Customer Reviews

This Is the Place

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, This Is the Place (America House, 2001)

....The comparison on the back jacket between This Is the Place and Gone with the Wind is ludicrous. Mitchell's first (and blessedly only) novel was an overblown, unreadable piece of melodrama that should better have been published, in the words of Melville, to the flames. Howard-Johnson's first novel is exactly the opposite; it's a spare novel, rarely a word out of place and with very little filler, without long diversions that have little to do with the central characters. No, Gone with the Wind this isn't, and I, for one, couldn't be happier.

Set in 1959, This Is the Place gives us Skylar Eccles, between high school and college, working for the local paper, and a non-Mormon living in the state of Utah. She's dating a mormon seriously, and it looks as if she's treading the same route as most of her ancestors that we get to know in this novel: she's going to marry a Mormon. But how that affects her, how her wordless battle against pre-ERA workplaces, and the various other strings of plot here are of secondary importance. This Is the Place is a novel about the Eccles family and Sky's attempt to put the recent family history into words. It is a love affair with genealogy, and that is what makes this novel shine. More than once while reading this, I found myself making comparisons to Lee Smith's brilliant novel Oral History; I get the feeling that the audiences for the two books would cross over perfectly.

Since I felt compelled to mention the prejudice angle previously, I might as well attempt to justify it. Sure, there's prejudice to be found here. Anyone who grew up with Tom Fitzgerald's wondrous Great Brain books has a basic understanding of the ins and outs of Utah society. Not much changed between T. D. and his family at the turn of the century and Sky in 1959. Much is made of the oppression of the Mormons by American society; much is made of the oppression the Mormons foist on others, as well, both the non-Mormons living in Utah and those places to whom the mormons send missionaries. There's also a rather biting passage about the non-Mormon minority's feelings towards the Mormons that had me wanting to stand up and cheer for our heroine. Yes, prejudice is pervasive in this novel, but it's not thrown in our faces with the tacit understanding that we should Do Something About It. It's presented in a more Nietzschian fashion-- what doesn't kill us,
etc. Does that make this a bad book, or a "sell-out" as far as prejudice goes? Far from it-- would that more American literature treated prejudice in such a pragmatic fashion.

My main problem with the book has nothing at all to do with Carolyn Howard-Johnson and the tales she spins within its pages, but with the publishers. The editor fell asleep at the wheel more times than I can count, and every spelling and grammatical mistake jars, especially when there are ten or twenty per page (this is commonplace in the large italicized blocks towards the end where Sky actually starts writing down all this family history). If you're a nitpicker, beware-- there are large blocks of this novel where you'll be slowed down by a shoddy editing department. I thought the book was well worth reading despite that, but your mileage may vary. *** 1/2

In "This is the Place," Carolyn Howard-Johnson sheds light on the mysterious world of Mormonism. Growing up Methodist in a Mormon-populated town, I had never understood the beliefs of the Mormons until I read this book. Despite the push-pull that forces Sky Eccles to reconsider her place in Utah -- and, subsequently, in her family -- the author's tone is compassionate for all her characters, both Mormon and not. Particularly satisfying is the twist ending, a delightful surprise that left this reader happy for the journey. In an age that doesn't quite appreciate literary authors, Ms. Howard-Johnson has created a work of depth and ambition that doesn't speak down to its readers but rather allows them to become a part of the tale. Well-done!

Carolyn Howard Johnson takes the reader back in time to an era of polygomy and prejudice in Utah. She shows us that our rightous prejudice is exclusive and hurtful. Living as a minority in any community requires courage. Sky is an example of one womans courage to row against the tide and be true to herself. The message that prejudice can be cloaked by love, family, and church is skillfully presented whitout defaming the founding principles of the LDS Church. As an active, open minded LDS member, I can appreciate her message and take it to heart and still say: The church is perfect, the people aren't! The book sends a message that we still have a long way to go in fully appreciating diversity.

"This is the Place," by Carolyn Howard-Johnson offers the reader insight into Utah, a state she obviously loves, and the dissension that religious intolerance and bigotry can create within families, communities, states, countries and worlds. This timely and powerful tale evolves through the experiences and vision of Sky Eccles. Readers will feel both her joy and her pain as she offers us glimpses into Mormon life from outside its security net. Howard-Johnson's lyrical style captures and holds your attention from beginning to conclusion. The author's emotional ties, her sense of loyalty to her native state of Utah parallel my feelings about my beloved Iowa. I enjoyed reading "This is the Place" and recommend it to all avid readers. Howard-Johnson's writing is skillful and often downright poetic. Beverly J Scott author of Righteous Revenge

There are certain issues involving our cultural that you cannot question as an author without getting all kinds of hits--both positive and negative and none of them have anything what-so-ever to do with the literary merits of the story. One of those is to question or comment on some particular religious organization, even if indirectly. It takes literary courage and becomes a fine line between the art, prose and the balance of truth.

