The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel

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W. W. Norton & Company, May 3, 2010 - Fiction - 624 pages

A New York Times bestseller: "Udall masterfully portrays the hapless foibles and tragic yearnings of our fellow humans." —San Francisco Chronicle

Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging.

Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family—with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy—pushed to its outer limits.

 

Selected pages

Contents

FAMILY HOME EVENING
15
THE POSTCARD
41
AN AMBUSH
58
THE AHOLES OF OLD HOUSE
68
OLD HOUSE
74
THE STATE OF HIS SOULD
80
NUMBER ONE DANIEL
90
THE BOY AT THE WINDOW
106
NESTOR AND THE OLD LADY
326
TO LOVE A SCOUNDREL
340
A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY
357
FOR THE PLEASURE OF SENSUAL LIVING
367
RULE NUMERO UNO
383
THE HUNT
398
TAMPON MAN
415
A MINOR PLAGUE
428

A NEW FRIEND
109
A PEEPING TOM
121
ANDVANCED LOVEMAKING TECHNIQUES FOR THE REST OF US
147
DRIVING LESSONS
155
THE DUPLEX
171
THE FAMILY TERRORIST
175
CIRCLING BACK
190
APOCALYPSE TOMORROW
211
SACRIFICE
221
THE BOY AT THE WINDOW
229
NO ORDINARY SLEAZEBALL
236
ROW OF ANGELS
256
THE MONKEY NET
286
JUST MARRIED
303
BIG HOUSE
318
JEALOUS IS THE RAGE OF MAN
441
THE BOY AT THE WINDOW
460
LETTERS MINGLE SOULS
465
DOLL HOUSE
483
A LITTLE HARMLESS COURTSHIP
491
IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE AND INCENDIARY DEVICES FOR THE GUERRILLA FIGHTER
509
SOMEONE NOT LIKE HIM
515
THE CONFESSIONS OF GOLDEN RICHARDS
540
THE BOY AT THE WINDOW
566
THE MIDDLE PAIN
571
A FUNERAL
577
A FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH
586
A WEDDING
594
AUTHORS NOTE
601
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About the author (2010)

Brady Udall is the author of New York Times bestseller The Lonely Polygamist, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, and Letting Loose the Hounds. He teaches at Boise State University and lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and children.

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