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Love Chains: Stories
Book by Young, Margaret Blair
200 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 2, 2010
In the introduction to _Love Chains_, Young talks about the "sharks" which inhabit her stories: difficult issues, immoral choices, even a bit of swearing. She does not write simple faith-promoting out to shock. The immorality portrayed is usually seen from the point-of-view of a character who is repulsed by what she/he sees. Young in no way glorifies the sharks, she has her characters seek for ways to defeat or at least deal with them. Victory over the sharks usually doesn't occur within the bounds of these short stories, but at least there are glimmers of hope, often found in unlikely places.
The words "love chains" refer to a motif that runs through the stories. None of her characters are lone individuals (could any such story about Mormons exist?). Chains made of powerful emotion bind people together, even long after the fraying of time or betrayal. The 1997 book is divided into four sections, "Husbands and Wives", "Brothers and Sisters", "Hermanos y Hermanas", and "Exes". Each features different kinds of love chains. Even between a divorced couple, chains of feeling and responsibility remain strong. This is particularly true when there is a child from a broken marriage. Even after love between the couple is gone, the child acts as a "love chain," forever binding them together. Most of the stories from the "Exes" section are about children torn between divorced parents, with the added complication of being torn between one parent's apostasy and the other's faith. What's a mother to do, when she fears her child is being harmed by her father's apostasy? These are tough questions, and Young provides no easy answers. On the cover of the books is a drawing of a baby walking with the help of parents' hands on both sides. The parents are not connected directly to each other in the picture, but since both are holding on to the child, they are linked together in a chain.
Another kind of love chain in these stories is that of God between a couple, sealing and strengthening their marriage. We see this idea at the end of Young's play "Dear Stone," when the memory of his promise before God and angels in the temple helps to bring a husband back from his plans to end his marriage to a woman with MS. The idea is more comically, but still sublimely, represented in the story "God on Donahue," the climax of the "Husbands and Wives" group of stories. This is a hilarious tale about an elderly, eccentric Utah couple who appear on the Donahue show for weird reasons I won't explain. On the way to Los Angeles, the husband happens upon a vagrant at a rest stop, and feels convinced that this is God going incognito. The three of them appear on the show, and are grilled by Phil Donahue about their relationship. (By the way, the portrayal of Donahue as Lord of This World (daytime television) is brilliantly wicked). The tide begins to turn against Donahue, and the husband begins to realize his past unfairness to his wife, after this exchange:
"God," said Donahue, "and let me clarify I'm not being profane here. God, whose side are you on anyway? Joseph's or Utahna's?"
God looked over at Utahna and then at Joseph. "I'm just right here," He said.
"Between them," Phil clarified.
"Yes."
I love this story, but a lot of people won't. We see the story through the somewhat twisted POV of the Joseph, the husband. I found that intriguing, for example it made the miracle that happened at the end all the more interesting; did it really happen, or was it just Joseph's imagination? I pressed the book on my sister-in-law, and she put it down after this story. Too strange, too many sharks to be comfortable with. Okay, but if you can handle a bit of strangeness, and a good deal of sadness, to go along with the strong, faith-promoting stories offered here, I urge you to take the plunge.
Another theme in the Love Chains collection is the difficulties and strange juxtapositions which occur when the Mormon culture and faith interact with African-American and Central American (specifically Mayan) cultures. Two very painful stories concern first contact between "shiny and sassy" white Mormons, confident in their faith, and Blacks who are put off by the Mormon attitudes and history of discrimination. The three stories in the "Hermanos y hermanas" section concern Mayans in a small village in Guatemala, and their acceptance of the Mormon faith, sometimes in ways incomprehensible to the North Americans who bring that faith to them. The North Americans' inability to understand the indigenous language is symbolic of their failure to fully comprehend the souls of the locals. The stories strongly affirm, however, that despite the lack of understanding, and even conflict, between cultures, that all involved are true brothers and sisters. One story ends this way, after a shared communication through Handel's Messiah at a funeral,
"'Hermanos y hermanas,' said Jose, then spoke the language I could not understand."
Despite the deep chasm of differences, the commonalities between peoples gives us hope.
A third theme which pops up often in Young's work is caring for the sick and elderly, and the toll that physical decay takes on both the afflicted and the care givers.
So, what we have here is a writer with literary skills of such excellence that she has won several awards and has been published by a
university press. She writes meaningfully about us, in ways that ultimately, I believe, serve to strengthen our faith. What are you waiting for?
