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Daredevils
From the winner of 2014’s PEN Robert W. Bingham Prize, an unforgettable debut novel about Loretta, a teenager married off as a “sister wife,” who makes a break for freedom
At the heart of this exciting debut novel, set in Arizona and Idaho in the mid-1970s, is fifteen-year-old Loretta, who slips out of her bedroom every evening to meet her so-called gentile boyfriend. Her strict Mormon parents catch her returning one night, and promptly marry her off to Dean Harder, a devout yet materialistic fundamentalist who already has a wife and a brood of kids. The Harders relocate to his native Idaho, where Dean’s teenage nephew Jason falls hard for Loretta. A Zeppelin and Tolkien fan, Jason worships Evel Knievel and longs to leave his close-minded community. He and Loretta make a break for it. They drive all night, stay in hotels, and relish their dizzying burst of teenage freedom as they seek to recover Dean’s cache of “Mormon gold.” But someone Loretta left behind is on their trail...
A riveting story of desire and escape, Daredevils boasts memorable set pieces and a rich cast of secondary characters. There’s Dean’s other wife, Ruth, who as a child in the 1950s was separated from her parents during the notorious Short Creek raid, when federal agents descended on a Mormon fundamentalist community. There’s Jason’s best friend, Boyd, part Native American and caught up in the activist spirit of the time, who comes along for the ride, with disastrous results. And Vestal’s ultimate creation is a superbly sleazy chatterbox—a man who might or might not be Evel Knievel himself—who works his charms on Loretta at a casino in Elko, Nevada.
A lifelong journalist whose Spokesman column is a fixture in Spokane, WA, Shawn has honed his fiction over many years, publishing in journals like McSweeney's and Tin House. His stunning first collection, Godforsaken Idaho, burrowed into history as it engaged with masculinity and crime, faith and apostasy, and the West that he knows so well. Daredevils shows what he can do on a broader canvas--a fascinating, wide-angle portrait of a time and place that's both a classic coming of age tale and a plunge into the myths of America, sacred and profane.
At the heart of this exciting debut novel, set in Arizona and Idaho in the mid-1970s, is fifteen-year-old Loretta, who slips out of her bedroom every evening to meet her so-called gentile boyfriend. Her strict Mormon parents catch her returning one night, and promptly marry her off to Dean Harder, a devout yet materialistic fundamentalist who already has a wife and a brood of kids. The Harders relocate to his native Idaho, where Dean’s teenage nephew Jason falls hard for Loretta. A Zeppelin and Tolkien fan, Jason worships Evel Knievel and longs to leave his close-minded community. He and Loretta make a break for it. They drive all night, stay in hotels, and relish their dizzying burst of teenage freedom as they seek to recover Dean’s cache of “Mormon gold.” But someone Loretta left behind is on their trail...
A riveting story of desire and escape, Daredevils boasts memorable set pieces and a rich cast of secondary characters. There’s Dean’s other wife, Ruth, who as a child in the 1950s was separated from her parents during the notorious Short Creek raid, when federal agents descended on a Mormon fundamentalist community. There’s Jason’s best friend, Boyd, part Native American and caught up in the activist spirit of the time, who comes along for the ride, with disastrous results. And Vestal’s ultimate creation is a superbly sleazy chatterbox—a man who might or might not be Evel Knievel himself—who works his charms on Loretta at a casino in Elko, Nevada.
A lifelong journalist whose Spokesman column is a fixture in Spokane, WA, Shawn has honed his fiction over many years, publishing in journals like McSweeney's and Tin House. His stunning first collection, Godforsaken Idaho, burrowed into history as it engaged with masculinity and crime, faith and apostasy, and the West that he knows so well. Daredevils shows what he can do on a broader canvas--a fascinating, wide-angle portrait of a time and place that's both a classic coming of age tale and a plunge into the myths of America, sacred and profane.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2016
34 people are currently reading
1263 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 147 reviews
April 18, 2016
I reviewed Godforsaken Idaho and I got an email from GoodReads that it was my most read review, so I felt compelled to grab Vestal's newest book as soon as it came available.
I enjoy Vestal's writing and it doesn't hurt that I grew up in the 70s, was raised Mormon, was born in Southern Idaho, watched Evel Knievel on Wide World of Sports, and lived in Southern Utah for awhile. My daughters actually had a fundamentalist girl as their nanny for a time when they were growing up. So of course this book resonates with me.
As I looked at the reviews, I noted that most people peg this book as a coming of age/loss of innocence novel. To me this book is more about the price people pay for attempting to escape the circumstances they find themselves born into.
We are born into gravity, but some of us try to jump canyons.
We are born into a desert, but we still try to grow crops.
We are born into religions, but we don’t believe.
We are born into families, but we remain individuals.
This book is about the ramps we build to try and catapult ourselves out of our circumstances and against the forces that keep us earthbound. Sometimes there is success, but the landing is rarely soft and almost always painful. Some chose not to even try and acquire the paradoxical pain of being stuck. The themes of this book are large and apply to the universal dilemma of whether you can escape yourself.
I enjoy Vestal's writing and it doesn't hurt that I grew up in the 70s, was raised Mormon, was born in Southern Idaho, watched Evel Knievel on Wide World of Sports, and lived in Southern Utah for awhile. My daughters actually had a fundamentalist girl as their nanny for a time when they were growing up. So of course this book resonates with me.
As I looked at the reviews, I noted that most people peg this book as a coming of age/loss of innocence novel. To me this book is more about the price people pay for attempting to escape the circumstances they find themselves born into.
We are born into gravity, but some of us try to jump canyons.
We are born into a desert, but we still try to grow crops.
We are born into religions, but we don’t believe.
We are born into families, but we remain individuals.
This book is about the ramps we build to try and catapult ourselves out of our circumstances and against the forces that keep us earthbound. Sometimes there is success, but the landing is rarely soft and almost always painful. Some chose not to even try and acquire the paradoxical pain of being stuck. The themes of this book are large and apply to the universal dilemma of whether you can escape yourself.
December 8, 2015
I love a good coming-of-age story, throw in some Mormon polygamists and you got yourself a page-turner.
May 15, 2016
There are not many Mormons in fiction and I'm not sure why, perhaps because they remain a mystery to non-Mormons. Shawn Vestal lived in the region he writes about and knows it well, it comes across in the portrayal of the landscape (from jackrabbits to sand flats) and the normalizing of LDS people vs. the fundamentalist polygamists found in the book. I mean, in what universe are the LDS people the normal ones? That would only make sense to someone who knows Mormonism and has lived in Utah/Arizona/Idaho. The book lives largely in the 1970s, where a teenager Loretta is added as a sister wife to a "celestial family" after exhibiting some promiscuous behavior. (So she is married off to "save" her without her consent.) But then she convinces an Evil Knieval loving teenager of an LDS family (the brother of her husband is standard LDS) to run away with her.
Sometimes the story dips into the 1950s, when a fundamentalist community is raided by the government and the children are all relocated into different homes. That is the story of the first wife but it does not sustain through the novel. I actually was interested in Ruth and her perspective, but the author kind of misses that opportunity. We do see her struggling to submit to all the things that chaff against her core, and that seemed accurate.
Jason, the teenaged boy, is actually the best formed character in the story. He thinks he wants to leave the boring, self-righteous community but is quick to discover his discomfort in the world outside his community. I wish Loretta had been as nuanced because she seems to be acting out of boredom more than anything else.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher though NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sometimes the story dips into the 1950s, when a fundamentalist community is raided by the government and the children are all relocated into different homes. That is the story of the first wife but it does not sustain through the novel. I actually was interested in Ruth and her perspective, but the author kind of misses that opportunity. We do see her struggling to submit to all the things that chaff against her core, and that seemed accurate.
