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Mission to America
From one of our most admired and visible young writers, a superb new novel about the collision between the forces of faith and an overstimulated, overfed, spiritually overextended America.
Mason LaVerle is a young man on a mission—a mission to America. He was raised in a remote Montana town in the church of the Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles, a matriarchal, not-quite-Christian, almost New-Ageish sect that, like the Amish, keeps a wary distance from mainstream life. But the Apostles face a dwindling membership, so Mason is sent on an outreach mission with another young man to bring back converts—and, more specifically, brides. And so these two naive believers head off in a van to encounter the contemporary scene in all its bewildering, seductive diversity. They prosyletize at malls, passing out leaflets in parking garages based on the condition of their cars and their bumper stickers. Eventually, they make their way to a gilded Colorado ski town, where, while promoting their un-American message of humble, serene, optimistic fatalism, Mason finds himself courting a young woman who used to pose for Internet porn sites, and his partner becomes the live-in guru of a guilt-ridden billionaire with chronic bowel complaints. Meanwhile, back in Montana, the Apostles are facing schism and extinction as their beloved leader, the Seeress, drifts toward death. The mounting pressures lead Mason to the brink of missionary madness.
Walter Kirn is one of the most acute observers of contemporary American life that we have. In Mission to America, he harnesses that gift to a satirical yet moving tale of a stranger in a strange land that just happens to be our own.
Mason LaVerle is a young man on a mission—a mission to America. He was raised in a remote Montana town in the church of the Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles, a matriarchal, not-quite-Christian, almost New-Ageish sect that, like the Amish, keeps a wary distance from mainstream life. But the Apostles face a dwindling membership, so Mason is sent on an outreach mission with another young man to bring back converts—and, more specifically, brides. And so these two naive believers head off in a van to encounter the contemporary scene in all its bewildering, seductive diversity. They prosyletize at malls, passing out leaflets in parking garages based on the condition of their cars and their bumper stickers. Eventually, they make their way to a gilded Colorado ski town, where, while promoting their un-American message of humble, serene, optimistic fatalism, Mason finds himself courting a young woman who used to pose for Internet porn sites, and his partner becomes the live-in guru of a guilt-ridden billionaire with chronic bowel complaints. Meanwhile, back in Montana, the Apostles are facing schism and extinction as their beloved leader, the Seeress, drifts toward death. The mounting pressures lead Mason to the brink of missionary madness.
Walter Kirn is one of the most acute observers of contemporary American life that we have. In Mission to America, he harnesses that gift to a satirical yet moving tale of a stranger in a strange land that just happens to be our own.
271 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
6 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
About the author
Walter Kirn
39 books233 followersWalter Kirn is a regular reviewer for The New York Times Book Review, and his work appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, Time, New York, GQ and Esquire. He is the author of six previous works of fiction: My Hard Bargain: Stories, She Needed Me, Thumbsucker, Up in the Air, Mission to America and The Unbinding. Kirn is a graduate of Princeton University and attended Oxford on a scholarship from the Keasby Foundation. "
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 26, 2007
Mission to America tells the story of two young men raised in an obscure, isolated Montana religious sect and what happens when they leave their cloistered world to recruit new blood for their unhealthily inbred clan.
I liked this book, though not for reasons I would have expected. Many of the reviews described it as laugh out loud funny. Though I did find myself smiling from time to time at the author’s wry perspective on life, I was more impacted by the thoughtful way in which he describes what happens when people’s cherished beliefs are tested in an unsympathetic environment. While some may find the Montana communities religious beliefs outlandish, I found them to be no more ludicrous than many religious systems I have encountered, and Kirn’s juxtaposition of this oddball faith against both a mercenary brand of fundamentalist Christianity and a greater world that just didn’t care really very much was thought-provoking. I found his choice of ending within this context to be really quite fascinating.
I’m afraid, however, that I must take exception with a scene in which Kirn sends the main character sets off to become a mystery shopper at a Boulder store thinly disguised as a Wal-Mart. Had Kirn spent any time in Boulder, he would know that our fair city would hang itself with its declining sales tax receipts before allowing such an abomination of mass retail culture to sully our pristine utopian landscape. But, I will admit, this is only a minor complaint in an otherwise fine novel.
