A.L. Harper

I grew up in a very sanctimonious place, Salt Lake City, Utah. Mormons (yes, I know they like to be referred to as LDS now, but we all know they’re Mormons), the ruling class are generally speaking more conservative than Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson combined – although they are far more genteel about it than those flailing, yelling, bible thumpers (what would the neighbours think?).

However despite this very conservative culture, there is a thriving gay community. In fact there is such a large gay population that it would be impossible if more than a fair few weren’t Mormon themselves.

Mormons aren’t allowed to drink coffee, tea or hot drinks (technically they aren’t even supposed to drink Coke) and yet Salt Lake City has a thriving coffee culture – just try and find a seat in your local coffee house on a Sunday morning. The Mormons aren’t allowed to drink any alcohol at all. They even use water for the sacrament in place of wine (water and wonder bread) but you can’t swing a dead cat in the valley without hitting a microbrewery. It is a valley of extremes.

Some of the extremes are bad. Mormons preach that people must be in a monogamous marriage – contrary to what you see on TV – in order to enter the kingdom of heaven (you must be married or sealed in the Mormon temple). They teach that you must never have sex outside of marriage. But one in five Utah women have been raped or sexually assaulted – a conservative estimate – making the rape rate about 15% above the national average. Sex is a very taboo subject, a big no-no, undoubtedly a contributing factor to the very high average. It also means that Utah has an unusually high number of (illegal) porn shops. Sexual addiction is as common among men as taking anti-depressants is among women (which is twice the national average – hey it hard being perfect all the time).

Always Listen to the Ravings of a Mad Woman is a tale of sexual addiction in the Salt Lake Valley and within the Mormon culture. The author, JulieAnn Henneman, grew up in “the church” and knows its ins and outs, its dark and dusty passages and its hidden rooms of shame. In Always Listen to the Ravings of a Mad Woman JulieAnn manages to incorporate a lot of these dark passages in an empathetic and humorous way. She deals with the huge, frightening issues of sexual addiction, religious hypocrisy and co-dependency like they were old friends. And shows just how natural these things can feel when they are happening to you.

Corinne Young (who shares her last name of one of the founding fathers of the Mormon Church) is a Mormon housewife with two children (a suspiciously low number for a Mormon, she must be a convert) who finds herself in the arms of her good looking dentist. Or rather bent over his desk, on the very first page and it just get’s better from there.

Corinne knows she isn’t happy with her life but doesn’t quite know why. She has everything she should have; marriage to a returned missionary, two great kids (should be a least five though), mini van, and a coffee clatch (modern day equivalent of a sewing circle). What more does a woman need in life? She has plenty of house keeping to do and meals to make and that is what women are for, in the Mormon world, after all. Why isn’t it enough?

JulieAnn’s novel capably takes you down the paths of blame and co-dependency, from what’s wrong with me to what’s wrong him and back. She holds your hand and guides you through Corinne’s journey of self discovery as she learns to survive and get past co-addiction.

And she does it in a way that is sympathetic, showing a real affection for the innocent foibles of many Mormons – the majority of whom are very nice, honest, decent people just like everywhere else. Although they do eat more Jell-O in Utah than anywhere else in the world and that can’t be a good thing.

The author’s style is an unusual one. She has a way of writing so that you really believe it is just a woman relating her tale to her friends. Always Listen to the Ravings of a Mad Woman is written completely in the first person which is a feat I always admire in a book – first person being the hardest to write. And although some of the quirks that the author employs can, at first, feel a bit too casual but you do eventually get it. By the end it feels as natural as any style.

Always Listen to the Ravings of a Mad Woman does have a failing however. JulieAnn occasionally assumes the reader has a working knowledge of life in the Salt Lake Valley and/or life in the Mormon Church. Although this doesn’t detract from the story in any way it does mean that some of the humour can go over the head of the average non-Mormon/ non-SLC valley resident which is unfortunate as it’s usually some of the funniest stuff. But don’t let that minor flaw put you off this funny, intelligent, and engaging book.

Always Listen to the Ravings of a Mad Woman is a captivating, well written, capable tale with appealing, interesting characters that are easy to love and hate. It is a very good first book and I am really looking forward to JuileAnn’s next novel. I just hope she lets me review that one too.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 4th, 2006 at 4:29 am and is filed under Books, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.