Jason, the teenaged boy, is actually the best formed character in the story. He thinks he wants to leave the boring, self-righteous community but is quick to discover his discomfort in the world outside his community. I wish Loretta had been as nuanced because she seems to be acting out of boredom more than anything else.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher though NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 5, 2016
Could NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN.
(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for rape and child abuse.)
"She thinks of the thick dowel that had been lodged against the sliding window in her bedroom. Dean had cut the wood to size, and climbed a ladder to her second-story window and put it there, so even on the hottest days she cannot slide it open. She thinks of the gold. A bag of gold like in a fairy tale. She thinks of taking that gold away from him, and keeping it for herself."
"Loretta will never call Ruth 'Sister,' but she sees in her the way to do this: be stronger than the thing against you."
"This thing Loretta thought would be impossible has turned out to be simple, just as living this life has turned out to be simple. She remembers wondering how she would hide her true self from them, and then discovering how easy it was, because no one ever asked her anything about herself."
It's difficult for me to oversell this book. Daredevils is everything I'd hoped for - and more: a coming of age story, a cult escape story, a feminist fable. A portrait of the American Southwest in the far out 1970s. A story about the making - and unmaking - of our cultural heroes and icons. A road trip. A deconstruction of toxic masculinity and rape culture. A love story (but not in the way you think).
At its core is a fifteen-year-old girl named Loretta who yearns to start her life in the "real," outside world. A world she tasted, all too briefly. The youngest of eight children, Loretta's birth was unexpected. She came into the world a "wordly" Mormon in Cedar City, Arizona; but at the age of eight, her father abruptly decided that he wanted to rejoin the fundamentalist Mormon community in which he was raised. And so he moved Loretta and her mother back to Sutter Creek - without their input, natch. Just that like, Loretta's world - and her future - narrowed. Constricted until it fit one person's - another person's - will and desires.
Loretta is a means to an end for her father: an inroad to the "pocket of polygamists" he drifted away from so long ago. Though he cannot practice the virtue of celestial marriage himself (his standing in the community isn't enough to merit a second wife, or so I assume), Mr. Buckton can ensure that Loretta becomes a sister wife - whether she likes it or not. When he catches Loretta sneaking out to meet a guy one night, he beats Loretta, imprisons her in her room (bolting shut both the door and window), and "places" her with Dean Harder - who already has one wife and seven children, the oldest of which is only a few years younger than Loretta herself.
Reading Daredevils, I was constantly reminded of Joshua Gaylord's When We Were Animals: not because of any similarities in substance or style, but for the simple fact that both men give voice to teenage girls with such compassion, clarity, and nuance. Such humanity. At the time, I wrote:
"Every male author who laments that women are too strange and unknowable – too alien – to write convincingly needs to read When We Were Animals. Like yesterday. This is how it’s done, people."
The same goes for Daredevils. While all the characters are multifaceted, Loretta in particular shines. It would be all too easy to make her into a victim. And while she is indeed victimized - by her birth father; by her new "Father," husband/rapist Dean; and by the equally dangerous Bradshaw - she's also a survivor. Loretta suffers the abuse because she must, but she also finds ways to transcend it: through plotting and scheming; taking control of her body when she can (e.g., she douches with vinegar and ammonia to prevent pregnancy); and holding her secrets, pieces of her, close. Loretta is manipulative and sly, and I love her for it.
Loretta's unusual upbringing also makes it all too easy to relate to her. Hers is in many ways a classic fish out of water tale: She wasn't raised into this lifestyle, but rather thrust into it as a child; and at an old enough age to remember a different way. A better way - for girls and women and expendable adolescent boys.
While the first half of the story primarily focuses on Loretta and Jason and their converging paths, once the trio hits the road, we're treated to brief passages from the other characters' POVs. This is pure genius on Vestal's part; these sections promise to either cement or challenge the reader's existing perceptions.
This is especially true in Ruth's case: where she alternately comes off as a bully or a victim, the glimpse into her past (she was eleven when she was separated from her parents during the Short Creek raid - a real event that's described as "the largest mass arrest of polygamists in American history") really helps to add depth and nuance to the character. She is both: Ruth beats her children, and Dean took Loretta as a second wife against Ruth's wishes - even though the Law of Sarah grants wives the right to refuse sister wives. Sometimes Ruth despises her religion, even as she clings to it. She knows that she's smarter and has better judgment than her husband - she lacks Dean's greed and vanity - yet God's will demands that she submit to him nonetheless. She is, in a sense, her own jailer. And yet the Short Creek raid - and the sense of persecution it imparted - perversely helped cement those bars in place.
Yet Ruth, like Loretta, finds her own small, sly acts of rebellion. After Loretta runs off with Jason and Boyd, Ruth can't help but get a little dig in at Dean's expense: a godly "I told you so." Not content with his agreement, she insists that Dean lay out all the ways in which he erred. In great detail. It's just a happy coincidence that that which pleases God also pleases her, you know?
I also loved the juxtaposition of Bradshaw and Dean: two sides of the same woman-hating coin. Whereas Dean justifies his rape of Loretta with scripture, Bradshaw leans on the same rape apologism we're all familiar with. Yet when it comes right down to it, they're more alike than different: a couple of entitled misogynists. Watching the burgeoning friendship between the chosen and the gentile was terribly satisfying. They kind of belong together, those two.
It's a little simplistic or naive to call Bradshaw Loretta's "boyfriend" - really he's just one possible avenue of escape that she's cultivating. Yet as she becomes familiar with Dean, she questions which man - which path - is really the lesser evil. In the end, she chooses neither: Loretta is the architect of her own future.
For a time, Jason fancies himself Loretta's knight in shining armor:
"She needs saving, and it has been arranged for him to save her, but how? It must be what she wants, too, though this thought is buried so deep in Jason’s assumptions that he doesn’t actually think it. It is simply what occurs, it is simply what men do: rescue women."
But as their escape unfolds, Jason is dismayed to find that he's not the one behind the wheel. He's not Spider-Man, and Loretta is no Mary Jane. She's planned her prison break from the start and doesn't need anything from Jason - except his pea green LeBaron, that is.
Likewise, once he (and Boyd) get to know Loretta, they find that she's nothing like the image they conjured in their heads. She's brash, aggressive, and sexual - nothing like the demure, oppressed sister-wife they expected. (That noise? It's the sound of your pedestal cracking.)
There's so much to cherish and celebrate here, I could go on for days. The writing is captivating; the setting, lovely; and the characters, stunning and complicated and oh so human. I seriously had trouble pulling myself away, even as my heart quailed at what might come next.
My only quibble is with the ending, which isn't unsatisfying or disappointing, exactly ... it's just not quite what I expected. I don't know what I expected. Something grander? More profound? A twist to make me gasp or that would leave me in tears? I wanted Loretta to walk away with all of the fool's gold, anyway.
Don't get me wrong; the ending is good. I just think it could have been awesome.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 where necessary.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2016/04/11/...
(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for rape and child abuse.)
"She thinks of the thick dowel that had been lodged against the sliding window in her bedroom. Dean had cut the wood to size, and climbed a ladder to her second-story window and put it there, so even on the hottest days she cannot slide it open. She thinks of the gold. A bag of gold like in a fairy tale. She thinks of taking that gold away from him, and keeping it for herself."
"Loretta will never call Ruth 'Sister,' but she sees in her the way to do this: be stronger than the thing against you."
"This thing Loretta thought would be impossible has turned out to be simple, just as living this life has turned out to be simple. She remembers wondering how she would hide her true self from them, and then discovering how easy it was, because no one ever asked her anything about herself."
It's difficult for me to oversell this book. Daredevils is everything I'd hoped for - and more: a coming of age story, a cult escape story, a feminist fable. A portrait of the American Southwest in the far out 1970s. A story about the making - and unmaking - of our cultural heroes and icons. A road trip. A deconstruction of toxic masculinity and rape culture. A love story (but not in the way you think).
