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Godforsaken Idaho
In this stunning novel, Shawn Vestal transports us to the afterlife, the rugged Northwest, and the early days of Mormonism. From "The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death," an absurd, profound vision of a hellish heaven, to "Winter Elders," in which missionaries calmly and relentlessly pursue a man who has left the fold, these nine stories illuminate the articles of faith that make us human. The concluding triptych tackles the legends and legacy of Mormonism head-on, culminating in "Diviner," a seriocomic portrait of the young Joseph Smith, back when he was not yet the founder of a religion but a man hired to find buried treasure. Godforsaken Idaho is an indelible collection by the writer you need to read next. Named an 'Outstanding 2013 Short Story Collection' by The Story Prize, winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, winner of the Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 2013
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935 people want to read
About the author
Shawn Vestal
8 books33 followersShawn Vestal is a columnist and reporter for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane and was raised in the Mormon faith. His stories have appeared in McSweeney's, Tin House, American Short Fiction, EcoTone, Best American Fantasy, and other places.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
January 14, 2015
Godforsaken Idaho is tough to review for a simple reason - it left practically no impression on me after I read it. It is a collection of short stories, none of which stood out in any way, and none of which I would like to return to in the future.
The main subject of the book is Mormonism - the author was raised Mormon, but left the faith as a young adult - and feature quirky ideas related to the faith: the opening story, The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death, features a perspective from a Mormon afterlife (eating food is a popular pastime). Another story features two Mormon missionaries pursuing a former Mormon to get him back to the fold, and in another one a World War I veteran is haunted by a distinctly Mormon ghost. Joseph Smith himself makes an appearance in a story titled Diviner, which shows him in his early years, before he became a prophet and simply a man hired to divine his way to a buried treasure.
Vestal writing is clear and readable, and his stories aren't completely boring, but they lacked that special, unique component to make me want to read more of them. I finished the collection because of obligation, and the fact that it was mercifully short was of great help. I do not regret reading it, but can't really recommend it - not over the works of Brian Evenson, a fellow former Mormon, or Shalom Auslander, whose Beware of God is a truly excellent collection of short, absurd, and most importantly fun stories concerned with religion in general and God in particular, and I'd recomment it over Godforsaken Idaho.
The main subject of the book is Mormonism - the author was raised Mormon, but left the faith as a young adult - and feature quirky ideas related to the faith: the opening story, The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death, features a perspective from a Mormon afterlife (eating food is a popular pastime). Another story features two Mormon missionaries pursuing a former Mormon to get him back to the fold, and in another one a World War I veteran is haunted by a distinctly Mormon ghost. Joseph Smith himself makes an appearance in a story titled Diviner, which shows him in his early years, before he became a prophet and simply a man hired to divine his way to a buried treasure.
Vestal writing is clear and readable, and his stories aren't completely boring, but they lacked that special, unique component to make me want to read more of them. I finished the collection because of obligation, and the fact that it was mercifully short was of great help. I do not regret reading it, but can't really recommend it - not over the works of Brian Evenson, a fellow former Mormon, or Shalom Auslander, whose Beware of God is a truly excellent collection of short, absurd, and most importantly fun stories concerned with religion in general and God in particular, and I'd recomment it over Godforsaken Idaho.
April 7, 2013
The writer has thrown himself into that part of your mind that asks, am I really feeling what I should be, is this what life means, and who can guide me through this. I know this is not new territory for a novel or short stories but what I think makes this set of stories intriguing is the author's ability to draw you into the characters soul and then force you to decide how long you can stay there. The amount of darkness in some of the stories is quite unsettling but it's what prevents you from setting the book down. I am originally from Southern Idaho and I found his descriptions absolutely perfect. In particular how he describes one of the character's girlfriend's parents' house, spot on.
May 14, 2013
I rarely find a collection of short stories that are so consistent in quality and tone. Most of these deal with Mormons (well, ex-Mormons) in western U.S. in the 1980s, but even the ones that don't (Gulls, Diviner, and the amazing first one) fit the theme of sinners and mistake-makers finding their way.
