Customer Reviews

Saintspeak: The Mormon Dictionary

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The full title of this slim paperback is SAINTSPEAK: THE MORMON DICTIONARY. It contains an A to Z listing of Mormon vocabulary with some funny and irreverent definitions. Modeled after Ambrose Bierce's DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, it is (as Card puts it) a "satirical but gently affirming" book about Mormons, their faith, and their lifestyle. It was written by a Mormon for a Mormon audience. Frankly, I think I missed a lot of the humor since I'm not part of the in-crowd. Some of it, though, I did relate to since my father was a Presbyterian minister, and I spent a lot of my childhood around people from my church. However, if I had been a non-churchgoer, I don't think I would have had a clue as to what the book was talking about most of the time.

It's worth the money if you are (a) a fanatical Orson Scott Card fan, or (b)a Mormon with a stout sense of humor. Perhaps the book's greatest value is that it inspired Card to create his own publishing company--Hatrack River--and to begin writing religious fiction.

The other person to rate this was not mormon, and thus admits he did not really understand a lot of the humor. I am suprised that he understood any of it. It is a book about mormons, written for mormons who are willing to laugh at themselves. It is actually very funny. But you probably have to be mormon to get it, and you might have to be non-mormon (or a mormon who isn't unreasonably sensitive) to like it. I imagine a lot of mormons will be offended, but I was not at all. I just enjoyed it

I would recommend this to any LDS member that wants a fresh, funny perspective of their church and its quirky culture!

As an LDS member, I really think Scott Card does a wonderful job in satirizing Mormon culture. There is so much nonmembers wouldn't get, but I think fans of Scott Card would still enjoy his wit and the irony in the writing.