At its core is a fifteen-year-old girl named Loretta who yearns to start her life in the "real," outside world. A world she tasted, all too briefly. The youngest of eight children, Loretta's birth was unexpected. She came into the world a "wordly" Mormon in Cedar City, Arizona; but at the age of eight, her father abruptly decided that he wanted to rejoin the fundamentalist Mormon community in which he was raised. And so he moved Loretta and her mother back to Sutter Creek - without their input, natch. Just that like, Loretta's world - and her future - narrowed. Constricted until it fit one person's - another person's - will and desires.
Loretta is a means to an end for her father: an inroad to the "pocket of polygamists" he drifted away from so long ago. Though he cannot practice the virtue of celestial marriage himself (his standing in the community isn't enough to merit a second wife, or so I assume), Mr. Buckton can ensure that Loretta becomes a sister wife - whether she likes it or not. When he catches Loretta sneaking out to meet a guy one night, he beats Loretta, imprisons her in her room (bolting shut both the door and window), and "places" her with Dean Harder - who already has one wife and seven children, the oldest of which is only a few years younger than Loretta herself.
Reading Daredevils, I was constantly reminded of Joshua Gaylord's When We Were Animals: not because of any similarities in substance or style, but for the simple fact that both men give voice to teenage girls with such compassion, clarity, and nuance. Such humanity. At the time, I wrote:
"Every male author who laments that women are too strange and unknowable – too alien – to write convincingly needs to read When We Were Animals. Like yesterday. This is how it’s done, people."
The same goes for Daredevils. While all the characters are multifaceted, Loretta in particular shines. It would be all too easy to make her into a victim. And while she is indeed victimized - by her birth father; by her new "Father," husband/rapist Dean; and by the equally dangerous Bradshaw - she's also a survivor. Loretta suffers the abuse because she must, but she also finds ways to transcend it: through plotting and scheming; taking control of her body when she can (e.g., she douches with vinegar and ammonia to prevent pregnancy); and holding her secrets, pieces of her, close. Loretta is manipulative and sly, and I love her for it.
Loretta's unusual upbringing also makes it all too easy to relate to her. Hers is in many ways a classic fish out of water tale: She wasn't raised into this lifestyle, but rather thrust into it as a child; and at an old enough age to remember a different way. A better way - for girls and women and expendable adolescent boys.
While the first half of the story primarily focuses on Loretta and Jason and their converging paths, once the trio hits the road, we're treated to brief passages from the other characters' POVs. This is pure genius on Vestal's part; these sections promise to either cement or challenge the reader's existing perceptions.
This is especially true in Ruth's case: where she alternately comes off as a bully or a victim, the glimpse into her past (she was eleven when she was separated from her parents during the Short Creek raid - a real event that's described as "the largest mass arrest of polygamists in American history") really helps to add depth and nuance to the character. She is both: Ruth beats her children, and Dean took Loretta as a second wife against Ruth's wishes - even though the Law of Sarah grants wives the right to refuse sister wives. Sometimes Ruth despises her religion, even as she clings to it. She knows that she's smarter and has better judgment than her husband - she lacks Dean's greed and vanity - yet God's will demands that she submit to him nonetheless. She is, in a sense, her own jailer. And yet the Short Creek raid - and the sense of persecution it imparted - perversely helped cement those bars in place.
Yet Ruth, like Loretta, finds her own small, sly acts of rebellion. After Loretta runs off with Jason and Boyd, Ruth can't help but get a little dig in at Dean's expense: a godly "I told you so." Not content with his agreement, she insists that Dean lay out all the ways in which he erred. In great detail. It's just a happy coincidence that that which pleases God also pleases her, you know?
I also loved the juxtaposition of Bradshaw and Dean: two sides of the same woman-hating coin. Whereas Dean justifies his rape of Loretta with scripture, Bradshaw leans on the same rape apologism we're all familiar with. Yet when it comes right down to it, they're more alike than different: a couple of entitled misogynists. Watching the burgeoning friendship between the chosen and the gentile was terribly satisfying. They kind of belong together, those two.
It's a little simplistic or naive to call Bradshaw Loretta's "boyfriend" - really he's just one possible avenue of escape that she's cultivating. Yet as she becomes familiar with Dean, she questions which man - which path - is really the lesser evil. In the end, she chooses neither: Loretta is the architect of her own future.
For a time, Jason fancies himself Loretta's knight in shining armor:
"She needs saving, and it has been arranged for him to save her, but how? It must be what she wants, too, though this thought is buried so deep in Jason’s assumptions that he doesn’t actually think it. It is simply what occurs, it is simply what men do: rescue women."
But as their escape unfolds, Jason is dismayed to find that he's not the one behind the wheel. He's not Spider-Man, and Loretta is no Mary Jane. She's planned her prison break from the start and doesn't need anything from Jason - except his pea green LeBaron, that is.
Likewise, once he (and Boyd) get to know Loretta, they find that she's nothing like the image they conjured in their heads. She's brash, aggressive, and sexual - nothing like the demure, oppressed sister-wife they expected. (That noise? It's the sound of your pedestal cracking.)
There's so much to cherish and celebrate here, I could go on for days. The writing is captivating; the setting, lovely; and the characters, stunning and complicated and oh so human. I seriously had trouble pulling myself away, even as my heart quailed at what might come next.
My only quibble is with the ending, which isn't unsatisfying or disappointing, exactly ... it's just not quite what I expected. I don't know what I expected. Something grander? More profound? A twist to make me gasp or that would leave me in tears? I wanted Loretta to walk away with all of the fool's gold, anyway.
Don't get me wrong; the ending is good. I just think it could have been awesome.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 where necessary.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2016/04/11/...
October 13, 2015
Why aren't there half stars on Goodreads?! On the 4 side of 3.5 stars. Good writing, promising concept, just didn't end up much of anywhere.
September 24, 2016
Loretta is a beautiful teenage girl, and she wants to do what most teenage girls want to do. Date boys, go out in the evenings, drink beer and generally let her hair down. Except Loretta belongs to a strict Mormon family and all of those things that Loretta wants to do are forbidden.
When Loretta's father discovers that Loretta has been climbing out of her bedroom window at night to meet a boy, he is livid. He locks her in her bedroom and nails her window shut. Which is bad enough, but then he promises her in marriage to a man old enough to be her father, a man who already has a wife and several children. There is nothing Loretta can do, she is trapped.
After months of marriage, and domestic servitude with her husband and his family, Loretta and her husband's nephew Jason who is also from a Mormon family decide to run away together. But nothing runs smoothly as there is someone from Loretta's past hot on their heels and he has a score to settle.
This is a real coming-of-age novel and I enjoyed it very much. There were elements of this book which read like a psychological thriller, and it was really interesting learning about the Mormon faith and the different branches of it. The fact that it was set in the 70's was equally interesting. Jason is an obsessed fan of the stunt man Evel Knievel, and the various chapters throughout the book are broken up with passages about Evel Knievel and his adventures.
I actually found these passages about Evel Knievel annoying, and I tended to skip them, but I know there are other readers out there who will find them fascinating.
In the beginning I felt sympathy for Loretta, but as the book went on I soon found myself disliking her, as she was a very manipulative character.
This is a debut novel for the author Shawn Vestal, but it felt like he had been writing novels for years! The writing was easy to read, and the story moved along at a good pace. All the characters, in particular Loretta, were well fleshed out and believable. The ending annoyed me, simply because it didn't tie everything up in a neat bow! It left me wondering what happened next, and perhaps even though they annoy me, those are the best endings.
I received this book from NB Magazine/Nudge and the publisher ONE an imprint of Pushkin Press in return for an honest review.