I liked this book, though not for reasons I would have expected. Many of the reviews described it as laugh out loud funny. Though I did find myself smiling from time to time at the author’s wry perspective on life, I was more impacted by the thoughtful way in which he describes what happens when people’s cherished beliefs are tested in an unsympathetic environment. While some may find the Montana communities religious beliefs outlandish, I found them to be no more ludicrous than many religious systems I have encountered, and Kirn’s juxtaposition of this oddball faith against both a mercenary brand of fundamentalist Christianity and a greater world that just didn’t care really very much was thought-provoking. I found his choice of ending within this context to be really quite fascinating.
I’m afraid, however, that I must take exception with a scene in which Kirn sends the main character sets off to become a mystery shopper at a Boulder store thinly disguised as a Wal-Mart. Had Kirn spent any time in Boulder, he would know that our fair city would hang itself with its declining sales tax receipts before allowing such an abomination of mass retail culture to sully our pristine utopian landscape. But, I will admit, this is only a minor complaint in an otherwise fine novel.
January 1, 2012
Well, it was a mixed bag.
I'd give five stars just for the first section of the book which explains the Apostles lifestyle and religious beliefs. What a wonderful, novel religion. Had me laughing--I thought I'd never see Candida (yeast overgrowth) in fiction, let a lone a religious setting! So much of the matriarchal apostles was familiar...I mean I think he concocted a believable amalgam of feminist, health-nut spiritual beliefs; and he did so tenderly (kudos for that).
Once the Apostles hit Show Shoe, Colorado, on a quest to find converts to bring new stock into their dying flock, the story looses it's appeal. Part of me had no interest in the lifestyles of the rich and famous, which made it hard to "immerse" myself into the story. I also found myself lost a lot, having trouble following how a character moved into a new conversation or situation. This really troubled me, and I am at a total loss at how to describe it well. Maybe a lack of description and setting, or poor segues?
They story redeemed itself by wrapping itself up well.
I'd give five stars just for the first section of the book which explains the Apostles lifestyle and religious beliefs. What a wonderful, novel religion. Had me laughing--I thought I'd never see Candida (yeast overgrowth) in fiction, let a lone a religious setting! So much of the matriarchal apostles was familiar...I mean I think he concocted a believable amalgam of feminist, health-nut spiritual beliefs; and he did so tenderly (kudos for that).
Once the Apostles hit Show Shoe, Colorado, on a quest to find converts to bring new stock into their dying flock, the story looses it's appeal. Part of me had no interest in the lifestyles of the rich and famous, which made it hard to "immerse" myself into the story. I also found myself lost a lot, having trouble following how a character moved into a new conversation or situation. This really troubled me, and I am at a total loss at how to describe it well. Maybe a lack of description and setting, or poor segues?
They story redeemed itself by wrapping itself up well.
December 1, 2022
This was an enjoyable read by Kirn. A fresh spin on the classic Bildungsroman with enough plot to keep me interested and enough philosophical insight and character development to keep me from feeling guilty letting it wile me into a couple of rainy afternoons reading. A nice escape. Recommend!
June 22, 2012
A well told tale, signifying nothing
(this is from my Amazon review)
What happens when an insular, moribund religious community meets a heedless, spiritually restless America? That is the premise of this book, where the earnest and well-spoken Mason, a resident of an insular religious community known as the Apostles, is sent on a mission to convert modern Americans to his faith, in order to bring back young adepts to freshen up the local gene pool. In this novel, Walter Kirn very sympathetically depicts the faith of the Apostles as well as the various faiths of the restless Americans. Though others have called this book a satire, it isn't a biting satire, it is an affectionate one. The characters are vivid and well-drawn, the scenes are set with impressive detail that is as one would expect of a novelist of Kirn's caliber.
And yet, for all that, the story fell flat for me; I didn't end up caring about any of the characters depicted, and it brought me no insight into the questions of faith in America. The book, sadly, was a complete waste of my time. It hints at questions of faith in the modern world; it begins to ask if we need it, want it, or treat it with the kind of respect we and it deserve. Those are valid and important questions, but the book never even really explores them, and it certainly doesn't begin to try to answer them.