May 19, 2015
Mitt Romney, DON’T READ THIS!
Actually, Mitt and Ann and their 5 square-jawed sons could probably relate to some of the characters in “Godforsaken Idaho.” Lapsed Mormon Shawn Vestal’s unsettling and often harsh short story collection doesn’t so much tackle his former religion as it does refract it. He’s neither condemning nor condoning anything in its doctrine; he’s just writing what he knows, which in this case means deeply flawed, imperfect people trying to figure out life in rural Idaho. They’ve lied, cheated, and stolen, but Vestal is not quick to judge anyone. He’s more interested in the human frailty that got them to that point and the major ripples caused by those seemingly minor crimes that perpetuates that same frailty. Sometimes they break, and sometimes they don’t, but what binds them all together – and what endears this collection to a girl in Williamsburg who has never laid eyes on Idaho (and, admittedly, probably never will) – is their humanity. Whether we like these people or not, Vestal at least helps us to understand them.
In my favorite story, “Families Are Forever!” Brad accompanies his edgy, caustic girlfriend Gina to meet her kindly Mormon parents. The title of the story comes from a slogan painted on her parents’ walls, but to lone wolf Brad it initially reads as a threat. They’ve really only come to ask her parents for more money, but something about the warmth of her father and the quaint, simple day he spends wedding the garden with her mother produces a completely unexpected reaction in Brad: He’s happy. He likes these people that his girlfriend can’t stand, and he’s so desperate for their approval that he just starts lying. About everything. He envisions and life and just starts speaking it into existence, wanting to be good enough and in the process doing a bad thing. But Vestal fleshes Brad out and elicits an unexpected sympathy and affection for him because who hasn’t casually fudged the truth about themselves, especially for (and often to) someone we love?
I literally heard myself say on a date once, “Oh, you play lacrosse? I LOVE LACROSSE.” I do not love lacrosse. (It’s the one with the sticks, right?) But here was a handsome, put-together guy sitting across from me, seemingly possessing everything I wanted (first dates really screw with your head) and, like Brad, I leaned in. Figure out the details later, after he’s fallen too hard for you to be upset when you tell him that the You he fell for doesn’t like lacrosse. Or his home-brewed lager. Or a dozen other things you fibbed about because you just wanted this to work. Because underneath all of those tiny micro-lies – the ones you only told because you liked him and wanted him to like you - you’re still the person he fell in love with, and that’s all that matters. And like Vestal’s characters, it gets a little weird at first, but then on the way home from all the aspirational lying you both sort of decide that it’s going to be okay because maybe the lie will end up being much closer to the truth if you can just get past it and keep going.
Actually, Mitt and Ann and their 5 square-jawed sons could probably relate to some of the characters in “Godforsaken Idaho.” Lapsed Mormon Shawn Vestal’s unsettling and often harsh short story collection doesn’t so much tackle his former religion as it does refract it. He’s neither condemning nor condoning anything in its doctrine; he’s just writing what he knows, which in this case means deeply flawed, imperfect people trying to figure out life in rural Idaho. They’ve lied, cheated, and stolen, but Vestal is not quick to judge anyone. He’s more interested in the human frailty that got them to that point and the major ripples caused by those seemingly minor crimes that perpetuates that same frailty. Sometimes they break, and sometimes they don’t, but what binds them all together – and what endears this collection to a girl in Williamsburg who has never laid eyes on Idaho (and, admittedly, probably never will) – is their humanity. Whether we like these people or not, Vestal at least helps us to understand them.
In my favorite story, “Families Are Forever!” Brad accompanies his edgy, caustic girlfriend Gina to meet her kindly Mormon parents. The title of the story comes from a slogan painted on her parents’ walls, but to lone wolf Brad it initially reads as a threat. They’ve really only come to ask her parents for more money, but something about the warmth of her father and the quaint, simple day he spends wedding the garden with her mother produces a completely unexpected reaction in Brad: He’s happy. He likes these people that his girlfriend can’t stand, and he’s so desperate for their approval that he just starts lying. About everything. He envisions and life and just starts speaking it into existence, wanting to be good enough and in the process doing a bad thing. But Vestal fleshes Brad out and elicits an unexpected sympathy and affection for him because who hasn’t casually fudged the truth about themselves, especially for (and often to) someone we love?
