Show CO CM CO CN O 2 “Following the Wrong God Home: Footloose to an American Dream” by CBve Scott Chisholm (University of Oklahoma Pitas $3495) o D £U o u o E IS 0 “1 2 E CD 1 £ (D O CD CD O - o- Mil ‘An Interesting read writer Scott has said several times that his new book “Following the Wrong God Home" is not After reading it I have to agree with him The problem is I know what it isn’t but I’m not quite sure what it is Just when I think I’ve figured it out he changes direction and I’m left wondering “Exactly who is this Chisholm fellow and what does he hope to accomplish with this book?” When he says that “Joseph Smith remains an enigma” and he quotes Joshua Adams who wrote “If the reader does not know just what to make of Joseph Smith I cannot help him out of the difficulty I stand myself helpless before the puzzle” this pretty well sums up what I’ve been thinking about Chisholm In 1985 Canadian Scott Chisholm left his home in New York to embark on a three- month hike across the US following the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City He identifies frustration with his life and profession and hoping to ‘jump-sta- rt my life again” as the impetus for his journey Although lie claims his reasons for “trailjng the Mormons seemed murkey “it is really no coincidence that the Mormon Trail was his choice Paradise on : - ( Reared in Canada as a member of the Reorganized Church of Latter-Da- y Saints it occurs to this reader that he was actually in search of his roots But of course they were not really his roots His people were not the ones who followed this trail They werc the ones who stayed behind An outsider by religion and nationality die premise of Chisholm’s book is that the American Dream does not exist and that of all those who tried to capture the illusiooary dream the Mormons were probably among the least successful He intersperses the story of his travels the people tie meets and the country he encounters with passages from journals recounting die Mormon Trail experience Often the connection between his experience and what his predecessors experienced are obvious at other times they are more tenuous Chisholm proves himself to be a master of simile: “die vaulted me classroom smell four' decades back when a wide- was ' eyed tutored by a formidable woman who clings to my psyche like burrs on a woolen shirt” At times his irreverence can be jolting but in places his prose rises to heights of eloquence none more so than die night of his epiphany on the banks of the Sweetwater in Wyoming He writes: “Cold and implacable a spellbinding space filled me as constellations eased across the sky’s rim I drifted into them or them into me with clarity only the awareness of immensities " For me alone on can bring die Sweetwater something lifted and with it the blindness to what I’d crossed: ! disappeared into the strangely benevolent cosmos Dreaming was impossible To imagine yes To understand in eons perhaps books and journals in “A Note on Sources” he expects his reader to be satisfied I was not He puts words in Brigham : Young’s mouth that I want to confirm for myselL He makes : claims about Emma Smith that I ennot verify without knowing the source ft is sometimes confusing whose experience hejs recounting 'Dto implication is that they arc Mormon but a dose reading makes me think otherwise He grumbles about Mormon scholarship and weaseling but within a page and not for the first time does it himself when he reports that “Perhaps another visit from Hickman whom Chisholm calls the notorious Mormon enforcer persuaded” Jim Bridger to sell Fort Bridget to the Mormons but he offers no evidence of any such ‘ utbdMmcrtcaa tecoBCSttoSMttatlaWoBai tocatttoeMS3rsoacttU23tnfm& visit but to Dream no — not with new suns being bom and rid suns dying out the starbursts of their beginnings and endings telescoped across space in billions of light years I was never so wide awake” On the other hand his cynicism and critidsm of his adopted country and the people he has chosen to live among most of his adult life is disconcerting and cpnfusing Throughout his trek people are kind and accepting inviting him to stay for dinner and join in their family activities With few exceptions he repays them by mocking them or worse presenting them as buffoons His continual on the American Dream I Brigham Young soon becomes tiresome but in the next breath he can say something profound concil&ory or even complimentaiy Some Mormons will be offended by tins book as will some Americans I wasn’t offended I just didn’t always agree with his interpretations But he says nothing that hasn’t been said before He even manages to say a few nice things here and there But I was disappointed in his scholarship He claims to have used 3500 books phis numerous journals and diaries to research this boric but without apology refuses to use citations He writes “I make no pretense about being a historian” By simply naming a few of the Yes Scott Chisholm and his book left me perplexed Bin “Following the Wrong God Home” is an interesting read and many will be fascinated with his experiences and writing style They will even enjoy it and find it as hard to put down asIdRL - Etook critic Charlene Hitachi holds her master's In English from Utah State University where she currently teaches witting and literature classes She is among a number of freelance writers whose columns appear in The Herald Journal as part of an effort to expose readers to a variety of community voices She is not an employee of the newspaper Feedback at chirschiOmsncom ' y DATE EVENT PRESENTED BY ON SALE March 28 Lokalgrown UP Productions NOW April 12 The Music Man Ellen Ecdes Theatre NOW USU Ballroom Dance USU Ballroom Dance NOW April 15-1- 6 Chib Utah State University Press April 18-- author Greg Gordon April to read from his new book 25-2- 6 ifc 28 Gary Morris Gary Morris NOW Cinderella Productions Cache Valley Qvk Ballet " NOW Island of the Blue Dolphins Ellen Ecdes Theatre May 5 “Landscape ofD esire: Identity and Nature in 19 A (Jtak's Canyon Country" Friday April 4 7:30 pm 130 North 100 East Logan Utah Bookstming & Reception 435752-908-9 BMKa&BHHbnBSaCMatBOTi ii I jii - Hk 1'" t 9 : Aji lf NOW |