Vernal Promises

by Jack Harrell

 Jacob Dennison believes that every good thing in life comes at a cost. His wife Pam’s miscarriage confirms that. Never mind that his boss at Food World has outrageous demands; that his father, a shady oil field equipment salesman, wants to make him a man in his own image. Never mind that his new friend Dwayne, a cunning drug dealer and occultist, wants nothing less than his discipleship. Jacob is willing to push beyond their expectations. His greatest struggle will prove to be his saving grace: he can follow only one voice—the one that speaks within him and drives him to the brink of ruin and ultimately a higher price than even he had imagined.“This is a brilliant novel, written with language that crackles. The relationships are treated with force and poignancy. The power of the story is its authenticity and the character’s compelling conversion. He begins as a boy who refuses to accept responsibility, becomes the husband who longs for freedom, and at last the man who feels God’s grace in spite of himself and the self-destructive path that has beckoned to him with a siren’s allure. This brings a voice to Mormon literature that is clearly worth honoring.” —Marilyn Brown, author of The Wine Dark Sea of Grass

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2003

Reviews

[Lucas Zucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an in-depth look at some of the more taboo themes in Latter Day Saint culture, and how pervasive certain trials can be for those who still want to do the right thing and want to be good people. The story follows a married couple, Pam and Jacob, and how their environment and friends disrupt the life they decided to live (before the book started) as new converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The two main characters were well developed, and I was rooting for both of them the entire novel, however, most of the other characters were shallow and unrelatable. Harvey, Mickey, Amy, and Jacob's boss, each just felt like stand-ins for what was bad for Jacob, as did Pam's mother to her. None of them did much except cause problems for the protagonists. The drug and alcohol use was refreshing to see in a book of this genre, but at times it was written like a caricature of the sensations and experiences of being high and/or drunk. The dialogue sometimes sounded awkward as well. I applaud this book for attempting to tackle Latter-Day Saint fiction from a darker, realer perspective, and I enjoyed many of the smaller, more peculiar scenes, but I think there was a long way to go to do justice to the themes of addiction, poverty, and marriage problems, in the context of undergoing conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written by the professor that assigned it as reading for one of my classes. It's Mormonism from a different perspective--from the vantage point of the fringe, those people that find life and religion hard things in themselves. There's plenty of sex and drugs in it--more about drugs than I've ever read in anything. It tells a religious story that isn't often told--because it's about the doubter, the relapse into sin, and the struggle to want to come back and believe in Christ and his atonement.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book isn't the type that I usually read, but I was assigned it for a class. I found the book pretty boring. There were a handful of scenes that I did enjoy reading, but there were other scenes that I found strange and almost demented. Also, for much of the book, I was wondering what exactly was the point of everything.

It was an interesting read, in the aspect that it is not something one would expect from LDS fiction, but I had a really hard time getting through it.

[dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winner of the AML's Marilyn Brown award.

A very quick read that deals with the nature of faith in Mormonism and how two young people cope with lives that fall very, very short of the ideal. Despite the plot trajectories that seem a bit over the top, this is still a powerful exploration of the challenges of being a Saint.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid LDS fiction novel which asks interesting questions about sin and redemption. I don't read a lot of "Deseret Book" mormon fiction, so I'm not an expert on it, but this seems to have more substance than the run-of-the-mill LDS novel.

[Valeri]

This is a cheesy, LDS "everything works out if you just go to church" book. But my dad designed the cover using a photograph of my sister.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful story. The author has a good way of describing how emotionally intense the walk out of addiction can be.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is LDS fiction as it ought to be done. Sharp, insightful, and moving, real characters that you can engage with. I would encourage anyone with an interest in LDS literature to read it.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An LDS book that was pretty decent!