I literally heard myself say on a date once, “Oh, you play lacrosse? I LOVE LACROSSE.” I do not love lacrosse. (It’s the one with the sticks, right?) But here was a handsome, put-together guy sitting across from me, seemingly possessing everything I wanted (first dates really screw with your head) and, like Brad, I leaned in. Figure out the details later, after he’s fallen too hard for you to be upset when you tell him that the You he fell for doesn’t like lacrosse. Or his home-brewed lager. Or a dozen other things you fibbed about because you just wanted this to work. Because underneath all of those tiny micro-lies – the ones you only told because you liked him and wanted him to like you - you’re still the person he fell in love with, and that’s all that matters. And like Vestal’s characters, it gets a little weird at first, but then on the way home from all the aspirational lying you both sort of decide that it’s going to be okay because maybe the lie will end up being much closer to the truth if you can just get past it and keep going.
April 7, 2013
A great collection of stories. Loved this book.
September 17, 2013
Vestal approaches the type of fiction that has long been sought for coming out of the Mormon culture -- a literary voice drawing on a distinctive culture. The Intermountain West has a long way to go before we approach anything like the Jewish community's successes of Roth, Bellow, Singer, Mailer, Malmud, etc.
In the highest praise I have for the book it at least attempts to explore the conflicts of faith and experience from this regional and religious background. Vestal got quite a nice write up in Slate for the book. Yet, I'm left with the sense of almost, but not quite. In another bout of praise, I'd say the collection of short stories reminded me of Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories in how it plays with faith.
Maybe Mormonism is just still a little close to its origins for great literature, but Vestal gives just a little more perspective and a little more distance that is greatly needed from the homogenized culture.
In the highest praise I have for the book it at least attempts to explore the conflicts of faith and experience from this regional and religious background. Vestal got quite a nice write up in Slate for the book. Yet, I'm left with the sense of almost, but not quite. In another bout of praise, I'd say the collection of short stories reminded me of Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories in how it plays with faith.
Maybe Mormonism is just still a little close to its origins for great literature, but Vestal gives just a little more perspective and a little more distance that is greatly needed from the homogenized culture.
May 24, 2013
The first few stories are not strong and I was reluctant to continue forward. However, it quickly became more interesting and I was glad that I kept at it. Vestal is talented at engrossing you into the characters he creates and their worlds. The stories are incredibly varied, though Mormonism is found in several. A solid collection of short stories!
April 28, 2013
This collection of short stories is powerful and engaging. Reading Vestal's work makes me think of all the stories swirling around me that are demanding to be written! Love it!
March 22, 2014
I absolutely loved these stories. They are the kind of stories I aspire to write: readable and absorbing, richly layered with subtle meaning. Sometimes after you read a modern literary short story, you think to yourself: what the heck was that even ABOUT? And you never come to any conclusions, except that the author was showing off and trying to be as bizarre as possible. After reading some of these stories, I did pause a bit and think: Hmmmm, interesting, what did that mean? And a little pondering of the story elements led to a deeper understanding and appreciation. So, to me, these stories were just about perfect. Vestal deals a lot with faith versus doubt, or I would say more accurately fanaticism versus cynicism. In some of the stories, fanaticism triumphs, in others cynicism wins they day, but the two are always in conflict in very interesting ways. The protagonists are mostly male, and mostly alienated from other human beings. I think men do tend to be more alienated than women, and do tend more to be either fanatical or cynical - and I think alienation often both feeds and is fed by cynicism or fanaticism, and that dynamic was well portrayed in these stories. I will definitely look for more work by this author.