When Loretta's father discovers that Loretta has been climbing out of her bedroom window at night to meet a boy, he is livid. He locks her in her bedroom and nails her window shut. Which is bad enough, but then he promises her in marriage to a man old enough to be her father, a man who already has a wife and several children. There is nothing Loretta can do, she is trapped.
After months of marriage, and domestic servitude with her husband and his family, Loretta and her husband's nephew Jason who is also from a Mormon family decide to run away together. But nothing runs smoothly as there is someone from Loretta's past hot on their heels and he has a score to settle.
This is a real coming-of-age novel and I enjoyed it very much. There were elements of this book which read like a psychological thriller, and it was really interesting learning about the Mormon faith and the different branches of it. The fact that it was set in the 70's was equally interesting. Jason is an obsessed fan of the stunt man Evel Knievel, and the various chapters throughout the book are broken up with passages about Evel Knievel and his adventures.
I actually found these passages about Evel Knievel annoying, and I tended to skip them, but I know there are other readers out there who will find them fascinating.
In the beginning I felt sympathy for Loretta, but as the book went on I soon found myself disliking her, as she was a very manipulative character.
This is a debut novel for the author Shawn Vestal, but it felt like he had been writing novels for years! The writing was easy to read, and the story moved along at a good pace. All the characters, in particular Loretta, were well fleshed out and believable. The ending annoyed me, simply because it didn't tie everything up in a neat bow! It left me wondering what happened next, and perhaps even though they annoy me, those are the best endings.
I received this book from NB Magazine/Nudge and the publisher ONE an imprint of Pushkin Press in return for an honest review.
April 29, 2016
We all have topics we can’t pass up, that consistently hook our interest, and for me, Mormon fundamentalists are near the top of that list. Ever since I read Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, I’ve been fascinated with this secretive sect, the ways leaders manipulate and coerce their followers, and how they clash with governing authorities outside their own twisted hierarchy. So when I read about Daredevils, a novel about a teenage girl running away from a polygamous marriage in the 1970s, I put it right at the top of my list.
Loretta is only fifteen when her parents force her to marry Dean, a middle-aged man who already has one wife and more than a handful of children. They cite her rebellious nature as their reasoning, as Loretta has been sneaking out of the house to meet her non-Mormon boyfriend. The rest of the novel follows her attempt to escape her new “family” in the company of Dean’s nephew, Jason, a teenage boy obsessed with Evel Knievel and his death-defying stunts.
References to Knievel make some level of sense in that they establish the time period, but the frequent interludes between chapters in Knievel’s voice feel a bit jarring and untethered from the rest of the plot. Vestal attempts to bring everything together by raising the possibility late in the novel that Knievel might be an actual character, involved in the action, but the two very distinct threads didn’t quite mesh for me. It might have made more sense if Knievel had been Loretta’s fixation, as she feels much more like a central character than Jason does. Instead, we get a lot of Jason-and-Knievel interplay, while Loretta remains too much an enigma—which is a shame, because she was the one I was curious about. Still, if you find fundamentalist Mormon culture and history interesting, Daredevils would be a good addition to your shelf.
With regards to Penguin Press and NetGalley for the review copy. On sale now!
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
Loretta is only fifteen when her parents force her to marry Dean, a middle-aged man who already has one wife and more than a handful of children. They cite her rebellious nature as their reasoning, as Loretta has been sneaking out of the house to meet her non-Mormon boyfriend. The rest of the novel follows her attempt to escape her new “family” in the company of Dean’s nephew, Jason, a teenage boy obsessed with Evel Knievel and his death-defying stunts.
References to Knievel make some level of sense in that they establish the time period, but the frequent interludes between chapters in Knievel’s voice feel a bit jarring and untethered from the rest of the plot. Vestal attempts to bring everything together by raising the possibility late in the novel that Knievel might be an actual character, involved in the action, but the two very distinct threads didn’t quite mesh for me. It might have made more sense if Knievel had been Loretta’s fixation, as she feels much more like a central character than Jason does. Instead, we get a lot of Jason-and-Knievel interplay, while Loretta remains too much an enigma—which is a shame, because she was the one I was curious about. Still, if you find fundamentalist Mormon culture and history interesting, Daredevils would be a good addition to your shelf.
With regards to Penguin Press and NetGalley for the review copy. On sale now!
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
December 8, 2016
This books flips through many characters' points of view but the main ones are Loretta, a 15 year old whose rebellious ways cause her to become the second wife of an older fundamentalist Mormon man; a 17 year old boy named Jason who lives in a mainstream Mormon community but no longer believes in the religion and longs to escape; and Evel Knievel, Jason's childhood idol. This book is predictable but the way it is written makes you feel for each of the characters and makes you nostalgic for childhood and reveals the inevitable reality of life and growing up. The different views of love and life and how in the end we all have similarities that can either draw us closer or tear us apart makes this an enjoyable read.
I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Penguin's First to Read Program with no requirement to review book.
I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Penguin's First to Read Program with no requirement to review book.
April 27, 2016
This book was so incredibly interesting. I could barely put it down at times. I loved that it took place in the 1970s. I loved the characters and how complex and different they were. Everything was so well written, it blew my mind.
I highly recommend this to book everyone.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I highly recommend this to book everyone.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
February 25, 2016
I would describe "Daredevils" not as a coming of age story but more of a "loss of innocence" story.
Each of the main characters loses their innocence in one way or another. Loretta is the pivot point and she loses her innocence early when she sneaks out of her strict Mormon home to meet her older boyfriend. She then loses her innocence again as she is married off as a sister wife to Dean. When the family moves to a different state and Dean rejoins his brother and family, he loses his innocence being cast into a world that is still Mormon but not as devout and one where he is not the absolute leader. Jason wants to escape his Mormon background and small town after idolizing Evil Knievel's daring jumps and media exploits. He will lose his innocence after seeing his idol as a man and as soon as he decides to become Loretta's savior. Loretta's first boyfriend and Jason's friend will lose their innocence as they fall under Loretta's spell. Freedom may not be all that they expected or can handle. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
Each of the main characters loses their innocence in one way or another. Loretta is the pivot point and she loses her innocence early when she sneaks out of her strict Mormon home to meet her older boyfriend. She then loses her innocence again as she is married off as a sister wife to Dean. When the family moves to a different state and Dean rejoins his brother and family, he loses his innocence being cast into a world that is still Mormon but not as devout and one where he is not the absolute leader. Jason wants to escape his Mormon background and small town after idolizing Evil Knievel's daring jumps and media exploits. He will lose his innocence after seeing his idol as a man and as soon as he decides to become Loretta's savior. Loretta's first boyfriend and Jason's friend will lose their innocence as they fall under Loretta's spell. Freedom may not be all that they expected or can handle. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
April 7, 2016
“You can’t hide yourself away. You’ve got to live in this world, and keep it off you somehow. But, you ought to have a little fun when you get the chance.”
Daredevils is the first book that I've ever requested and received from a publishing company in exchange for a review (I'll elaborate more at the end). I wish that the results had been better.
This book is scheduled to be released on April 12, 2016. I had such high hopes for this from reading the description, thus the reason I requested it. However, you can literally just read the blurb, and that's about all that happens in the book. It started off strong, but deflated quickly.
Loretta is stuck in a Mormon community that she doesn't want to be a part of. She leaves some nights to go off and hang out with her "gentile" boyfriend and one night gets caught climbing back in her window. Now, this particular Mormon community is a group of fundamentalists, which basically means they are a little bit more strict/devout to the religion and oh yeah, there is polygamy! So what happens when Lori gets caught? Her dad marries her off to some middle aged man, Dean, who already has a wife and 7 kids.
I think the most infuriating thing about this book is the fact Lori does not want any part of this and is getting raped by a middle aged man that is her "husband" and that there is absolutely ZERO resolution/punishment. It's just something that happens and nothing it done about it and after they move it's never really mentioned again. I'm not quite sure how to put my feelings into words, but I feel like something needed to happen by the end of the book to point out that it was not ok.