So what happens when an insular community meets modern America is: nothing much. Mason has a few trenchant observations about both, but the religious community continues to be moribund, and modern society continues to be heedless. And Mason himself is still lost; his faith dying before his eyes, which he escapes, but into what? Into a place he knows is even more lost, with a woman more rudderless than he is.
Kirn says that the women are really the heart of the book, and if that's the case, then I liked it even less. All of the women here are selfish and lack self-awareness. They never step outside their own concerns, and why Mason takes up with Betsy after rejecting her for very wise reasons, is never explained. It is a betrayal of his own perceptive moral vision. It may be that someone like Mason could and would take up with Betsy, despite all that he knows and understands. But why we should care about him after he does so is the real mystery.
That's what I mean when I say this is a well-told tale that signifies nothing. Imagine talking about missionary work without conversion. Imagine talking about faith without invoking the transcendant. Imagine talking about community without invoking love. Imagine talking about religion without invoking the divine. Works without grace. Sin without redemption. Mystery without majesty.
That is this book. A lot of trees, but no forest. Far, far from the forest. I can only conclude this is because, though Kirn obviously sympathizes with religious sensibility, he obviously clearly lacks any of his own. I think he used to, but has lost that ability. It's philosophastery of the worst sort, practiced by someone who should know better. We can only excuse it because this may have been his own, personal attempt to recapture it. He failed, and we, his readers, are pained witnesses of that failure.
If you are interested in the enchantments, consolations, and delusions of faith in America, your time would be much better spent, and your spirit more enlightened, by reading John Irving's _A Prayer for Owen Meany_, or Yann Martel's _Life of Pi_. And the incomparable Flannery O'Conner--she said more about these questions in one short story ("Revelation") than Kirn does in an entire novel. Going back further, the classic American books about faith are Hawthorne's _Scarlet Letter_, and Melville's _Moby Dick_. And if you want to range wider, Flaubert's _Madame Bovary_ and Joyce's _Portrait of an Artist_. And of course you can never go wrong with the Russians--Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy.
(this is from my Amazon review)
What happens when an insular, moribund religious community meets a heedless, spiritually restless America? That is the premise of this book, where the earnest and well-spoken Mason, a resident of an insular religious community known as the Apostles, is sent on a mission to convert modern Americans to his faith, in order to bring back young adepts to freshen up the local gene pool. In this novel, Walter Kirn very sympathetically depicts the faith of the Apostles as well as the various faiths of the restless Americans. Though others have called this book a satire, it isn't a biting satire, it is an affectionate one. The characters are vivid and well-drawn, the scenes are set with impressive detail that is as one would expect of a novelist of Kirn's caliber.
And yet, for all that, the story fell flat for me; I didn't end up caring about any of the characters depicted, and it brought me no insight into the questions of faith in America. The book, sadly, was a complete waste of my time. It hints at questions of faith in the modern world; it begins to ask if we need it, want it, or treat it with the kind of respect we and it deserve. Those are valid and important questions, but the book never even really explores them, and it certainly doesn't begin to try to answer them.
So what happens when an insular community meets modern America is: nothing much. Mason has a few trenchant observations about both, but the religious community continues to be moribund, and modern society continues to be heedless. And Mason himself is still lost; his faith dying before his eyes, which he escapes, but into what? Into a place he knows is even more lost, with a woman more rudderless than he is.
Kirn says that the women are really the heart of the book, and if that's the case, then I liked it even less. All of the women here are selfish and lack self-awareness. They never step outside their own concerns, and why Mason takes up with Betsy after rejecting her for very wise reasons, is never explained. It is a betrayal of his own perceptive moral vision. It may be that someone like Mason could and would take up with Betsy, despite all that he knows and understands. But why we should care about him after he does so is the real mystery.
That's what I mean when I say this is a well-told tale that signifies nothing. Imagine talking about missionary work without conversion. Imagine talking about faith without invoking the transcendant. Imagine talking about community without invoking love. Imagine talking about religion without invoking the divine. Works without grace. Sin without redemption. Mystery without majesty.
That is this book. A lot of trees, but no forest. Far, far from the forest. I can only conclude this is because, though Kirn obviously sympathizes with religious sensibility, he obviously clearly lacks any of his own. I think he used to, but has lost that ability. It's philosophastery of the worst sort, practiced by someone who should know better. We can only excuse it because this may have been his own, personal attempt to recapture it. He failed, and we, his readers, are pained witnesses of that failure.