April 8, 2013
(Idaho) Vestal, a talented columnist for the Spokesman Review in Spokane, Washington, centers his first collection of short stories around his Mormon upbringing. Vestal is no longer Mormon, and these stories are neither apologies for the Church of Latter Day Saints, nor condemnations of it. Even the story fictionalizing the story of church-founder Joseph Smiths early days as a treasure hunter humanize the larger than life figure rather than perpetuate the one-sided portrayals so commonly seen in both fiction and non-fiction. The stories weave in the reality of a region whose history and culture are heavily influenced by the migration of Mormons and the power of those communities. But be clear, this is not a collection of religious fiction. Vestals characters come from a variety of world-views, and some of the best stories in the collection make use of clashes of culture to reveal both our human frailties and our hidden strengths. Vestal will be reading from his collection during the Get Lit! Festival in Spokane, Washington. bleandhum.blogspot.com/2013/03/all-ov...
June 19, 2013
I'm not generally a fan of short stories, finding them unsatisfying narratives. But this collection was dynamite. And Vestal's final story hits you like a freight train. Vestal is a Spokane journalist who writes for the Spokesman-Review. I've always found his columns well-done, but they mask his talent as a storyteller. Hope he goes on to publish more books.
February 8, 2017
"Here's what I should have told him, and what I still, for various reasons, have not: Now that it's gone, your life is the only thing you have left. Ransack it, top to bottom. Plunder that fucker. Find whatever you can in there, because it's all there is."
May 19, 2021
Poetic when not immoderately masculine.
"I tried to find some family feeling inside myself for all these strangers, and could not, but I noted the return of something I remembered from life: the sense that these people, all these people I was knotted to without choice, would steal my life and harness it to theirs" (26).
"I thought maybe he talked that loud because nobody listened to him" (49).
"I was a stupid child, well into adulthood" (91).
"The world rolls on and on. We cannot imagine it without us, even as we dream of death" (166).
"I tried to find some family feeling inside myself for all these strangers, and could not, but I noted the return of something I remembered from life: the sense that these people, all these people I was knotted to without choice, would steal my life and harness it to theirs" (26).
"I thought maybe he talked that loud because nobody listened to him" (49).
"I was a stupid child, well into adulthood" (91).
"The world rolls on and on. We cannot imagine it without us, even as we dream of death" (166).
October 13, 2018
I had very high hopes for this book. A former Mormon (ex-Mormon, post-Mormon, lapsed Mormon, inactive member, less active member, etc.) who writes for the Spokesman-Review (my hometown newspaper) writing a book of short stories about Mormonism? Color me intrigued. And I still can't stop salivating over the cover art. Maybe this would be the book that realizes that polygamy is actually one of the less interesting aspects of Mormonism.
What I got was a pretty middling collection. The first half of the stories range from bad to mediocre, and the second half range from good to mediocre. The story I came for, "Winter Elders," was my favorite. The idea alone is too good: a psychological horror story played out between a missionary and an inactive member? Gold. And the story was adequately executed.
I'm pretty sure the settings were solid. It's hard to tell, because I have lived near all of the places mentioned, and could be inserting my own experiences into the writing.
Vestal's characters, though, are poorly done. They continually do things without discernible reasons, clearly just marionettes on Vestal's strings. I had planned to say something about how the women are atrociously written, strictly depicted either as doting mothers who provide the man-child protagonists with nurture, or as sex objects lewdly desired by the aforementioned man-child protagonists. But then I realized that Vestal doesn't really write his male characters any better.
Vestal falls into the trap I see a lot of no-longer-Mormons fall into: they switch from cynically seeing depravity everywhere outside the Church to cynically seeing depravity everywhere inside the Church. Most disappointing, though, is the belief that this depravity, particularly written without any canny point of view, is interesting.
But, in spite of all of this, I'm not sure I could have done much better. (Well, I could have probably treated the women better.) To paraphrase a Mormon phrase, I "anxiously await" the Great Mormon Novel, one that is sold at Barnes & Noble, not Deseret Book, and that most definitely uses the word "Mormon."
What I got was a pretty middling collection. The first half of the stories range from bad to mediocre, and the second half range from good to mediocre. The story I came for, "Winter Elders," was my favorite. The idea alone is too good: a psychological horror story played out between a missionary and an inactive member? Gold. And the story was adequately executed.
I'm pretty sure the settings were solid. It's hard to tell, because I have lived near all of the places mentioned, and could be inserting my own experiences into the writing.