Going along the lines of there being a rapist...Bradshaw. Literally, there is a line early on in the book where he says "Some night I won’t be able to stop myself, I can’t be responsible." Um what? You’re a adult, yes you’re responsible. NOT OKAY! I mean, I guess once you reach the end it's just one other despicable quality trait and maybe those things are there to solidify his terrible character. At another point when we are in Bradshaw's mind, he says to himself "No. No. He had never allowed a girl to tell him no. Never. And there had been plenty of them, starting back in Vegas. High school. His dad off on oil rigs for weeks at a time, his mom who knows where, the house his own. And there were plenty of them in Cedar City later, girls who would do what he wanted them to. Like it or not." Like it or not? This guy is an ignorant character and legitimately a rapist.
I digress.
The other story line follows Jason, a different kind of Mormon living in Gooding, Idaho. He's a farmboy who is tired of the country/Mormon life, does what he needs to do to get by every day and plans on getting out of dodge after graduation. He also happens to be Loretta's "husband" Dean's nephew. Through some turn of events, Dean's family ends up moving back to his home town, which is Gooding, Idaho. Lori and Jason make friends and then decide to make a plan and hit the road. I had so much promise for this poor girl finally getting an escape from her rapist and from her old life. Honestly, she just ended up being extremely immature and the end just wasn't rewarding for me at all. To be fair, I'm not sure the mental state I would be in with her life, so I guess I can't really blame her and the situation could be considered realistic. It just wasn't what I was expecting the outcome to be and I didn't really like any part of the ending. The last 50 pages or so I just wanted the book to be done with.
Overall, the characters were pretty bland and there was absolutely zero character growth. If anything, they regressed.
Oh I almost forgot! For some reason, Evel Knievel played a large part of the story. He was Jason's hero, but I didn't think his part added anything to the story. In between sections there would be Evel Knievel Addresses an Adoring Nation sections. These were so incredibly boring. I read the first one, skimmed the next couple and the rest just skipped altogether and didn't even bother reading them. Maybe they had something to enhance the plot, who knows, I wasn't interested.
I will say one interesting point of the story was the different types of Mormon religion. I enjoyed learning a little bit about it and the fact the regular Mormons and Fundamentalist LDS Mormons both think of one another as utterly ridiculous. I didn't do my own research, but at times it almost seemed a little stereotypical, but maybe the author actually did his own research and portrayed the religion accurately.
About the EARC. An EARC is an electronic advanced readers copy. Penguin Random House has a site called First to Read. Once a month, they select certain books that are about to come out and give away so many copies for people to read. You make an account and click on the different books you're interested and they do a drawing. About a week or so later, you find out if you got any of the books or not. I had requested 4 and received one. Then they give you a date and say we'd like to know your thoughts by this date. So that's how I received a copy of Daredevils!
Daredevils is the first book that I've ever requested and received from a publishing company in exchange for a review (I'll elaborate more at the end). I wish that the results had been better.
This book is scheduled to be released on April 12, 2016. I had such high hopes for this from reading the description, thus the reason I requested it. However, you can literally just read the blurb, and that's about all that happens in the book. It started off strong, but deflated quickly.
Loretta is stuck in a Mormon community that she doesn't want to be a part of. She leaves some nights to go off and hang out with her "gentile" boyfriend and one night gets caught climbing back in her window. Now, this particular Mormon community is a group of fundamentalists, which basically means they are a little bit more strict/devout to the religion and oh yeah, there is polygamy! So what happens when Lori gets caught? Her dad marries her off to some middle aged man, Dean, who already has a wife and 7 kids.
I think the most infuriating thing about this book is the fact Lori does not want any part of this and is getting raped by a middle aged man that is her "husband" and that there is absolutely ZERO resolution/punishment. It's just something that happens and nothing it done about it and after they move it's never really mentioned again. I'm not quite sure how to put my feelings into words, but I feel like something needed to happen by the end of the book to point out that it was not ok.
Going along the lines of there being a rapist...Bradshaw. Literally, there is a line early on in the book where he says "Some night I won’t be able to stop myself, I can’t be responsible." Um what? You’re a adult, yes you’re responsible. NOT OKAY! I mean, I guess once you reach the end it's just one other despicable quality trait and maybe those things are there to solidify his terrible character. At another point when we are in Bradshaw's mind, he says to himself "No. No. He had never allowed a girl to tell him no. Never. And there had been plenty of them, starting back in Vegas. High school. His dad off on oil rigs for weeks at a time, his mom who knows where, the house his own. And there were plenty of them in Cedar City later, girls who would do what he wanted them to. Like it or not." Like it or not? This guy is an ignorant character and legitimately a rapist.
I digress.
The other story line follows Jason, a different kind of Mormon living in Gooding, Idaho. He's a farmboy who is tired of the country/Mormon life, does what he needs to do to get by every day and plans on getting out of dodge after graduation. He also happens to be Loretta's "husband" Dean's nephew. Through some turn of events, Dean's family ends up moving back to his home town, which is Gooding, Idaho. Lori and Jason make friends and then decide to make a plan and hit the road. I had so much promise for this poor girl finally getting an escape from her rapist and from her old life. Honestly, she just ended up being extremely immature and the end just wasn't rewarding for me at all. To be fair, I'm not sure the mental state I would be in with her life, so I guess I can't really blame her and the situation could be considered realistic. It just wasn't what I was expecting the outcome to be and I didn't really like any part of the ending. The last 50 pages or so I just wanted the book to be done with.
Overall, the characters were pretty bland and there was absolutely zero character growth. If anything, they regressed.
Oh I almost forgot! For some reason, Evel Knievel played a large part of the story. He was Jason's hero, but I didn't think his part added anything to the story. In between sections there would be Evel Knievel Addresses an Adoring Nation sections. These were so incredibly boring. I read the first one, skimmed the next couple and the rest just skipped altogether and didn't even bother reading them. Maybe they had something to enhance the plot, who knows, I wasn't interested.
I will say one interesting point of the story was the different types of Mormon religion. I enjoyed learning a little bit about it and the fact the regular Mormons and Fundamentalist LDS Mormons both think of one another as utterly ridiculous. I didn't do my own research, but at times it almost seemed a little stereotypical, but maybe the author actually did his own research and portrayed the religion accurately.
About the EARC. An EARC is an electronic advanced readers copy. Penguin Random House has a site called First to Read. Once a month, they select certain books that are about to come out and give away so many copies for people to read. You make an account and click on the different books you're interested and they do a drawing. About a week or so later, you find out if you got any of the books or not. I had requested 4 and received one. Then they give you a date and say we'd like to know your thoughts by this date. So that's how I received a copy of Daredevils!
April 2, 2016
This is a uniquely 1970s coming of age story set in isolated communities of fundamentalist LDS believers along the Arizona border. Three teenagers, from families that did not originate from FLDS communities, moved and became semi-involved when they were middle school aged. The transition left each child yearning for a former life and a sense of belonging that their current lives could not provide. As each child struggled to assert their independence, they were pushed back to conform. No one more so than Loretta who is promptly married off as a sister wife at 15 when her father learns she sneaks out at night. In one bold move the three teens take a car and drive off one night to find their future. For rural AZ or Nevada, Utah or Idaho, there was no great future to be found just off the two lane interstate. It would be more of an adventure than what they left, but just barely. The book gets that detail just right. Think back to a time before easy access to any kind of connectivity. The isolation was real, even for those who weren't living in secluded religious communities. The book has the stream of consciousness feel of the teenagers' yearning to break free. There's a tension underlying the story that is more about teenage angst than reality. The author does a good job of conveying that sense of frustration and now or never feeling that permeates adolescent planning. This book feels like a 70s film: more slice of life than traditional story arc. It's definitely worth reading. I received my copy through NetGalley and the publisher.
