen by: NetGalley

Description
A mother and her daughters drive for days without sleep until they crash their car in rural Oklahoma. The mother, Amaranth, is desperate to get away from someone she's convinced will follow them wherever they go--her husband. The girls, Amity and Sorrow, can't imagine what the world holds outside their father's polygamous compound. Rescue comes in the unlikely form of Bradley, a farmer grieving the loss of his wife. At first unwelcoming to these strange, prayerful women, Bradley's abi...more Description
A mother and her daughters drive for days without sleep until they crash their car in rural Oklahoma. The mother, Amaranth, is desperate to get away from someone she's convinced will follow them wherever they go--her husband. The girls, Amity and Sorrow, can't imagine what the world holds outside their father's polygamous compound. Rescue comes in the unlikely form of Bradley, a farmer grieving the loss of his wife. At first unwelcoming to these strange, prayerful women, Bradley's abiding tolerance gets the best of him, and they become a new kind of family. An unforgettable story of belief and redemption, AMITY & SORROW is about the influence of community and learning to stand on your own.
**** Rating
Review
I wasn’t sure about reading this novel but am glad I persevered. The description doesn’t give a hint of the lost and desperate characters of Amaranth, Amity and particularly Sorrow. Yes, you can imagine life would be very difficult escaping a cult but their lives and struggles were beyond that.
Fleeing with her daughters, Amity, a 12 year old and her sister, Sorrow a young teenager, Amaranth seeks to put as much distance as she can between her husband, their father and leader of their cult, Zachariah. She drives without rest for 4 days until finally she crashes the car. The car is her lifeline as it is packed with food and clothes to help with their escape. No car or its contents mean that Zachariah can find them.
Fortunately, she crashes near a farm, owned by Bradley. He is a sullen but good looking farmer, trying to save his farm on a never-ending yearly basis. He is still affected by the desertion of his wife but has still retained a caring side revealed with that of his father and Dust, a young Mexican lad he has taken under his wing.
The old-fashioned dress sense of these three females is not the only thing to confuse Bradley; he cannot at first understand their struggles, strange rules and behaviour. Until piece by piece of what darkness has been hinted on becomes slowly revealed.
Peggy Riley’s style of writing was hard to follow at first but I quite quickly followed this and her ability to flit between the present and the past. Her descriptive skills, for example, of the farming land in Oklahoma gave the impression of a really hard life and you could almost taste the dust.
As the novel picked up pace, you began to get an insight into how the cult began and how it changed to a polygamous sect. Of how, the love of the 50 women, his wives, whom most seemed to have come from a desperate, troubled and lonely background, and the cult children grew into a dangerous and ominous situation.
Without giving away the story, the increasing erratic behaviour of Sorrow and the gentle, loving but confused behaviour of Amity unfold. Bringing the climax to the story in an unforeseen, surprising twist, which left the reader with unanswered questions.
I would be interested in reading Riley’s next book, Nazi Fairy Tales, as I find Amity and Sorrow and the author’s subjects intriguing.
I was given a copy of the book by NetGalley, thank you.
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Apr 21, 2013 Tania rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-books

Two sisters sit, side by side, in the backseat of an old car. Amity and Sorrow. Their hands are hot and close together. A strip of white fabric loops between them, tying them together, wrist to wrist.

This was a beautifully written debut novel about the ties that bind. It’s a story of God, sex and farming. Amaranth and her two daughters, Amity and Sorrow, flees from a religious sect, where she was the first of 50 wives to Zachariah, a self-proclaimed prophet. They end up in rural Oklahoma, where...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Diana rated it 5 of 5 stars

For as long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by cults. Any kind of cult. Being a born and raised Texan, I think my fascination was fostered by the idea that there were so many different cults popping up in my backyard: Yearning for Zion, Branch Davidians, and Heaven’s Gate (ok, so Heaven’s Gate wasn’t located in Texas, but Marshall Applewhite was the chair of the music department where I went to college and was a Texan). I remember reading and watching programs about the Children...more For as long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by cults. Any kind of cult. Being a born and raised Texan, I think my fascination was fostered by the idea that there were so many different cults popping up in my backyard: Yearning for Zion, Branch Davidians, and Heaven’s Gate (ok, so Heaven’s Gate wasn’t located in Texas, but Marshall Applewhite was the chair of the music department where I went to college and was a Texan). I remember reading and watching programs about the Children of God and Charles Manson, much to my mother’s chagrin. Which makes me wonder why it is that I haven’t read very much cult-related fiction. I was very pleasantly surprised when I received an advance copy of Peggy Riley’s debut, Amity & Sorrow.

Amity & Sorrow is the story of a mother, Amaranth, and her two daughters, the eponymous characters. The story starts off intensely, with the three of them on the run from the compound of the fundamentalist cult that they were a part of. A mysterious fire had been set, and Amaranth takes the opportunity to flee with her girls. Amaranth crashes the car in Oklahoma, having been driving for four days without sleep. They are rescued by a local farmer named Bradley, who begrudgingly offers the sanctuary that they need. Amity and Sorrow have been sheltered within the cult and learn about life outside of it. While Amity blooms under the new influence, Sorrow wants nothing but to return to the life she has known. Amaranth does a little learning about herself and the life that she has left behind, but the resolution of what has happened to her recent past life calls her like a siren song.