However, the truth is determined by our own personal insights as to what is correct. It almost always reflects the life long training and the belief system of your family, community and those who educated you. Very few ever really explore religions outside their own youthful indoctrinations into whatever cultural and religious heritage we were born into. So, when author Carolyn Howard-Johnson writes a book based on her alienation from the surrounding culture of Mormonism in Utah she is bound to open herself up as a target.

Carolyn's book title is taken from a quote of the LSD leader Brigham Young when he looked out over Salt Lake City and proclaimed "This is the Place". Contrary to some reviews I had read about her book, I found that there was no attempt to attack any organization. She deals with people in her book and it is the actions and views of her characters that become the focus of the issues in her story. However, the culture she writes about is a collective thought and action process of a group. She writes about her lead character having to deal with life as a non-Mormon in a state where this is the primary social driving force. The premise seems to be that no matter what you do or achieve as a non-member of this cultural you will always remain feeling like you are on the outside or at least separated in some social way.

Carolyn uses her lead character to bring out the past as she explores her family genealogy. We discover how a group of early founders escaped from the bigotry and persecutions of other places. They came to Utah to build a place where they would not endure such things again. In her book, it seems that the former persecuted become intolerant of outsiders over time. Maybe not in brutal ways like blacks had in the south but at least socially there was a division between the non-believers and those of the LDS church.

When reading her book one gets the feeling that her story seems almost personal and autobiographical. It feels like we are following along in a memoir of someone exploring their family and themselves looking for their roots and meaning. It is well written and the prose is top notch stuff. It flows with energy as it almost dances through the pages. Her characters are all alive and have depth and animation. This was her first novel but it feels like classic piece of literature like many other great first novels of our time.

This book will continue to be controversial but hopefully in a healing way. I get the feeling that the author is trying to throw a mirror out there for people to look into for discovering there own roots. I think the author obviously has great writing skills and talents. I hope people read this story with both an open mind and heart so that they can fully enjoy the actual story she has created.

This story of a young woman's heart as it blooms in matters of life and love takes on special meaning as she struggles in the midst of discrimination during an era when not only Mormonism, but the judgemental attitudes of the 50s, trapped women inside tight little boxes. An unexpected twist at the end.

Who doesn't love the thrill of discovery...the tingle one gets from uncovering a hidden treasure? Author Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an undiscovered jewel of a writer, a true artistic force waiting to be revealed, and enjoyed. In the author's first novel "This is the Place," Howard-Johnson turns her pen to the challenges of love, prejudice, the journey towards self-awareness, and the power of individuality--and in the process, has created a story which is both timeless and timely. Set in 1950's Utah, young Sky Eccles fights to find her place and her peace in her family and in the Morman culture despite her "half-breed" status. Howard-Johnson takes the reader along Sky's journey of growth, weaving a tale which is dense with detail, yet lyrical and easy to read. Readers will leave "This is the Place" enlighted, moved, educated, and delighted with the author's gentle yet profound skill with words, and eye for the little things that weave into life's tapestry. Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a new and provocative talent, well worth discovering!

Within the covers of this book lie the dragons of bigotry & chauvinism, madness & dysfunction as played out in the promised land of Utah & the Mormon culture that thrived there. The stories told are alive with history, movement, curiosity.

It is 1959, & Skylar Eccles has become a journalist for a Salt Lake City newspaper, where she takes on the project of discovering her family's genealogy

A quite well written novel with some lyrical patchworked stories about one woman's life & her history within a closed society, her memories of how she tries to toe the party line, & her eventual break for freedom. Did it gladden my heart? No, the often abrasive tone about the oppression of a host of written & unwritten rules, was withering. As too the Big Brotherism of that culture.

At the end there is a Reading Group Guide in which are listed questions for serious discussion, which transforms this novel into a textbook about closed societies & their impact.

I love family stories, and this book is like a quilt stitched together by the ties that bind the Eccles women to each other. Author Carolyn Howard-Johnson pieces together their stories like patchwork squares handed down from generation to generation, until the reader truly feels enveloped in this family's rich heritage. Her writing brings the characters and the setting to life as vividly as an Oscar-winning documentary, and her lyrical style paints them in colors and details to rival an exquisite picture postcard from her beloved Utah.

Having lived all my life in Alabama, I thought I knew all there was to know about discrimination. What an eye-opener this book is about religious intolerance--a subject that becomes more and more relevant in today's world of terrorist threats and suspicion. Would that we all could see the issues from both sides as does this book's heroine, Sky Eccles. Empathy is a hard thing to learn, but this book goes a long way in teaching it.

This is a book that is both entertaining to read but it also has the subtle ability to change perceptions I think about a loaded subject. I was aware of recent explorings of the family systems in the often mysterious land of Mormonism. The writer has managed to bring a personal experience into the characters of her story and the complexity of being in and/or from a Mormon community in a modern times.

I think it is true that it is impossible to write anything without it being somewhat autobiographical but this author has managed to remove herself enough to let this be a story that is entertaining to read and enlightening. It can't get any better than that for a writer or a reader. Being a writer myself makes me doubly critical and I give this 5 stars. This book was thoughtfully written and well researched.

June of the Corn Huskers Ball