February 10, 2017
The American story is of one of progress and movement, of believing we should have more freedom and prosperity than what our forefathers had. That's Plymouth Rock. That's Manifest Destiny. It's the never ending push for more, new, better, with the pull of a hastily created, though sacredly invoked, shared history. The characters in Shawn Vestal's heartfelt and achingly human Daredevils play out this complex, contradictory American drama. The central characters, teenagers Loretta and Jason, long for more than what their fundamentalist and reformed, respectively, Mormon families' can offer. Their small, heroic grasp for freedom is intercut with flashbacks of their family history and monologues from 70's daredevil and American icon, Evel Knievel. Achieving international stardom as a death-defying testament to Newtonian physics, Knievel's story in Vestral's hands is Manifest Destiny writ-small, his inevitable plummet to earth a warning, a threat, a promise to a nation always needing more. Similarly, Daredevils is a protest song, a tender ballad, a hymn and a funeral dirge to our American ideal.
Read
July 19, 2018Some beautiful writing, and some heart-in-your-throat excellent descriptions of breaking free and breaking past and forging those cracks that'll let in your future, and some good if not particularly deep thematic work about masculinity, but I was disappointed by the final parts of the story (the book's description on its GoodReads page mostly covers the plot of said final parts, and it's an unpleasant rush of Stuff Happening and Things Changing after so much stasis in the first parts of the book) and the flatness of the characters who were not Jason--particularly the women.
The scene with Jason and his grandfather at Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon jump will probably rank among the best things I've read all year, though.
The scene with Jason and his grandfather at Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon jump will probably rank among the best things I've read all year, though.
August 29, 2016
I really loved this one. This is primarily the story of a young Mormon girl stuck in a polygamous marriage and a young man who is taken to and awed by an Evel Knievel attempted jump (daredevil) over a canyon as the book begins. These diverse young people meet and become friends. They have the common thread of feeling trapped in the lives they are leading. So they, along with a native American boy, become "daredevils" and hit the road. This book is extremely well written and believable. I think that Mr. Vestel is a future superstar in the fiction world.
July 15, 2016
So good! Thoughts to come...
November 8, 2020
Mormon fundamentalists, Idaho, Evel Knievel (but is he or isn't he?), coming-of-age, and jackrabbits (oh dear).
(quarantine book #102, read a book with a one-word title)
(quarantine book #102, read a book with a one-word title)
April 13, 2016
Why do I like this book so much?
- because the writing seems effortless, even though there's a lot of clever stuff going on with internal monologue and shifting perceptions
- There are some cartoonish characters, who show us their humanity, which makes them believable.
- Weaving Evel Knievel's deranged vision of reality in with the story of teens whose reality has been deranged for them by the adults in their lives, is a juxtaposition that gives the reader perspective from both sides.
- Cult stories are usually predictable. Status Quo - Revelation - Escape. But Daredevils is much more complicated than that, the cult escapee already knows her life is wrong and that she needs to escape from the very first page of the book. In a way the narrative is Escape - Escape - Escape. It kept me guessing all the way to the last few pages.
- I love a title pun
- An actual strong female protagonist, smarter, stronger and more daring than anyone else in the book.
- because the writing seems effortless, even though there's a lot of clever stuff going on with internal monologue and shifting perceptions
- There are some cartoonish characters, who show us their humanity, which makes them believable.
- Weaving Evel Knievel's deranged vision of reality in with the story of teens whose reality has been deranged for them by the adults in their lives, is a juxtaposition that gives the reader perspective from both sides.
- Cult stories are usually predictable. Status Quo - Revelation - Escape. But Daredevils is much more complicated than that, the cult escapee already knows her life is wrong and that she needs to escape from the very first page of the book. In a way the narrative is Escape - Escape - Escape. It kept me guessing all the way to the last few pages.
- I love a title pun
- An actual strong female protagonist, smarter, stronger and more daring than anyone else in the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2015
The blurb on the back of this book was very intriguing:
Fifteen-year-old Loretta slips out of her bedroom to meet her "Gentile" boyfriend. This time, her strict Mormon parents catch her returning , and soon marry her to the upstanding Dean Harder, a fundamentalist with a wife and a brood of kids, some not much younger than Loretta herself.
Unfortunately, the character development was not as strong as it should have been. The events that transpired in the novel seemed too contrived. Finally, it was difficult for me to cheer for any of the characters.
Fifteen-year-old Loretta slips out of her bedroom to meet her "Gentile" boyfriend. This time, her strict Mormon parents catch her returning , and soon marry her to the upstanding Dean Harder, a fundamentalist with a wife and a brood of kids, some not much younger than Loretta herself.
Unfortunately, the character development was not as strong as it should have been. The events that transpired in the novel seemed too contrived. Finally, it was difficult for me to cheer for any of the characters.
April 2, 2016
I don't know what it was about this book, but it caught me in just the right moment. I couldn't put it down. The glimpse into 1970s fundamentalist Mormon sects side by side with the phenomenon that was Evel Knievel was a fascinating juxtaposition. Also, the author provides an interesting depiction of how teens try to figure out what is important to them as is different than their parents and how they sometimes are not so wise in choosing how they go about doing so.
November 10, 2021
Amazing work by Shawn Vestal, the author of a short story collection I also loved called Godforsaken Idaho. The story centers on two characters: a teenage girl, Loretta, who lives in the polygamist colony at Short Creek on the Utah/Arizona border who is given away to be the second wife of an older man and a young, very frustrated and bored Mormon boy, Jason, living on a farm in Idaho who idolizes Evel Knievel and wants his life to be anything other than what it is. There are lots of great side characters--Loretta's polygamist husband, Dean (also Jason's uncle) and his first wife, Ruth, Jason's high school buddy, Boyd, Loretta's former secret boyfriend, Bradford, who now works for Dean, and even Evel Knievel himself. It's a riotous, bittersweet coming of age story that doesn't pull the punches. Can't recommend too highly.
February 16, 2016
I got this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. And honestly, it left me a little cold.
The story is told from the point of view of several different characters. The main one is Loretta, who has grown up in a fundamentalist Mormon community that believes in the principle of plural marriage. She's married off to a much older man at the age of 15 after her parents find out that she's been sneaking out of the house at night to participate in normal teenage rebellion activities. Her story interested me. There's also Jason, whose family is related to Loretta's new husband but is part of a much more mainstream Mormon church. Both teenagers are feeling pretty rebellious. There are also reoccurring boring speeches by Evel Knievel, and I wound up just skipping them, as they mattered not at all in the other story. Jason and Loretta wind up running off, and another teenager, a friend of Jason's, goes too, but they don't seem like "daredevils" as the title suggests. They just seem like stupid teens making inexplicable, random bad decisions. Evel Knievel shows up too, and is just as boring as he was earlier.
The story is told from the point of view of several different characters. The main one is Loretta, who has grown up in a fundamentalist Mormon community that believes in the principle of plural marriage. She's married off to a much older man at the age of 15 after her parents find out that she's been sneaking out of the house at night to participate in normal teenage rebellion activities. Her story interested me. There's also Jason, whose family is related to Loretta's new husband but is part of a much more mainstream Mormon church. Both teenagers are feeling pretty rebellious. There are also reoccurring boring speeches by Evel Knievel, and I wound up just skipping them, as they mattered not at all in the other story. Jason and Loretta wind up running off, and another teenager, a friend of Jason's, goes too, but they don't seem like "daredevils" as the title suggests. They just seem like stupid teens making inexplicable, random bad decisions. Evel Knievel shows up too, and is just as boring as he was earlier.
April 6, 2016
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I didn't expect I'd love reading this book so much! I actually couldn't put it down till 2 AM. You can look at this book at the different angles. It can be read as a coming of age story. Or as a road trip tale. Or as a religion story.