This story is simply written, with little description or embellishment. I’ve never been a big fan of overly flowery writing. You never really have a concrete idea about how old the girls are, or what people look like. At first, not knowing really irritated me. However, with further reading, I came to the conclusion that it makes sense, as the cult the women belonged to discouraged vanity. Vivid descriptions of people and visual judgemnts had no place in these people’s minds. Ms Riley does touch upon how they are dressed and how people perceive them, but you get few distinguishing descriptions of the characters.

This book is crazy, disturbing, and engrossing. There are two stories that unfold: Amaranth’s life within the cult, and the development of the three women outside of the cult’s influence. What I think is interesting about this story is that while it does focus on life within a fundamentalist cult, it also touches on the impact and repercussions of life after. It was written in such a credible way that sometimes it made me wonder if the author had at some point in her life been involved in a cult. Simple things as plugging in a television (let alone knowing what a tv is) or checking out a book at the library are foreign ideas to the girls. I would never have considered these things.

I found Amaranth to be an extremely fascinating character. Throughout the entire book, you get her life story in a series of flashbacks. You read about her birth, her role as the first wife of Zachariah, her relationships with the other wives, amongst other things. She’s one of the most interesting and complex characters I have read in a long time. I love the relationship that she develops with Bradley. He’s not a romaticized hero, which I really liked. He lives simply and like a slob, chain smokes, drinks, but he’s a good ol’ boy at heart.

The differences in Amity and Sorrow are amazing. You have two girls at opposite ends of the spectrum. Amity is the younger, and she is often overlooked. She is in the shadow of Sorrow, the first born of the new generation of followers, and the “Oracle”. While Amity thrives in this new way of life, looking at everything in curiosity and with a thirst for knowledge, Sorrow clings to the old way of life. Because she was the Oracle, she was greatly revered for her role and spoiled, and longs to go home. Having these complete opposites within the story, you get a pretty good scope of the recovery process.

There was one quote that struck me more than any other in the story: “Her Barbies had no wedding gowns —- not a one of the eight Barbies who lived with the single Ken in their plastic house, on their cardboard beds, in sin.” This was Amaranth reflecting on her wedding day to Zachariah. Holy crap. Does that not bring it close to home? Uhhhhh…..

I thought that the book had a great flow, and I didn’t feel for one minute that it was too slow. If there was a problem with slowness, it was all me. I just couldn’t read fast enough when it came down to it. Amity and Sorrow really made me think, and I’m pretty certain that I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. I found it to be an ultimately satisfying read. I would highly recommend it to anyone that has an interest in cults, but warning: it may exacerbate your interest to a higher and creepy degree (as I’m sure it has done for me). I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Ms Riley’s future works.(less)

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Apr 18, 2013 Jenn Ravey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Two sisters sit, side by side, in the backseat of an old car. Amity and Sorrow.

Their hands are hot and close together. A strip of white fabric loops between them, tying them together, wrist to wrist.

...in the car, there was only driving and darkness, the watching of their mother, the roads behind them and the sound of her sister, sobbing, as home stretched away from them, mile after mile.

Amaranth leaves home in desperation, driving without ceasing to leave behind the polygamous cult in which...more Two sisters sit, side by side, in the backseat of an old car. Amity and Sorrow.

Their hands are hot and close together. A strip of white fabric loops between them, tying them together, wrist to wrist.

...in the car, there was only driving and darkness, the watching of their mother, the roads behind them and the sound of her sister, sobbing, as home stretched away from them, mile after mile.

Amaranth leaves home in desperation, driving without ceasing to leave behind the polygamous cult in which she has conceived and raised her daughters. Neither Amity nor Sorrow has ever known the world outside the compound, but Amaranth has torn the girls from their home after reaching devastating clarity about its ills. A car crash ends their flight, and Bradley, a struggling farmer, comes to their aid.

Amity is, much as her name implies, open to meeting new people, excited about this adventure and only intermittently worried about breaking the rules of her father and spiritual leader. Sorrow, on the other hand, is bereft. Her fierce love of her father and her place within the cult as the Oracle has been ripped from her by a mother who seems not to understand her grief. Amaranth, though, isn't neglectful of her daughters but simply guilt ridden and horrified by the life she led within the compound.

One of 50 wives, Amaranth looks back on her life before Zachariah, the group's leader. She recalls the moment she realizes that one, two, three wives will not be enough for him. But she also remembers the love she felt for her sister wives, women who became her strength and her solace. Wrapped up in her own thoughts and her own desire for safety - which she suspects she may be able to find in Bradley - she isn't cognizant of the girls' confusion.

