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Torn by God: A Family's Struggle with Polygamy: A Novel

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"Torn By God" touches on polygamy and the devastating effect it can have on families. The setting is the late 1950's and starts with a father searching for his own answers following a vision he had. He is carefully recruited into a group of polygamists and while he searches for his answers, his family struggles to stay alive. Described in a gripping way, the reader sees what it's like to live in a small, close-knit Mormon community that has no tolerance for a family like the Sterlings. The book touches on the LDS doctrine of excommunication, but doesn't delve deeply into Mormon dogma. It's not about polygamy; it's not about the LDS faith, but everything in the book surrounds it. It is the first book of this nature I have read, since my experience as an active Latter-day Saint is most books of this nature tend to tear down the LDS Church, or are written in a way to criticize the Church or its doctrine. I was ready to discard it should that happen, but surprisingly to me, I didn't find this to be the case in "Torn By God." I felt myself sympathizing with the Sterling family, who found themselves torn between loving their father, abiding his interest into a polygamist cult, and paying the price that comes from neighbors who are quick to judge. Couple this with the meager circumstances they find themselves living in as their father breaks promises and is lured away from home for a season. When you add to their disappointment, heartbreak and discouragement, the ever-present hypocritical attitudes of their pious neighbors, (many of whom are fellow church-goers), you find yourself thinking "There but for the grace of God go I." "Torn By God" is thought-evoking, and a real page-turner. It's a book you'll find yourself reading in one or two sittings!

This is a timely and very human book. Murdock's attention to small details makes this a believable novel. I felt like I had a privileged view of a young girl's authentic and honest diary which helped paint a portrait of Mormon families caught between conflicting factions of their church.
Though handed a challenging family to grow up in, Beth (the 12 year old narrator) retains her openness and innate compassion and never becomes blaming or bitter - quite an accomplishment. Because of this, the book can serve as a wonderful jumping off point for further discussion that can help us understand the variety of psychological motivations that lead us to our worldviews. Because fundamentalism is inherently black and white, this book's compelling story brings us welcomed shades of gray.

"Torn by God" digs deep into the heart of the polygamy problem that the Mormon church cannot separate itself from. Through this story -- which is based on the author's personal experience -- you'll understand why the LDS church will always be linked to it, regardless of how hard they try to distance themselves. Murdock explores the root of Mormonism's doctrine of celestial marriage (aka polygamy) and reveals the reason why it has been practiced, and is still practiced, by many of Joseph Smith's followers. Through the story, we feel the confusion and heartache that has been suffered by so many families. If you are interested in understanding what truly drives people to practice this lifestyle, you will understand it after reading this novel. Once you start reading "Torn by God," you won't be able to put it down.

This book is so dynamic and well written. The characters were so well developed, their story felt authentic. It was so visual that I could not put it down. I will be sure to look for future works from this author.

I found this family drama, by Zoe Murdock, to be a well-written, emotionally driven novel, dealing with several meaningful themes. Part of the power of the story comes from how it is told through the eyes and mind of the family's twelve year-old daughter, Beth. She sees the events of the story unfold and has enough insight to have serious thoughts about what is taking place around her, yet, as a child, she is helpless in changing her father's mind, when he decides that God wants him to have the family return to the older Mormon traditions of Polygamy.

The skill with which this novel is written keeps us in suspense. Beth sees her mother grow seriously ill from the psychic pain she suffers due to her husband's desire to have multiple wives. Beth also sees the disturbing possibility that she could be taken out of school and forced to marry an unpleasant, sex-obsessed older man. Even her younger brother, Mickey, can sense a feeling of doom arising from the path his father is taking. Meanwhile, the father, Michael, caught up in his fanatic religious obsession, remains blind to the affect it is having on those around him. In spite of how bad it gets, Beth doesn't lose her sense of love for her family and the desire for things to return to normal. That feeling of love she has and tells her story with provides part of the human quality of the novel.

