Sweet Land of Bigamy

by Miah Arnold

When Helen Motes finds herself on a Utah mountaintop getting married to a besotted young Indian poet, she can't quite figure out how she became a bigamist, and she certainly doesn't want to be one. Helen worked hard to create the stable middle-class life her childhood denied her, so sabotaging her first (and decidedly still legal) marriage wasn't part of her life plan. Yet with her original husband away in Iraq, and her new husband ready to agree to everything she ever wanted, deciding which husband to keep proves to be torture.How Helen's life led her to this point--and what she plans to do with these two "keepers"--are the driving questions behind Miah Arnold's heartfelt debut about an unlikely bigamist and her circle of family, friends, and husbands. Weaving in multiple continents and unforgettable characters, The Sweet Land of Bigamy is a funny and surprisingly touching exploration of what marriage can be.

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Motes is, above all, a survivor. Fatherless and with an alcoholic mother, Helen lived a fractured, poverty-stricken childhood in rural Utah. As a sixteen-year old girl, she met and married an older man, Larry, a solid respectable Mormon. Helen’s marriage to Larry represented the stability she never experienced growing up. But after ten years of marriage, during which Helen is forced to cope with the heart-break of infertility, Larry leaves for a two-year stint in Iraq, in full defiance of Helen’s fears and wishes.
Angry and heart-broken, Helen heads back to her childhood town in hopes of making amends with her sick mother. While there, she meets and falls in love with an Indian poet, who proposes marriage to her before she even has the chance to explain about her husband. Her new lover is full of starry-eyed ideals about the world; through his eyes Helen is able to experience the wide-eyed wonder of childhood that she missed out on. She marries her Indian suitor, expecting to quietly divorce her first husband while her second husband is in India tending to his dying mother. And so Helen finds herself in the awkward position of being a bigamist - a woman married to two men.
Things quickly get very complicated as Helen finds herself unable to sever her emotional attachment to her first husband. These husbands of hers fill two separate voids in her heart. She loves the two of them, both in their own unique way. The plot is original and surprising, with a lot of very unique characters; the people are flawed yet relatable. The author made the wise decision to tell the story from a variety of different perspectives, rather than sticking to the point of view of one woman trying to decide between the two men that she loves. By showing us the story through the eyes of many, the reader is drawn into a deeply textured and vivid portrait of a woman trying to make the best of a difficult circumstance.
This is a story about cobbling together a life out of broken remnants; a fractured childhood, absentee parents, a marriage of necessity, a marriage of impulse. The author does not shy away from the difficult moments but handles them with such grace and such affection for her characters that the result is a truly heart-warming story about the ability of people to stick together in spite of their flaws.

[Jennifer Garcia]

I want to thank the publisher for giving me this book in exchange for a review.

Unfortunately, I could not finish the book so this is not a true review. I can't honestly judge the book at all as I did not get past the 2nd chapter.

It had nothing to do with it being a bad book, it was either the writing style or the story itself that did not click with me.

The story seemed interesting to me that is why I requested it. However, I suppose this is just one of those personal like/dislike things.

Again, I apologize and hope many others enjoy this book.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miah Arnold nails the lives she writes about. Whether writing about the suburbs of Houston, the wealthy from River Oaks, or the wild and disparate personalities that make up small-town Utah, these people live in their specificity and eccentricities. It's a beautiful story that twists and tightens; each page drew me in, made me cringe at Helen's choices and actions. Alone, at night, I laughed aloud at some of the lines. I loved it.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a terrible book. I couldn't relate to any of the characters nor did I like any of them. Especially not the main character, Helen, who used marriage as a form of escape rather than a sacred pact of unity and trust and commitment between two people. If I hadn't needed to read this for book club, I don't think I would have gotten past page 4. The book did flow well enough so I was able to power through.

[Darcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I admit it. The bright shiny cover in the new books section of the Library combined with the dust jacket review caught my eye and my imagination. But this was just too weird, and I was just not invested nor engaged in the characters enough to suffer through the unexciting storytelling as it continued to progress to a strange, but not even interesting place.

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love the title, couldn't abide the writing.

[Kama · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be funny. It wasn't. It was actually pretty dark. It also felt rather rushed/unfinished.

[David Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is local literature from a different perspective than what we normally get here in Utah. The Mormons in the story are mostly tangential characters, and the main character is an outsider from a fictional town in the mountains east of Heber. I wouldn't go out of my way to track this book down, but it's a fun read if you happen to find it at your local library as I did.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun to pick up a book because you think you should, and then to discover real pleasure in it! Currently taking a workshop with the author, so figured I should read her book first. This novel deserved more attention. Quirky, yet with more serious themes than I'd anticipated, including the story of a gravely wounded Iraq vet (well, contractor, but that makes the situation worse in some respects), and major questions about family and addiction and especially agency. And the best part for this former Russian lit major is the author's unblinking embrace of paradox and ambiguity. Life rarely wraps up neatly. Fascinating and genuinely stirring.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Name: Sweet Land of Bigamy
Author: Miah Arnold
ISBN: 9781440541612
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Smith Publicity - Tyrus Books
Publication/Expected Publication: July 1, 2012

Helen Motes had been married to Larry for nearly ten years when he decided to take a job as a translator in Iraq. Feeling betrayed and abandoned, Helen becomes increasingly infatuated with Chakor, who doesn't know she's married (and Helen never tries to disabuse him of that notion). Helen and Chakor begin a relationship that ultimately leads to marriage, which makes Helen a bigamist.

