Monday, February 9th--I am recommending another book! I recently finished "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop. Carolyn Jessop was the 4th wife of Merrill Jessop, a polygamist in high standing within the FLDS community. Her story of abuse, heartache, and struggle during her 17 year marriage to Merrill, producing 8 children as well, is astonishing. I can't even imagine the life she lived! Similar to the book I recommended a few months ago, "Stolen Innocence" by Elissa Wall, this book takes the reader deep into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) with Warren Jeffs as its current leader (he is currently serving time in prison for various reasons). Being LDS, I find many similarities to the FLDS faith but it seems that much of the foundation their religion, which branched from the LDS faith in the late 1800's, has been twisted and changed to accommodate beliefs and opinions of those in high authority. Both of these books educate the reader about the religion in its innocence but shows how corrupt leaders, over many years, have turned the religion into a chaotic mess of beliefs.Okay, so why am I interested in these books, pertaining to the FLDS community and polygamy? I am fascinated with the lifestyle and how they have altered the LDS religious foundation and customized it to meet their needs and religious desires. Those of you that live near me may already know this, we have several FLDS communities and compounds nearby, most practice polygamy. They pretty much keep to themselves and many of the women choose not to wear the standard dresses and hairstyle so they are able to blend in when there is a need to venture out into the public.
Shortly after authorities stormed the FLDS ranch in Texas, last year, I was shopping in our local Wal-Mart and a FLDS mother and 5 or 6 of her daughters were also shopping there. She was dressed in the plain pastel dress, long sleeves with the dress going down to the ankles, her hair was french braided with the stiff "swoop" bangs that are common among the women in their faith. Her daughters also were wearing dresses similar to their mother and had similar hair styles. I felt so bad for this mother and her family as they walked down aisles and several people had their camera-phones out taking pictures of them. I could tell she was disturbed by it all.
In reading these books, I realize they are one-sided and I pray that the women within the FLDS community are being treated FAR MORE better than the women in these books. If you end up reading "Escape" or "Stolen Innocence", and would like to discuss either of them, please let me know.
2 comments:
Sorry, had to change a few things about that first comment...
I grew up in Cedar Valley (right near you) from the ages of 4 to 9. My best friends were from a polygamous family. They were two girls my age about 6 months apart from each other and they were each from a different mother with the same father. My friends seemed completely normal to me and family life on from the inside seemed completely normal. The only thing that I viewed as different about them was that each of their mothers had their own room, so I realized that their father must take turns. Their dad was gone a lot working to support their large family. There was so much love in the house and it was so cozy and homey because there were TWO mothers there all the time to make it that way! I definitely don't agree with their changes to our religion, but these are not bad people (sure, some may be, but I would guess that the majority aren't). Anyway, I really wish that I had kept in touch with them because I would be curious to know what my friends are like as adults. I lost touch with them at about age 12 (we moved to WA when I was 10).
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