While the story had significance for me in terms of how it deals with polygamy, and I learned a lot about Mormonism, I think that Murdock provides insights beyond those themes. The story relates to fanaticism as it exists in any religion, a type of destructive fanaticism which we see so much of throughout the world today.

As seen by his daughter, Beth, Michael doesn't come across as a bad man, he is more a man with weaknesses. He can be seen also as a man, who out of his own egotistical needs, takes too literally, and without question, things others have told him. For someone like myself, who previously knew little about the Mormon Church and had tended to view it from a negative view point, this sensitive portrayal of a Mormon family was enlightening and enabled me to understand the religion and it's members in a more complex, human way.

I fully recommend this novel especially since it can be appreciated on a number of different levels.

There's nothing unique about this book as far as writing ability and craftwork goes. In this way, it's a typical first novel by a capable author.

This isn't to say that the book is lacking or mediocre. I enjoyed it. The characters don't merely serve as paper cut-outs to express their assigned opinions and reactions, and you do feel for them. Beth's engagement with her father's religion is particularly humanely expressed. The family's problems are upsetting and worrying, but Murdock doesn't cheapen her work with tawdry drama or ill-inserted plot points. It's believable and immersive for those with an entirely different background to Beth, and particularly for these readers, gives an interesting insight to a different world.

In its actual plot details, however, this book is unique, and for that I think a bit of credit is due. So many times, a lonely book that centres on some previously unexamined social issue or theme ends up confused in its purpose, convoluted, poorly written or weakly held together. Due to the lack of other options, these books are held as the best there is, and recommended on the basis that there should be SOMETHING out there around this topic. For this book, this is not the case. You'd be hard-pressed to find another novel about a family in the Sterlings' situations, but if you did, I don't think it would be as good as this one.

reading group, book group, and book discussion group.
Every club should consider this book.

The discussions that flow from this story line will touch the soul of every woman who was ever a little girl growing up with an obsessed father.

Ms Murdoc's novel introduces the reader to the motivations of considering the clearly stated and mandatory requirements for believing the plain and precious truths (Scriptures) and promises (Exaltation) of (Mormonism) i.e. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and it's divergent splinter groups.

This is a fictional account but I know that the story has its roots in a very real experience. I shared the stories that my family's polygamists lived and taught. The reality of trying believe what the first Prophets (Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor) taught and what the current prophet teaches also ripped me apart.

I shared many of the experiences described this story.
The rocks roaring down that flooded creek in spring time brought back a vivid picture of my visits. I recall the parental calls to be very careful and the youthful response "don't worry mom, we will!" and I remember the feeling that this is seriously dangerous standing on that steep and sandy trail just inches from that raging water, feeling the vibrations, and hearing the sounds of the rocks echo through the canyon. I can understand the feeling that something or someone is trying to communicate something.

We walked through that sage brush, over the strands of the rusty barb wire fences, the apple orchard, even picked the cherries across the road and played at the irrigation diversion dam and the water in the little canal that we jumped over. Even wondered about that mysterious polygamist compound that was being built further up the canyon as we were growing up.

All sincere Mormons who trace their family or church history to those pioneering men and woman that lived their religion must choose between luke warm modern Mormonism or fundamental practice of revealed truth or to reject everything and be rejected. There is no option but to follow Gods revealed word or follow Gods revealed word! ? ! ? !
To exalt his family and become a god, a sincere Mormon man must destroy his family. Read this book!

When twelve-year-old Beth Sterling sees her naked Dad talking to God while standing in the middle of a raging, woodland creek, little does she know that his fanatical faith will soon tear apart her Mormon family. Unfortunately, while her father pursues his quest of becoming a god, little Beth finds that she must take on the traumatic task of trying to heal the rifts in her family's relationships and the agonizing jobs of caring for her deathly sick mother and selfish, younger brother.

