53. Daredevils

Of course it happens at the end of this magical year of books. I'm totally late writing last week's review! I actually finished this book on a flight to Washington, DC last Friday, but life has been a whirlwind of crazy ever since. 

What's also a whirlwind of crazy? This book. In a good way, of course.

It feels a little like reading something your neighbor wrote. Now, I don't know specifically where Shawn Vestal lives, but he lives in my city and I've been reading his work for years. Vestal writes for our local newspaper and I've long been a fan of his. I don't always agree on the topic or take, but I have a deep appreciation for the way he writes. I don't know why it took me so long to read his first novel.

Daredevils tells the story of a young woman caught in a polygamist marriage. Strange fact about me: I've spent a fair amount of my journalism career reporting on religious fundamentalists and have spent some time just north of the border in a polygamist community in British Columbia. I've interviewed women who have left the community, women who stay and claim to love their lives, and the guy with dozens of wives known simply as the "Bishop of Bountiful." Through my reporting and researching, I've come to know quite a bit about the topic. I instantly recognized the girl in the book as one of those young women I've met.

Loretta is desperate for another life. Circumstances bring her to the front door of freedom and, while it takes her awhile, she bangs down that door and barrels through. She ends up on a journey with two young men, all of them looking for freedom. But freedom, they often forget to tell you, comes with consequence.

Loretta is on a collision course with disaster and she's ready to bring everyone else along for the ride. The idea of freedom is enough. Freedom from the man who calls her his wife, freedom from the parents willing to let her go, freedom from the men determined to save her. Freedom, finally, from everyone else's expectations.

Like much of what he writes in the newspaper, Vestal's work here is crisp, thoughtful and subtly profound. It's easy to move through this book, following along on this fated journey. It's worth your time to see where Loretta ultimately ends up.