Told from both Amaranth and Amity's perspective, Amity & Sorrow is a strange book. The time period is even difficult to pin down because of the rural locale and the ignorance of the girls. Sorrow is by far the least sympathetic character, but that's partially because her story is never explored. While that narrative choice makes sense in terms of her zeal for the compound (perhaps making her narrative a bit off kilter), it also restricted her characterization, so that she appeared insane, less a character than a symbol or victim. She becomes, instead, the sacrificial lamb, the deluded child-woman unable to make her own decisions or see beyond the cult.

The book is disturbing in its implications; however, the distance created by the isolation of the characters and their disconnectedness from one another made for odd but enthralling reading.(less)

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Apr 10, 2013 Paula Phillips rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is probably one of the hardest reviews I have ever had to write in the past three years that I have blogging. This book was one of those ones where the cover captured me as I had the cover in the middle and then I read the blurb and it sounded like it could be a good book with it being about a Polygamy cult as I love to read things like that. So here I am opening the book and learn that the Mother Amaranth and her two daughter Sorrow and Amity have escaped a cult and now her husband is afte...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Sharon Thomson rated it 5 of 5 stars

How Peggy Riley can write such a compelling and insightful book without having been involved in a cult herself I do not know. She has obviously carried out extensive research. The insight she gives into how the cult develops and the people slowly change as a result is remarkable. It makes everything so plausible and you can understand how sensible people can get drawn in.

Amaranth, a mother of two, becomes aware that what is happening in the cult is wrong, but she had a 'normal' background and up...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Miranda Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: contemporary fiction for those with strong stomachs - deals with extreme religious and sexual abuse

Recommended to Miranda Ruth by: Amazon Vine

In an ultra-libertarian society, how do you define right and wrong? It’s a problem that has been addressed frequently in American fiction. When Amaranth and her two teenage daughters flee a fundamentalist cult, they reverse the journey of Steinbeck’s Joads in The Grapes of Wrath and find themselves in the Oklahoma dustbowl, throwing themselves on the mercy of a hardscrabble farming family when, having driven non-stop for days, she crashes her car on their land.

The scene is set for the kind of cl...more In an ultra-libertarian society, how do you define right and wrong? It’s a problem that has been addressed frequently in American fiction. When Amaranth and her two teenage daughters flee a fundamentalist cult, they reverse the journey of Steinbeck’s Joads in The Grapes of Wrath and find themselves in the Oklahoma dustbowl, throwing themselves on the mercy of a hardscrabble farming family when, having driven non-stop for days, she crashes her car on their land.

The scene is set for the kind of claustrophobic drama that Tennessee Williams does so well, and there is a feeling of inevitablility as the narrative unfolds over the next few months, interspersed with flashbacks to the escalating horror that Amaranth has escaped – physically, at least. The worst damage, however, is at first invisible. Amaranth and her daughters are as deeply damaged as you’d expect, and not since Emma Donoghue’s Room has a novelist presented us with characters less equipped to deal with the modern world. Never mind the Internet; these girls can’t even read.

It’s not that difficult to figure out the real reason why Amaranth has finally broken free of her polygamous cult-leader husband; in fact, it’s horribly clear from the first few pages when the older girl miscarries a baby in a gas-station restroom. You may feel, as I did, that we’re in entirely predictable territory here and there’s little point in reading on.

But Riley is a skilful writer with a particularly acute grasp of dialogue and character, and the main theme of her tale is an original and troubling one. Why are women so often complicit in the abuse of themselves and their children, and so reluctant to report it to the authorities? Can it be because the favour of even the vilest abuser can confer a warped status on his victims? Riley’s answer is clearly yes, and sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it.

That’s not a conclusion that everyone would accept, and this novel will make excellent material for reading group discussions. These characters aren’t likeable, but by the end of the story you’ll understand the reasons for that and understand, even if you can’t condone, the choices they have made.

Riley has taken some of the archetypes of classic American fiction and given a contemporary twist to the well-worn theme of a dream gone bad. And in doing so, she’s shown that sometimes the hardest thing to get right about escaping sexual abuse is knowing the moment before it will be too late to run.(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Hannah Wingfield rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a book that addresses a topic I am always interested in, but rarely get to read about, as it doesn’t seem to be a popular subject: life in a cult. It follows Amaranth, a mother, and her two barely-teenage daughters Amity and Sorrow, in the aftermath of their escape from a Mormon-inspired closed community somewhere in the US. Amaranth is the first, and (only) legal, wife of the cult’s founder and played a role in developing its traditions and practices (although more by lack of protest th...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Andi Newberry ~Tubbs rated it 3 of 5 stars

More like 3 1/2

NetGalley invited me to read and review this book. The cover caught my attention and the storyline intrigued me.
I have read a few books on the polygamist lifestyle and I have a lot of props for women who gather their kids and leave.
In this book Amaranth is the first wife of fifty, YES of fifty. She takes her two daughters, Amity and Sorrow and leave the compound where they have been living. She drives for days, which I found interesting in itself because she most likely would not...more

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