Vestal's characters, though, are poorly done. They continually do things without discernible reasons, clearly just marionettes on Vestal's strings. I had planned to say something about how the women are atrociously written, strictly depicted either as doting mothers who provide the man-child protagonists with nurture, or as sex objects lewdly desired by the aforementioned man-child protagonists. But then I realized that Vestal doesn't really write his male characters any better.
Vestal falls into the trap I see a lot of no-longer-Mormons fall into: they switch from cynically seeing depravity everywhere outside the Church to cynically seeing depravity everywhere inside the Church. Most disappointing, though, is the belief that this depravity, particularly written without any canny point of view, is interesting.
But, in spite of all of this, I'm not sure I could have done much better. (Well, I could have probably treated the women better.) To paraphrase a Mormon phrase, I "anxiously await" the Great Mormon Novel, one that is sold at Barnes & Noble, not Deseret Book, and that most definitely uses the word "Mormon."
February 16, 2016
Having lived in Idaho for 3 and a half years, I can honestly say that this book captures all to well the bleakness that can frequently characterize life there. It also demystifies some of the more obscure tenets of Mormonism that are indecipherable to an outsider. I was frequently exposed to the pleasant, rule-following politeness of devout Mormons when I lived in Pocatello, and rarely came across ex-LDS members that were willing to talk about their experiences. This is not the case with Shawn Vestal's book. This is an author that grew up LDS and has apparently left the church. The disillusionment that imbues the work is at times nearly suffocating, making some stories very difficult to read. "Winter Elders" in particular is a devastating story that communicates in an all-too-visceral way the anger that accompanies the main character who is still struggling with his departure from the LDS community. This is not a book of loosely collected short stories. It is not a novel either. While the stories do not have causal relations, it is not hard to see that they are all connected, be it through character, setting, or attitude.
I give the book 5 stars, despite some hesitancy because of the seething anger that radiates through the book. If you are put off by strong emotion, then this is not the book to read. Nor is it the book to read if you are currently a practicing Mormon. This book will piss. you. off. The reasoning behind my 5-stars is based on the intense, engaging, sometimes-overwhelming stylistic integrity of the work. This is an author with a voice, strong and consistent, and often challenging for the reader. This is a book that will make you uncomfortable. It is also a book that will fascinate you, keep you reading, voraciously, until the book's uneasy resolution in the final story "Diviner".
If you've ever lived in Idaho... this is a must-read.
I give the book 5 stars, despite some hesitancy because of the seething anger that radiates through the book. If you are put off by strong emotion, then this is not the book to read. Nor is it the book to read if you are currently a practicing Mormon. This book will piss. you. off. The reasoning behind my 5-stars is based on the intense, engaging, sometimes-overwhelming stylistic integrity of the work. This is an author with a voice, strong and consistent, and often challenging for the reader. This is a book that will make you uncomfortable. It is also a book that will fascinate you, keep you reading, voraciously, until the book's uneasy resolution in the final story "Diviner".
If you've ever lived in Idaho... this is a must-read.
July 18, 2020
One thing that has always annoyed me about Mormonism is that it inoculates its followers against any sort of truth. Either Mormonism is true or nothing is. An elaborate "heads I win, tails you lose" theological trap.
Every story in Godforsaken Idaho drips with the nihilist, materialist disrepair under the smiling veneer of Mormonism.
Most of the stories turn on points of Mormon doctrine that most outsiders may not be familiar with. (I am not a Mormon, nor will I ever be one; but I have grown up knowing many Mormons and have read more Mormon primary literature than most).
For example, The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death seems to be a riff on a story about Brigham Young, recorded in Personal Recollections and Observations of General Nelson A. Miles, about a man who asked the prophet for healing, but was told he would have three legs in the resurrection if Young healed him. (Nelson tells the story as three legs for eternity, but I have always heard it told as three legs in the resurrection) As a result the man decided he did not need a miracle. (Here, page 367: https://archive.org/details/cu3192402...).