For me the most interesting part was Loretta's character development. She is married off as a sister wife (OK, isn't this kind of a 'Game of Thrones' vibe here?) to a FLDS member at 15 years because she sneaks out at night to meet her friends. Her husband agrees to wait till she's 16 'to consummate their marriage' (what a sweet man). Oh, and did I mention he has a first sister wife and like a lot of children living under the same roof? Merry little big family. Except Loretta isn't that happy about her situation and plans to escape, but she has no money or means to do it.
Evel Knievel parts were a bit lost on me, not very interesting to read, but as the story is set in 1970-s, the author used this character to add more historical background to the text.
Overall an interesting read, very easy to follow and I loved the writing style.
For me the most interesting part was Loretta's character development. She is married off as a sister wife (OK, isn't this kind of a 'Game of Thrones' vibe here?) to a FLDS member at 15 years because she sneaks out at night to meet her friends. Her husband agrees to wait till she's 16 'to consummate their marriage' (what a sweet man). Oh, and did I mention he has a first sister wife and like a lot of children living under the same roof? Merry little big family. Except Loretta isn't that happy about her situation and plans to escape, but she has no money or means to do it.
Evel Knievel parts were a bit lost on me, not very interesting to read, but as the story is set in 1970-s, the author used this character to add more historical background to the text.
Overall an interesting read, very easy to follow and I loved the writing style.
February 27, 2016
Daredevils is a coming of age road story centered on 15 year old Loretta, who after sneaking out of her house one night is then "given" to a much older Mormon elder by her parents in marriage. The repercussions of this act only make Loretta more determined to escape her doomed future. Throw in polygamy, Evel Knievel, Mormonism, and Teenagers risking it all for some freedom and you have one joyride of a story.
January 24, 2018
It took me a long time to read this book because I got tired of the Evel K. interludes and I stopped reading. I finally finished it for our library book club and I’m glad I did. There are a lot of interesting character studies and ideas about freedom and what people really want. If I had tons of time I’d like to read it again but there are so many other books!
February 19, 2017
Shawn Vestal, the PEN Robert W. Bingham award-winning author of the short story collection Godforsaken Idaho, once again discovers life in the bleakness of the American Midwest with his novel Daredevils. The book begins in the summer of 1974 in Short Creek, Arizona, where fifteen-year-old Loretta rebels against her fundamentalist Mormon community by sneaking out at night with her Gentile boyfriend, Bradshaw. She is tired of Bradshaw and his pressuring her to sleep with him, but continues to see him because she views him as a potential means of escape. However, by the time we meet Loretta she is already beginning to come into her own and imagines a future where she will not need to rely on a man for autonomy. This dream is unfortunately deferred when her father catches her slipping back through her bedroom window after a night out and forces her to marry the despicable Dean Harder, a rigid fundamentalist and, conversely, an ambitious farmer-capitalist. Loretta becomes a sister wife and endures night after night of “marital” rape after she turns sixteen (I put quotations around the word “marital” because polygamy is not legal in the United States and is not recognized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as valid, though it is still practiced in some small, extremist communities). Eventually, after a death in Dean’s family, he moves his Short Creek clan up to Idaho so that he can claim the property he views as rightfully his.
Violation is one of Daredevils' most poignant themes. In nearly every encounter Loretta has with another person, who is almost always a man, the other person attempts to use her body and/or block her from self-determination. To Vestal’s credit, this othering of his heroine never comes across as stereotypical. While Loretta is not quite as well-written as the male protagonist, Jason, or Jason’s friend Boyd, the author extensively explores her inner complexities. The result is that she comes off the page as flesh and blood. Vestal hits his stride during the novel’s climax and closing, treating the reader to rich descriptions of Loretta by Jason, Boyd and Bradshaw, and most importantly, from her own perspective, which makes her character arc hit home. However, the theme of violation doesn’t end here—it takes on many forms in Daredevils as Vestal weaves this narrative through depictions of religious practices, coming-of-age angst, and what it means to work on, inherit, and pass through land.
There is, of course, so much more to this novel than the beginning and end, which I’ve focused on up till now. Now we need to look at Jason Harder and Evel Knievel, Daredevils’ two other strongest voices. Jason is Dean’s teenage nephew. He lives on a farm in Gooding, Idaho and like Loretta, dreams of a life more libertine than that which is upheld by his Mormon family. Unlike Loretta, he is a boy from the mainstream church and as such enjoys privileges like going to the town school and listening to rock music (although his parents disapprove), and his family is quietly ashamed of their fundamentalist relatives. Jason also idolizes Evel Knievel, the real-life stuntman, whom he watches fail at his infamous Snake River Canyon jump and later meets at an Elko casino.
Apart from the scene in Nevada, Evel is strictly confined to the “Evel Knievel Addresses an Adoring Nation” sections, fictional monologues that are staggered between every few chapters. These speeches, which are best characterized as half-soliloquy, half-rant, allow Vestal to make grandiose statements about imaginings of America. Evel’s impassioned use of language takes some getting used-to but as with much of Daredevils, his sections become more enjoyable to read and deeper in context as the novel progresses until, finally, Jason, Boyd, and Loretta experience a defining night of debauchery with Evel at a hotel casino in Elko.
At this point, Jason has fallen in love with Loretta and Boyd is also smitten. To save Loretta from her polygamous marriage to Dean, the three run away from Gooding together. Or at least, saving the girl is Jason’s official reason but Vestal leaves his characters with enough doubt to demonstrate that the boys’ great escape is more than just an attempt at chivalry and that in fact, it is decidedly chauvinistic, if subconsciously so. At the end of the novel, this dynamic and the events of the night with Evel lead to a battle in Short Creek between Bradshaw and the teens, after which Vestal leaves the reader with a rare gift: an inconclusive ending that is utterly satisfying.
My review originally ran on Bookreporter.com.
Violation is one of Daredevils' most poignant themes. In nearly every encounter Loretta has with another person, who is almost always a man, the other person attempts to use her body and/or block her from self-determination. To Vestal’s credit, this othering of his heroine never comes across as stereotypical. While Loretta is not quite as well-written as the male protagonist, Jason, or Jason’s friend Boyd, the author extensively explores her inner complexities. The result is that she comes off the page as flesh and blood. Vestal hits his stride during the novel’s climax and closing, treating the reader to rich descriptions of Loretta by Jason, Boyd and Bradshaw, and most importantly, from her own perspective, which makes her character arc hit home. However, the theme of violation doesn’t end here—it takes on many forms in Daredevils as Vestal weaves this narrative through depictions of religious practices, coming-of-age angst, and what it means to work on, inherit, and pass through land.
There is, of course, so much more to this novel than the beginning and end, which I’ve focused on up till now. Now we need to look at Jason Harder and Evel Knievel, Daredevils’ two other strongest voices. Jason is Dean’s teenage nephew. He lives on a farm in Gooding, Idaho and like Loretta, dreams of a life more libertine than that which is upheld by his Mormon family. Unlike Loretta, he is a boy from the mainstream church and as such enjoys privileges like going to the town school and listening to rock music (although his parents disapprove), and his family is quietly ashamed of their fundamentalist relatives. Jason also idolizes Evel Knievel, the real-life stuntman, whom he watches fail at his infamous Snake River Canyon jump and later meets at an Elko casino.
Apart from the scene in Nevada, Evel is strictly confined to the “Evel Knievel Addresses an Adoring Nation” sections, fictional monologues that are staggered between every few chapters. These speeches, which are best characterized as half-soliloquy, half-rant, allow Vestal to make grandiose statements about imaginings of America. Evel’s impassioned use of language takes some getting used-to but as with much of Daredevils, his sections become more enjoyable to read and deeper in context as the novel progresses until, finally, Jason, Boyd, and Loretta experience a defining night of debauchery with Evel at a hotel casino in Elko.
