From Housewife to Heretic: One woman's spiritual awakening and her excommunication from the Mormon church [Paperback]

Sonia Johnson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 415 pages
• Publisher: Wildfire Books (October 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1877617016
• ISBN-13: 978-1877617010
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars From an active member: Pretty accurate but has its bias, April 7, 2005

By 

Tina Melquist (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: From Housewife to Heretic (Hardcover)

If I could I would give this book 3 ½ stars. Johnson is a decent (albeit verbose) writer, and her story is gripping. Once you pick up the book it is hard to put it down. Though she occasionally tries to explain Mormon colloquialisms and customs in layman's terms for non-Mormons, she writes from a profoundly Mormon experience, and I think it would be hard for a non-Mormon to fully appreciate the cultural subtleties in some of her stories.

Pros: Johnson's writing is illuminating. I was surprised at how something as simple as putting the shoe on the other foot made me consider in a new light traditions I had taken for granted. E.G., What if male missionaries could not baptize the people they converted and had to ask a woman to do the baptizing for them? How would men feel if the Church openly worshipped Heavenly Mother but only rarely spoke of the existence of a Heavenly Father in hushed and demurred tones? How would single men react to the Relief Society patronizing them with a speech assuring them that female leaders knew that some of their hearts yearned to be married and that if they were not fortunate enough to marry and sire children in this life they would have the opportunity in the hereafter, contingent upon their righteousness? Anyone with half a brain would concede that men would not like it one bit! Neither does Johnson; neither do I.

Cons: Johnson suspects sinister motives of most men in and out the Church, but considering the conspiring cabal that worked to excommunicate her, who could blame her? I personally think that most men are simply oblivious to the adverse effects of patriarchy and don't honestly intend to insult women. Many male church members are sincerely trying to comfort a single, 40-year-old woman when they tell her that she will find a soulmate in the afterlife if she doesn't find one on earth. These men don't realize that the reason they are even in the business of "comforting" this woman is that they themselves created a system that allowed (nay, encouraged!) this woman to pin all of her hopes and happiness, all of her dreams and desires, upon being someone else's wife and someone else's mother, rather than becoming a strong individual herself. Furthermore, some of what Johnson describes as her haze of living under patriarchy seems like severe depression. The Church has never embraced psychology, even openly telling its members that if you pray and fast enough God will help you through any trial. This ignorant mentality was even worse in the late 1970s. Clearly, injustice is prevalent in the Mormon Church; however, I think Johnson sometimes blurs the lines between her anger at Mormon injustice and her own mental anguish.

To me, the most disturbing part of the book (besides the cheeky confrontation between a hotheaded Orrin Hatch and a composed, coolheaded Johnson) was the detailed account of the Church organizing lobbying groups and political action committees to campaign against the ERA under direction from current Church President, Gordon Hinckley. The Church has recently engaged in similar tactics in promoting anti-gay marriage legislation, and the secrecy with which the Church organizes is unnerving. While many other churches are aboveboard and openly announce their political involvements, the LDS Church claims to shy away from politics while sneakily orchestrating supposedly "grassroots movements," which it tries to pass off as mere groups of "concerned citizens" banding together.

Overall, a compelling read. I was, however, left with a strong feeling that "the bigger they are, the harder they fall." I think that because Johnson wholly bought into patriarchy as a child and young woman the more disillusioned she became when she exposed its faults.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars bravo!, May 5, 2004

By 

"camnemdvs" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Housewife to Heretic (Hardcover)

First of all, to everyone who deems it necessary to attack the author of this book: shame on you. This is a place for reviews on the BOOK, not the author.

On that note, I found Sonia's book to be a delightful read. It's nice to finally read Mormon literature from a woman's perspective. Although a bit outdated, I felt that I could relate to most of what she wrote (both concerning the Mormon church, and not). She did get a bit out of hand with the "labeling" of ALL men. I'm sure that from her experiences, men have been less-than-human. Not all men are that way, though.

Not once does she attack the doctrine of the religion; only the hypocricy of most of the members [with whom she came into contact]. Her story may seem a bit exaggerated, but I don't believe it is. I went ahead and did some research on Sonia, the ERA, etc., and I found her book to be dead on the facts.

I've found myself treating Sonia's book like I would a history book. I've learned things about the Mormon church that I never even knew of when I was a member; all of which rings of some form of truth.

If you're looking for an interesting, compelling book based on one woman's experience within the Mormon church, you needn't look any further.

50 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth about the Mormon Church-- can you take it?, February 5, 2001

By 

Anise "in defense of common sense" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Housewife to Heretic (Hardcover)

I originally read this book when I was ten years old, and a Mormon. God only knows how I actually got ahold of it. I suppose I didn't really know what to make of it at the time. Each time I have read it since, it has more resonance. Most people simply have no idea of what really goes on in the Mormon church. They think it's a nice, sunny, family-oriented religion. They do not know that the ideas of natural inferiority of women and superiority of men are integral parts of the religion, perhaps THE most integral. They do not know that African-Americans were not admitted into the Aaronic priesthood until 1979. They do not know that men are still allowed to store away multiple wives for the afterlife (and that sounds bizarre because it is.) Even many converts do not necessarily know these things. Sonia does come across as bitter and angry throughout much of this book, I agree. But if we don't get angry about certain things, exactly what are we on this earth for? Now, more than ever, this classic book reminds us that there is a time to be angry. I really wonder what Sonia is doing now, and I hope to hear her voice on the current political situation.