The Mormon and Christian view of hell is some what different. Outer Darkness is the closest Mormon-ese term, as a place where the presence of God is absent. (This term comes up in Opposition to All Things).
Mormons are materialists, in that they do not believe there is any spirit. They use the term spirit, but not in the same way everyone else does (e.g. as something immaterial, not matter). They believe spirit is "refined matter." I can not be certain, but I think Opposition to All Things hinges on this point.
An interesting collection of short stories set in a terrifying world where Mormon doctrine is actually true.
Every story in Godforsaken Idaho drips with the nihilist, materialist disrepair under the smiling veneer of Mormonism.
Most of the stories turn on points of Mormon doctrine that most outsiders may not be familiar with. (I am not a Mormon, nor will I ever be one; but I have grown up knowing many Mormons and have read more Mormon primary literature than most).
For example, The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death seems to be a riff on a story about Brigham Young, recorded in Personal Recollections and Observations of General Nelson A. Miles, about a man who asked the prophet for healing, but was told he would have three legs in the resurrection if Young healed him. (Nelson tells the story as three legs for eternity, but I have always heard it told as three legs in the resurrection) As a result the man decided he did not need a miracle. (Here, page 367: https://archive.org/details/cu3192402...).
The Mormon and Christian view of hell is some what different. Outer Darkness is the closest Mormon-ese term, as a place where the presence of God is absent. (This term comes up in Opposition to All Things).
Mormons are materialists, in that they do not believe there is any spirit. They use the term spirit, but not in the same way everyone else does (e.g. as something immaterial, not matter). They believe spirit is "refined matter." I can not be certain, but I think Opposition to All Things hinges on this point.
An interesting collection of short stories set in a terrifying world where Mormon doctrine is actually true.
April 11, 2013
This book is broken up into nine short stories:
The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death - Apparently Vestal's idea of Heaven, or what amounts to a semi-potentially-amusing idea of Heaven. A cafeteria setting where you are served whatever dish from your life you can recall, and you're stuck at whatever age and health you arrive at Heaven's Gate with, arthritis? Still got it.
About as Fast as This Car Will Go - Not funny, not amusing. Not worth reading (really, this entire book is not worth reading).
Families Are Forever! Boy has already met Girl. Girl takes Boy home to parents who already think he's an ass. Boy makes bigger ass of himself.
Pocket Dog: Lazy low-life guys hanging around pool in hopes to get "lucky".... no need to go further.
Godforsaken Idaho - Don't bother. Guy in love with his lifetime collection of Penthouse.
Winter Elders - Grimm meets Elder Whoever, who can't / won't leave alone ex-Mormon and ends in grizzly blood and stuff.
Opposition in All Things - a story that might have promise but ultimately ends poorly. And, I don't mean the story has an unhappy ending. Maybe I should just say a premise that had promise but the author seems to need to make the former "nice Mormon boy" gone to war & had bad experiences watching people blow up, come home, go crazy and....
Gulls - Vestal's version of the Gulls vs. the Crickets.
Diviner - the meeting and ensuing love story of Joseph Smith and his wife Emma. Vestal's version.
I don't really care about Vestal's religious stance, I just wish(ed) his writing was better.
May 6, 2013
When Mormons go bad should be the title of this book. There are Mormon themes, such as meeting all your ancestors in heavenly paradise -which is not so heavenly- or Mormon characters or what were once Mormons. Ok it is a very Mormon book.It is also a very geographic placed book in the lower Idaho/upper Utah. The universal themes are a bit narrow. Most of the main characters in this collection of short stories are various types of cynical shit heads who have lost there faith or do not understand others faith. They are not very likable nor very multidimensional. This authors voice is not really all that pleasing to me and I know I can be the biggest cynical atheistic arse the world has seen so I am not sure if he will have a wide audience.
Maybe you have to be a Mormon?
Maybe you have to be a Mormon?
April 18, 2016
A cynical look at Mormonism from an ex-believer. Vestal's stories are at their best when he makes his characters uncomfortable, like in the brilliant Families Are Forever!, where a man is desperate to please his girlfriend's devoutly Mormon parents, even if it means by lying and coercion, and in Winter Elders, where an ex-Mormon dad with a new baby finds it hard to get rid of a pair of door to door missionaries. Vestal's stronger stories are the ones set closer to the present day - the historical stories don't carry the same punch. The first story, The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death is brilliant, and I love the heavenly setting.