At this point, Jason has fallen in love with Loretta and Boyd is also smitten. To save Loretta from her polygamous marriage to Dean, the three run away from Gooding together. Or at least, saving the girl is Jason’s official reason but Vestal leaves his characters with enough doubt to demonstrate that the boys’ great escape is more than just an attempt at chivalry and that in fact, it is decidedly chauvinistic, if subconsciously so. At the end of the novel, this dynamic and the events of the night with Evel lead to a battle in Short Creek between Bradshaw and the teens, after which Vestal leaves the reader with a rare gift: an inconclusive ending that is utterly satisfying.
My review originally ran on Bookreporter.com.
March 1, 2018
I really liked this story of a young sister wife desperate to escape her fundamentalist Mormon life. It feels authentic and, in fact, incorporates the Short Creek (now Colorado City) raid of 1953, when the authorities briefly liberated wives and children from their polygamist husbands. Evel Knievel serves as a symbol of freedom, of having the daring to live your own life, and his story is woven throughout. Definitely worth a read if you’re curious at all about the fundamentalist Mormons—I couldn’t put it down .
June 26, 2021
Interesting read well set in time.
I lived during the Evel Kneval years.
There's mystery and tension here.
Ended a bit oddly, but not badly.
I lived during the Evel Kneval years.
There's mystery and tension here.
Ended a bit oddly, but not badly.
March 24, 2016
If you’re a child of the ‘70’s, Daredevils by Shawn Vestal, can seem like a trip down memory lane. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Foghat, the book The Hobbit, and the 70’s cultural icon Evel Knievel serve as backdrops to this engrossing novel about a young girl, Loretta, whose life just turned in a direction that she didn’t see coming.
At 15, Loretta is living the care-free life of the typical American teen. She sneaks out at night, joins up with friends, and has a boyfriend that her parents don’t know about. However, Loretta and her family are Mormons and when her father catches her sneaking back in after a night with her boyfriend, he is incensed. In fact, he is mad enough that he marries her off to Dean Harder, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), an offshoot of the Mormon religion that practices polygamy. Loretta moves to Short Creek, AZ and lives with Dean, his first wife and their children. Dean agrees to wait until Loretta is 16 before consummating their marriage but nevertheless, this is child rape in the eyes of the law, and it is the main reason this group lives in their segregated community. Dean owns a successful bulk packaging company and when he begins to argue with church elders about the amount that they think he should tithe, the entire family moves back to Utah to live on the farmstead where Dean was raised, which is also near his brother, Louis, and his family who are practicing Mormons.
Jason, Dean’s nephew, is looking forward to graduation and leaving behind the confines of the Mormon Church. He likes to listen to Zeppelin and Foghat on his 8-track player and is obsessed with Evel Knievel, the 70’s stuntman who attempted to jump Idaho’s Snake River Canyon. (In fact, Knievel’s character is weaved throughout the book adding to the charm of this story.) Jason develops a crush on Loretta and even though Dean is trying to hide the fact that he and Loretta are married, Jason discovers this is the case, and sees himself as Loretta’s savior. If he rescues her, they can live the life they’ve chosen together. He and Loretta take off, along with Boyd, Jason’s friend, who is caught up in the search for his father and also of the Native American politics that were the 70’s. Their road trip initiates them into the adult world and sadly, the search for freedom that all three are looking for proves to be elusive for some of them.
I am a child of the 70’s so, of course, I really liked this novel. It was like opening a time capsule and uncovering all the dusty memories of my childhood.
Thanks to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.
At 15, Loretta is living the care-free life of the typical American teen. She sneaks out at night, joins up with friends, and has a boyfriend that her parents don’t know about. However, Loretta and her family are Mormons and when her father catches her sneaking back in after a night with her boyfriend, he is incensed. In fact, he is mad enough that he marries her off to Dean Harder, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), an offshoot of the Mormon religion that practices polygamy. Loretta moves to Short Creek, AZ and lives with Dean, his first wife and their children. Dean agrees to wait until Loretta is 16 before consummating their marriage but nevertheless, this is child rape in the eyes of the law, and it is the main reason this group lives in their segregated community. Dean owns a successful bulk packaging company and when he begins to argue with church elders about the amount that they think he should tithe, the entire family moves back to Utah to live on the farmstead where Dean was raised, which is also near his brother, Louis, and his family who are practicing Mormons.
Jason, Dean’s nephew, is looking forward to graduation and leaving behind the confines of the Mormon Church. He likes to listen to Zeppelin and Foghat on his 8-track player and is obsessed with Evel Knievel, the 70’s stuntman who attempted to jump Idaho’s Snake River Canyon. (In fact, Knievel’s character is weaved throughout the book adding to the charm of this story.) Jason develops a crush on Loretta and even though Dean is trying to hide the fact that he and Loretta are married, Jason discovers this is the case, and sees himself as Loretta’s savior. If he rescues her, they can live the life they’ve chosen together. He and Loretta take off, along with Boyd, Jason’s friend, who is caught up in the search for his father and also of the Native American politics that were the 70’s. Their road trip initiates them into the adult world and sadly, the search for freedom that all three are looking for proves to be elusive for some of them.
I am a child of the 70’s so, of course, I really liked this novel. It was like opening a time capsule and uncovering all the dusty memories of my childhood.
Thanks to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.
November 16, 2016
The novel starts out great, alternating chapters of two coming of age stories; one of 15 year old Loretta whose family belongs to a fundamentalist, polygamist LDS sect isolated from society on the Utah/Arizona border, the other of Jason who lives with a traditional LDS family in Twin Falls Idaho. The early chapters describe the rebellions of both. Loretta escapes at night to meet friends especially a young man but is eventually caught by her dad who punishes her, confines her to home and eventually "gives" her to a fellow sect member as a second wife. Those chapters are so well told that they are excruciating to read. Meanwhile Jason's rebellion is more mainstream, he idolizes Evel Knevel, takes money from his savings account for his future mission to buy rock music, and wears inappropriate shirts. His parents are sympathetic even though in Jason's eyes they are part of his revolt and Jason has a special relationship with his grandfather who while a respected bishop and elder in the church, takes Jason away on a Sunday to see Evel's jump over the Snake River canyon after telling the rest of the family that he is taking Jason to a mormon speaking engagement.
It is when Jason's grandfather dies and the two stories converge that the novel loses some of its steam. Loretta's polygamist husband is Jason's grandfather's estranged son who comes to Twin Falls to claim his share of his inheritance. He brings the whole family and presents Loretta as a niece living with them for awhile. Jason becomes smitten with her, Loretta remains isolated but continues to chafe at her sad life. As the novel moves towards its climax it loses its strength, the realism of the story and the authenticity of its characters leading to an unsatisfactory ending.
The other drawback to the novel is the annoying intrusions of Evel Knevel's narratives throughout the book. The initial appearance of Knevel made sense in the plot, but after Jason and his grandad watch the attempted jump, Knevel repeatedly reappears to make nonsensical narratives that take away from the story.
Still, on balance this a well worth read, especially in the early, descriptive chapters
It is when Jason's grandfather dies and the two stories converge that the novel loses some of its steam. Loretta's polygamist husband is Jason's grandfather's estranged son who comes to Twin Falls to claim his share of his inheritance. He brings the whole family and presents Loretta as a niece living with them for awhile. Jason becomes smitten with her, Loretta remains isolated but continues to chafe at her sad life. As the novel moves towards its climax it loses its strength, the realism of the story and the authenticity of its characters leading to an unsatisfactory ending.
The other drawback to the novel is the annoying intrusions of Evel Knevel's narratives throughout the book. The initial appearance of Knevel made sense in the plot, but after Jason and his grandad watch the attempted jump, Knevel repeatedly reappears to make nonsensical narratives that take away from the story.
Still, on balance this a well worth read, especially in the early, descriptive chapters
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