The reader sees Beth's entire story through her own eyes, told as though it were a first-person memoir. Constructed mostly of crisp, true-to-life dialogue, the book's well-written storyline progresses slowly at first, then gains momentum towards a page-turning, tension-filled conclusion. The novel ends with some issues not completely resolved, leaving the reader, perhaps, to imagine that all will turn out well in the end.

Even though the author states on her book's copyright page that "This story is inspired by real events and is set in the landscape of the author's youth," the reader must keep in mind that it is, in fact, a work of fiction. The real question, however, concerns the tenets of the Mormon faith: As described in the book, to what extent are they true to the Mormon Church's actual doctrine?

Excerpts from THE BOOK OF MORMON and from other Mormon literature offer small insights into Mormonism, but the controversies that rage in the novel between the members of Beth's mainstream Mormon church and those of a fundamentalist off-shoot group leave both the reader and the fictional church members wondering just what do and what should Mormons believe?

TORN BY GOD is sure to evoke contentions between members of various divisions of the Mormon Church. As of 1957, there were six religious bodies adhering to the teaching of Joseph Smith's BOOK OF MORMON: the "Brighamites" (Salt Lake City Mormons, claiming Brigham Young as the authorized successor to Joseph Smith), the "Josephites," the "Hedrickites," the "Bickertonites," the "Cutlerites," and the "Strangites." Of these groups still existing today, most have repudiated polygamy and have retreated from the doctrine that God was once the biblical Adam, a man of flesh and blood who evolved spiritually to become the God of the Bible.

Zoe Murdock's debut novel will most likely appeal to readers searching for meaningful spiritual dialogue and for religious-based literature, but its account of a small girl's struggle against seemingly diabolical forces may well attract readers without those interests. I highly recommend TORN BY GOD, if only for its thought-provoking challenge to the uninformed reader's preconceived ideas about Mormonism and about just why he or she believes what they do believe about God.

As a conservative, evangelical Christian, I know what I believe about God and about His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but I have tried to keep my dogmatic, biblically biased beliefs out of this review. Feel free to comment on my review or tell me to what degree I have succeeded in remaining neutral.

Edwin Scroggins is author of Bible Prophecy in a Nutshell: A Mini-Survey of God's Great Plan of the Ages

"Torn by God" is the story of a small-town Mormon family torn apart when the father, Michael Sterling, has a vision that leads him to become involved with a polygamist group. Even though the Mormon Church long ago rescinded their religious practice of polygamy, Michael comes to believe that God is telling him to go back to the church's old ways that included personal revelation, communal sharing, and polygamy.

The story is skillfully and passionately told through the eyes of twelve-year-old Beth who is bound to capture every reader's heart as she desperately tries to find a way to hold the family together.

This novel does more than tell one family's tragic story; it explores the controversial association between mainstream Mormons and fundamentalist polygamous off-shoot groups such as those led by Warren Jeffs.

The book is hard to put down once you start reading it. At once chilling and informative, it exposes the destructive power of fundamentalist religious indoctrination and control. This novel is sure to spark lively discussions, and maybe more than a little controversy. - From FictionWeek.com

This story, told from a young girl's perspective, may seem singular in its focus on this small family's struggle, but it also asks the reader to look at the painful reality of religious fanaticism as it exists in the world today. This is a tender and heartfelt story of a young girl who is called upon by circumstances to hold her family together during a very difficult time.

We read the story of the rending of this family and the pain caused by the father's involvement with a polygamist group, which is sad enough, but if the reader digs a bit deeper we can find parallels in this story with the actions of terrorists who strap bombs to their bodies and kill themselves and many innocents in the name of religion.

I would recommend this book enthusiastically for readers who like a well told story with fully developed characters and subject matter that will stimulate thought and conversation long after the final page is turned.

This is a well written and compelling story and may be enjoyed for that reason alone. It is also a reminder to us that extremism can be a dangerous thing on many levels.