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February 25, 2014I really liked "Opposition In All Things," although I wish the very end had gone elsewhere; also, the choice of past tense narration fascinated me, considering.
Funny and moving and an interesting, layered look at faith and its fallout. Some choices felt too extreme and not quite grounded in the characters or the stories (the story with the missionaries comes to mind), but in general, some great characters. Loved how it dealt with not just Mormonism in the now, but also the early days.
Funny and moving and an interesting, layered look at faith and its fallout. Some choices felt too extreme and not quite grounded in the characters or the stories (the story with the missionaries comes to mind), but in general, some great characters. Loved how it dealt with not just Mormonism in the now, but also the early days.
July 25, 2014
An excellent collection of short stories often with endings that are not just surprising but shocking. Many of these stories concern LDS families and culture. Often the main character is an unfortunate individual, barely making it who nevertheless has an appealing streak of humor or common sense. People and lives are in transition, trying to find hope in nearly hopeless situations. It's hard to put this book down.
December 20, 2016
Not just the best Mormon-themed, Mormon west-themed literary fiction I've ever read, but amazing stories in their own right, all set in the blank slate of Idaho (with the exception of one in a surreal Celestial Kingdom (!!!)). Strong, disturbing stories I'd wish I'd written.
May 16, 2013
AMAZING.
November 4, 2014
A couple pretty great stories, and all of it was memorable, but overall it was just too relentlessly dark and cynical for me.
May 1, 2016
I liked the title story best.
June 21, 2024
I picked this book up on sale at a well curated bookstore walking distance from my home. As someone who attended a therapeutic boarding school run by Latter Day Saints in the Idaho pan handle, and left with cpstd my interest was piqued by the authors writing experience at the spokesman review (and mcsweeneys).
The writing style was reminiscent of all the pretty horses or in cold blood, something written by men from a simpler time but not lacking deeper meaning. I will admit, though I knew it was compiled short stories I was looking for some sort of linear connection. When I consciously stopped trying to find secret continuity my experience vastly improved.
As someone who has been entrenched in the social, political, moral, and home life beliefs of LDS but never a prospective member or someone who believes in organized religion I found this book phenomenal. The credit at mccsweeneys led me to believe me and the author shared some similar stances about our overlapping experiences. With that being said, when the book was said and done I feel like it provided both a scathing reflection on the church, its followers, and practices; as well as thoughtful reflection about having faith in something you cannot see; and experiencing a blinding faith via other people that you yourself do not share and possibly even ending. I walked away from this book unsure about whether authors feelings towards the church were negative, neutral, or respectful with a dash of positive thinking but in a way that did not clash with or oppose my solidified stance.
I genuinely loved this book; and I just grabbed it because it was five bucks and about a place I felt I come to understand against my own will.
If you are uninterested in short stories (obviously), or if you don't have any background or knowledge about the LDS (less obviously) this book might not be for you:. Many of the themes of values I was able to derive from this story were made clear to me based on my knowledge of the church; the way families operate within it; and pillars of their faith. That being said, if you do have background or are interested in deconstruction then I think this book is wonderful. There is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that if I do not read this again in full; I certainly will piece by piece.
The writing style was reminiscent of all the pretty horses or in cold blood, something written by men from a simpler time but not lacking deeper meaning. I will admit, though I knew it was compiled short stories I was looking for some sort of linear connection. When I consciously stopped trying to find secret continuity my experience vastly improved.
As someone who has been entrenched in the social, political, moral, and home life beliefs of LDS but never a prospective member or someone who believes in organized religion I found this book phenomenal. The credit at mccsweeneys led me to believe me and the author shared some similar stances about our overlapping experiences. With that being said, when the book was said and done I feel like it provided both a scathing reflection on the church, its followers, and practices; as well as thoughtful reflection about having faith in something you cannot see; and experiencing a blinding faith via other people that you yourself do not share and possibly even ending. I walked away from this book unsure about whether authors feelings towards the church were negative, neutral, or respectful with a dash of positive thinking but in a way that did not clash with or oppose my solidified stance.
