Just not for me. I had a hard time with the stilted language of the cult.

What's the difference between a cult and a religion? Mostly time, I think, but sheer numbers probably have something to do with it. Hautman manages to give a balanced and fair report on life within a tiny religious community in the West. Jacob meets a girl from the outside world, Lynnie, and gains perspective, and she, too, learns. Jacob's relationship with his parents is nuanced. Every religion has elements that sound bizarre to outsiders, but also provides something, perhaps many things, to its adherents. It's kind of amazing, really, that the book never relies on simplistic reactions. Overall it is a book about what individuals need from their communities, that transcends any specific belief issues.

Library copy ( )

Eden West
Pete Hautman
310 pages
Copy: Publisher review copy
Read: April 2015?
Spoilers: not many
Recommend to: Conundrum, really. I think teen boys would like it, but not sure I could convince them to buy it. Adults who like novels about cults, perhaps?

There's a surprising number of books about teenagers dealing with cults. The first I read was The Rapture of Cannan, the intended audience being somewhat of a mystery to me (I read it when I was fifteen and it worked out; reading it as an adult, it feels simply written, and about a teenager, so perhaps it was YA before YA was a thing?). Then there's tell-all memoirs about escaping cults; new semi-dystopias like Vivian Apple at the End of the World and the upcoming The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly (reviews to come). But the shared glaring similarity: they're always told from the point of view of an oppressed female narrator, the cult standing in for a less subtle and more brutal version of the patriarchy at large. Men, especially the younger ones, tend to be weaker than the women.

Eden West breaks this mold with panache and grace. Set in the depths of Montana, a large and self-sufficient cult controls an equally large tract of land. Reaching their rumored end-times, the cult has begun to follow their religion with greater stringency, while being approached on all sides by potential threats to their mode of life. Hautman balances the warring halves of a young man's soul: the firm believer who wishes to follow his family and his community into never-ending paradise and an intelligent and curious mind provoked into deeper questioning by changes in his community and in his surroundings. While the nagging trope of a manic pixie dream girl variant is one of the catalysts that pushes him forward, Jacob, the narrator, is still a well-rounded character. He makes mistakes, makes poor choices, makes good ones, and suffers under the pull of hormones. Interlaced within the story are moments of true poetic and mystic prose: the encounters with a large wolf are particularly well written.

It is a novel worth reading, which is why it is a shame that it is not one that can be easily recommended. I believe the adults who might like it would be turned off by the YA label, while the young men who might also enjoy it would be taken-aback by the subject matter. Hautman has written an interesting and mold-breaking novel; it's a pity that it may fail to gain the attention it deserves.

Crossposted: Children of an Idle Mind, Life Piled on Life

This was a tough book to read, kind of like watching a car accident! This young boy narrator has been raised in a fairly crazy Montana cult, but he thinks his life is totally normal. You can't help but cringe reading it, feeling all of the misinformation and confusion this young man has. The book is a discovery of the wider world, as he befriends a girl on a neighboring farm and a boy brought to the cult against his will. Fascinating, and great writing. ( )

A well-written exploration of faith in God, faith in humanity, and faith in oneself. Jacob has been in Nodd since he was 5 and barely remembers the outside world. Everything changes for him when he meets Lynna, a girl on the other side of the fence from Nodd, who lives at the ranch next to the Grace community. Throughout the book Jacob constantly wrestles with himself over his perceived sins of being curious about Lynna, the outside world, and sometimes the meaning of living in Nodd. We all begin to question choices we make and others make, especially at Jacob's age, no matter what type of life we are leading. When Jacob is told he is to be married off to the daughter of the prophet, he really begins to examine his role in Nodd, and the role the Grace brethren have in his life. In the end, Jacob receives the sign he needs to decide which direction his life should go. A quick, enjoyable read. ( )