Through a series of strange circumstances, including a painful disaster that entirely redefines Helen's relationship with Larry, Helen is somehow able to keep her secret. Although initially not a very sympathetic character, Helen's decisions throughout the book give readers an insight into her psyche which soften her images somewhat.

The structure of the book is such that each chapter is divided into sections headed by dates ranging from the 1990s to 2000s. The "flashback" sections are helpful in setting the scene and providing backstory; however, this might be confusing to readers at first.

Overall, this book has an original storyline that keeps readers guessing until the very end. I would highly recommend it!

**Please note that I did receive a free copy of this book via Netgalley.**

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am calling this 'chick-lit' just because I don't see a guy reading about a woman's angst about having "absent-mindedly" married two guys, but it's not the fun romp that most books in that genre are. Helen Motes returns to her hometown in Utah when her (much)older husband goes to Iraq as a translator for a contractor (he learned Arabic while on his mission trip to Egypt) in order to recoup their lost savings after a bad investment. While there she meets and is swept off her feet by a young man from India. At his urging, she marries him right before he goes back to India to be with his dying mother. She goes back to Houston to tell her husband she is divorcing him when he comes home on leave, but can't bring herself to do it. The next time he comes home, he has a severe head injury and has lost part of a leg, so she takes him back to Utah with him (husband number two is still in India with his mom). As she juggles the two relationships and tries to keep her bigamy a secret from pretty much everyone, she reconciles with her alcoholic mother and discovers she is pregnant.

Although at the beginning I didn't think I would enjoy this book, in the end I got caught up in the story.

[David Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please note that a 5-star rating means the book completely rocks my world; 4 is still high praise. Also, I'm not sure of the exact date I finished reading it.

Miah's debut novel makes me hope that my novel-in-progress turns out as insightful, emotionally involving, and flat-out funny. Some readers will have trouble with the characters' quirks, which I found refreshingly real, or with protagonist Helen Motes's habit of creating her own problems and implementing solutions that just make the problems worse (she's smart for a woman with such a slapdash upbringing, but none too wise). Certain passages made me squirm, but in a good way: I like that a writer can make me feel the characters' discomforts and laugh at the same time, the same kind of prose at which David Foster Wallace excelled.

Another Goodreads reviewer noted that she couldn't envision a guy enjoying SLoB. This straight guy enjoyed it immensely and recommends it enthusiastically, not just out of loyalty to the H-Town literary scene.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet Land of Bigamy was interesting in that the leading character's relationship with her two lovers/husbands may be interpreted as America's (or anyone's) divided loyalties to war (the self-destructive soldier husband) and peace (the kind, nurturing but perhaps slightly naive teacher husband). The characters were fairly well developed and I cared about them but something prevents me from being wholeheartedly enthusiastic. The main character's childhood as the daughter of an alcoholic mother is offered as the explanation for why she sort of haplessly winds up married to two men but it doesn't quite add up. Still I would recommend it and would enjoy a good discussion about it with another reader.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit that I'm not entirely objective, as the author is a cousin of mine. On the other hand, this isn't the kind of book I usually pick up to read. I finished it last night, and it feels a little like an unsettling dream, vivid and not entirely pleasant, but sticky. The flavor of the characters still in my head. The whole thing became really beautiful at the end, the characters all just where they needed to be; a subtle choreography had been going on that didn't quite make sense to me until then. I loved the setting, as well--though I didn't grow up there, I feel close enough that it was familiar. Thank you, Miah.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ick. Cute title, good premise, and promising storylines(s). Now, was it the editor or the writer who failed to deliver much of a story. Regardless, I regret not giving up on this one before I was halfway through. I plodded on, hoping the characters would become more full-bodied, that the quirky storylines would pull together into a redeeming plot. It didn't happen.

Save yourself the time and pick another title on your 2R list.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books with strange (in a good way), quirky characters, so in this regard the book didn't disappoint. I enjoyed the majority of the novel and was quickly sucked into the lives of its characters. The ending, however, was a disappointment; it felt extremely rushed and, although a few things were wrapped up, much was left hanging. I am someone who prefers a cleaner conclusion.

[Laura Madonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful writing all through.
"He remembered waking in the black of his hospital room in the late night, his body a ruined sun nourishing a complicated constellation of bright green lights and transparent tubes."

[Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is so intriguing. You could read it at the beach, or really hunker down and read it for a class or something. I got it on a whim, and am glad.

[Landon]

This is the next book I'm reading.

[Jeanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a very difficult time with this book and did not connect to any of the characters. The "voice" of this book felt like it was trying to be a Tom Robbins novel which drove me nuts.

[Louie Haltom · Rating 4 out of 5]

though it was good.the people in the book are survivor's make bad decisions but still have love in there lives. well written

[Sara-larus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about the world of choices we live in, women deal with.
It appeals to me that things don't have to be black or white in Helen's world.
that's all they are giving me time to write.

[Keisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book club selection.