The words "love chains" refer to a motif that runs through the stories. None of her characters are lone individuals (could any such story about Mormons exist?). Chains made of powerful emotion bind people together, even long after the fraying of time or betrayal. The 1997 book is divided into four sections, "Husbands and Wives", "Brothers and Sisters", "Hermanos y Hermanas", and "Exes". Each features different kinds of love chains. Even between a divorced couple, chains of feeling and responsibility remain strong. This is particularly true when there is a child from a broken marriage. Even after love between the couple is gone, the child acts as a "love chain," forever binding them together. Most of the stories from the "Exes" section are about children torn between divorced parents, with the added complication of being torn between one parent's apostasy and the other's faith. What's a mother to do, when she fears her child is being harmed by her father's apostasy? These are tough questions, and Young provides no easy answers. On the cover of the books is a drawing of a baby walking with the help of parents' hands on both sides. The parents are not connected directly to each other in the picture, but since both are holding on to the child, they are linked together in a chain.
Another kind of love chain in these stories is that of God between a couple, sealing and strengthening their marriage. We see this idea at the end of Young's play "Dear Stone," when the memory of his promise before God and angels in the temple helps to bring a husband back from his plans to end his marriage to a woman with MS. The idea is more comically, but still sublimely, represented in the story "God on Donahue," the climax of the "Husbands and Wives" group of stories. This is a hilarious tale about an elderly, eccentric Utah couple who appear on the Donahue show for weird reasons I won't explain. On the way to Los Angeles, the husband happens upon a vagrant at a rest stop, and feels convinced that this is God going incognito. The three of them appear on the show, and are grilled by Phil Donahue about their relationship. (By the way, the portrayal of Donahue as Lord of This World (daytime television) is brilliantly wicked). The tide begins to turn against Donahue, and the husband begins to realize his past unfairness to his wife, after this exchange:
"God," said Donahue, "and let me clarify I'm not being profane here. God, whose side are you on anyway? Joseph's or Utahna's?"
God looked over at Utahna and then at Joseph. "I'm just right here," He said.
"Between them," Phil clarified.
"Yes."
I love this story, but a lot of people won't. We see the story through the somewhat twisted POV of the Joseph, the husband. I found that intriguing, for example it made the miracle that happened at the end all the more interesting; did it really happen, or was it just Joseph's imagination? I pressed the book on my sister-in-law, and she put it down after this story. Too strange, too many sharks to be comfortable with. Okay, but if you can handle a bit of strangeness, and a good deal of sadness, to go along with the strong, faith-promoting stories offered here, I urge you to take the plunge.
Another theme in the Love Chains collection is the difficulties and strange juxtapositions which occur when the Mormon culture and faith interact with African-American and Central American (specifically Mayan) cultures. Two very painful stories concern first contact between "shiny and sassy" white Mormons, confident in their faith, and Blacks who are put off by the Mormon attitudes and history of discrimination. The three stories in the "Hermanos y hermanas" section concern Mayans in a small village in Guatemala, and their acceptance of the Mormon faith, sometimes in ways incomprehensible to the North Americans who bring that faith to them. The North Americans' inability to understand the indigenous language is symbolic of their failure to fully comprehend the souls of the locals. The stories strongly affirm, however, that despite the lack of understanding, and even conflict, between cultures, that all involved are true brothers and sisters. One story ends this way, after a shared communication through Handel's Messiah at a funeral,
"'Hermanos y hermanas,' said Jose, then spoke the language I could not understand."
Despite the deep chasm of differences, the commonalities between peoples gives us hope.
A third theme which pops up often in Young's work is caring for the sick and elderly, and the toll that physical decay takes on both the afflicted and the care givers.
So, what we have here is a writer with literary skills of such excellence that she has won several awards and has been published by a
university press. She writes meaningfully about us, in ways that ultimately, I believe, serve to strengthen our faith. What are you waiting for?
March 28, 2019
I devoured these stories. They felt so real, and spoke to so many things modern Latter-day Saints often experience -- family difficulties, cross-cultural interactions, faith differences, etc. I'm usually not an emotional person; when others report feeling swept up in the emotions of a book, I usually just feel exasperated and like someone is trying to manipulate me. But these stories felt raw and real.
A few of the stories seemed incomplete, or maybe I just didn't really get them. But most felt like the meat I had been hungering for after years of cotton candy (and occasionally milk).
A few of the stories seemed incomplete, or maybe I just didn't really get them. But most felt like the meat I had been hungering for after years of cotton candy (and occasionally milk).
March 30, 2008
A collection of short stories about families, and the "love chains" that bind them, even in hard times. Written by a Mormon author, mostly about Mormon families. This book is beautiful, though as the author admits, it is "full of sharks." I especially love the story "Winds."
September 13, 2016
I actually think the introduction to this collection was my favorite part. I did like most of the stories, but I particularly liked the introduction and its discussion of the impact of literature on our faith.
March 28, 2020
One of the best LDS writers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews