Hey everyone!!!
Rebecca read my novel and posted her review here: Exmormon -- I read it!
Thanks Rebecca!!! I really appreciate getting feedback on how my impressions on growing up Mormon compare to the experiences of people a little more than ten years younger.
I laughed at Rebecca's remark in the "Youth Conference" section calling the girls "cookie whores." Sadly the thing about the LDS moms encouraging the girls to bake gifts for their secret loves really was taken from life, as were the food/sex object lessons...
The Adventures of a Friendly French-American ExMormon Atheist Mom Living in Switzerland!!!
6 comments:
You know I don't remember the "cookie whores." I guess it might have been because we were quite isolated from everyone else. I didn't talk to too many people except on Sunday. We usually lived so far away (50 miles away from the nearest town) and most of it was on dirt roads.
But my family was pretty weird in their own special way. LOL
I was one of three LDS kids in a graduating class of 550. The class following mine had none. So basically we were surrounded by tons of perfectly nice non-members and a tiny handful of Mormon kids.
The adult leaders wanted to instill upon us that our highest goal is to snag a Mormon boy. So they really did encourage us to invest a lot of self-esteem in our ability to attract and please one or another of the few Mormon boys we knew and gain their affections.
The whole thing was incredibly painful and humiliating, which is basically what I was trying to express in the "Youth Conference" segment of the novel.
sounds very humiliating. Of course, I had two sisters close to my age... and they took all my boyfriends. I had to leave home to find my cutie... and when he said that my sisters looked carnivorous... I was incredibly happy. LOL
Boy.. we were definitely stripped of our self-esteem.
Well, Miss Hanson . . . do you hate me now that I've answered your question? I know, it's a heavy one!
I grew up in So. Cal, with TONS of Mormon kids -- not really so perfect, though. I think at least half of the girls in my YW were on drugs (although the adults never knew it, since they were the super-nice, trendy girls who everyone looked up to), and I knew more Mormon girls who got pregnant than non-Mormon girls.
We were taught that getting married in the temple was the ultimate goal, and most of the girls I grew up with didn't go to college, or only went to snag a husband (which they did, then, for the most part, dropped out and ended up back in our sad little hometown).
Anyway, your book really is so much fun to read, and you did convey how painful and humiliating and just REALLY pathetic that whole situation is (sorry -- like I said before, I'm not great at reviewing, so it was mainly just what I was thinking at the time). As for the Mormons being villianous or stupid - I think it works since it really does seem very (here's that phrase again) tongue-in-cheek.
Major applause - writing a book is something to be really proud of, and writing a READABLE book is just incredible.
Hey Rebecca!!! Thanks again for the compliments!!!
Hey F2K -- I can't say that I hate you since I don't even know you. I'm glad you've clarified your position at least, so now we know that your "love the sinner, hate the sin" stance applies not only to Mormons but also to homosexuals and many others. Probably atheists, I imagine... ;-)
Obviously I disagree with you, however, this is the Internet so one is constantly in contact with all manner of opinions one disagrees with. Still, it's probably better to discuss and exchange ideas with the opposition rather than just always preaching to the choir....
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