I genuinely loved this book; and I just grabbed it because it was five bucks and about a place I felt I come to understand against my own will.
If you are uninterested in short stories (obviously), or if you don't have any background or knowledge about the LDS (less obviously) this book might not be for you:. Many of the themes of values I was able to derive from this story were made clear to me based on my knowledge of the church; the way families operate within it; and pillars of their faith. That being said, if you do have background or are interested in deconstruction then I think this book is wonderful. There is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that if I do not read this again in full; I certainly will piece by piece.
June 24, 2021
Shawn Vestal is one of the most interesting voices writing about the contemporary American West, both in fiction and in his regular column in Spokane's Spokesman-Review newspaper. Godforsaken Idaho is his first collection of stories, and the short fiction format proves to be a perfect fit for the author's talents.
Vestal is a former Mormon, and much of the content of Godforsaken Idaho revolves around the culture and society of that church, including a searing portrait of Joseph Smith himself in the concluding story "Diviner". Several preceding stories deal with modern Mormons, both active church members and those who have strayed from the fold. These stories (particularly "Families are Forever!" and "Winter Elders") really demonstrate Vestal's deep understanding of the role of religion in contemporary America, and how the practice of faith can so easily twist itself into fanaticism.
Vestal is a former Mormon, and much of the content of Godforsaken Idaho revolves around the culture and society of that church, including a searing portrait of Joseph Smith himself in the concluding story "Diviner". Several preceding stories deal with modern Mormons, both active church members and those who have strayed from the fold. These stories (particularly "Families are Forever!" and "Winter Elders") really demonstrate Vestal's deep understanding of the role of religion in contemporary America, and how the practice of faith can so easily twist itself into fanaticism.
November 30, 2017
An interesting collection of short stories. Almost all of the stories are about struggling with faith in some way. While the first six were the most enjoyable to read, the protagonists being on the sidelines/cusp of faith and religion, the last three were a little too entrenched in Mormonism for my taste, as the protagonists were explicitly Mormon struggling with their own personal identity.
Vestal writes best when his fiction is speculative / magical realist. The best stories in the collection are "The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death" and "Winter Elders"
PS Not sure why the description here calls this a novel when it's clearly a short story collection
Vestal writes best when his fiction is speculative / magical realist. The best stories in the collection are "The First Several Hundred Years Following My Death" and "Winter Elders"
PS Not sure why the description here calls this a novel when it's clearly a short story collection
September 6, 2021
Didn't hate, but I didn't like
A collection of short stories that have Mormonism as a common thread. I enjoyed the writing style of the author, but the stories themselves are lacking. I'm left feeling like I'm being told a story told by a sleepy grandfather type who falls asleep before the story gets to any good parts. I was only able to finish this book by picking up a story between novels. Some of the stories I felt didn't go anywhere, others I could care less about the characters. Maybe this is just out of my realm due to my limited knowledge of the Mormon church. I would recommend skipping this if you're curious.
A collection of short stories that have Mormonism as a common thread. I enjoyed the writing style of the author, but the stories themselves are lacking. I'm left feeling like I'm being told a story told by a sleepy grandfather type who falls asleep before the story gets to any good parts. I was only able to finish this book by picking up a story between novels. Some of the stories I felt didn't go anywhere, others I could care less about the characters. Maybe this is just out of my realm due to my limited knowledge of the Mormon church. I would recommend skipping this if you're curious.
May 13, 2018
Shawn Vestal's "Godforsaken Idaho" is an easy read with difficult ideas. I found the first few essays to be very much like the Beats, which was alright with me as I love the Beats. It was like diving into a good cup of coffee on a rainy day. I found the essay, "Opposition in All Things" to be poignant and sad and despairing, a soldier waking up from death and inhabiting the mind of another soldier with what seems to be a stiff dose of PTSD. I reread this essay and I never reread something right away!
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