If you are interested in the enchantments, consolations, and delusions of faith in America, your time would be much better spent, and your spirit more enlightened, by reading John Irving's _A Prayer for Owen Meany_, or Yann Martel's _Life of Pi_. And the incomparable Flannery O'Conner--she said more about these questions in one short story ("Revelation") than Kirn does in an entire novel. Going back further, the classic American books about faith are Hawthorne's _Scarlet Letter_, and Melville's _Moby Dick_. And if you want to range wider, Flaubert's _Madame Bovary_ and Joyce's _Portrait of an Artist_. And of course you can never go wrong with the Russians--Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy.
May 21, 2012
A few years ago I read this author's short story collection, and formed a very high opinion of his writing talent. This book, often described as satire, is something more than that. Satire is a kind of exaggeration, but everything in this book is firmly rooted in America of today. We just don't normally see all these elements rubbing against each other quite so determinedly. Deeply cynical and very hopeful all at the same time, this novel should be studied by future generations trying to understand the paradox that modern culture has become in the good old U. S of A.
January 2, 2018
Here's my review of "Mission to America" for the San Antonio Express-News:
In a remote corner of Montana resides a matriarchal religious sect, clinging to a home-brewed doctrine that rejects much of what modern American stands for. The Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles (AFA) are largely immune to television, drugs, junk food, and materialism. Money is accepted for purchase at their stores, but then so are “Virtue Coupons,” which are earned by doing good deeds. “Edenic Nutritional Science” forms the backbone of their faith, and eating habits are carefully regulated in order to ensure smooth digestion. As Mason LaVerle, the narrator of this novel asserts, “Our bowels should work ceaselessly, not just at intervals.”
The AFA has survived for over a hundred years, yet their quiet, gentle existence has come under threat. Generations of inbreeding have weakened their genetic stock and their economic foundation is far from secure. They need to bring in new blood. So Mason LaVerle and his partner, Elder Stark, embark on a “Mission to America.” Armed with pamphlets and a variety of low-rent proselytizing techniques, they seek to convert “vain free-spenders with poisonous diets.”
Walter Kirn’s satirical portrait of modern America is pungent, drawing connections between America’s junk food diet and its spiritual blight. This is serious humor, drawn from the same vein that nourished Kurt Vonnegut and Walker Percy.
Mason and Elder arrive in a swanky Colorado resort town, where they find themselves quickly overmatched. Their vinyl shoes and bad teeth rank them as objects of ridicule, or pity, rather than harbingers of a more advanced civilization. Mason quickly realizes the impossibility of winning “the hearts of two darling banker’s daughters who can’t wait to move to Montana, drive junky cars, pray in a building with a caved-in roof, have three kids apiece, and eat trout six times a week.”
Mason’s partner, Elder, quickly succumbs to sugary processed foods and the easily availability of pharmaceuticals. Even as Elder grows ever-fatter and mentally unbalanced, he remains committed to the mission. He counsels a billionaire whose irritable bowel syndrome keeps him from enjoying the meat from his private buffalo herd. Mason, meanwhile, falls in love with an ex-internet porn queen that he saves from a alpine-hiking Christian who confesses that he’d enjoy tossing certain people over the edge of mountain cliffs.
Kirn’s lyrical language is compelling, though sometimes at odds with the plainspoken naiveté of his narrator. Mason LaVerle is suspiciously sophisticated at times, as when he skillfully discerns evidence of a woman’s cosmetic surgery. The most serious challenge to Kirn’s narrative technique is the reduced effectiveness of satire in today’s world—reality has bounded far ahead of any sense of shame. What’s left to lampoon in a country where a jailed media icon emerges from captivity only to star in her own TV show? In Mission to America, Mason and Elder become fascinated by television, and when Kirn describes the outlandish programs they view—such as one involving a corpse and a rabid cat—the effect sounds less like satire and more like a promo for the upcoming Fall season.
Despite the wobbles, Kirn’s novel gathers captivating momentum as his characters transcend sociological concerns and focus on the more important question: how does an individual attain grace in a gluttonous world?
Mason finally realizes the ultimate fate that awaits his beloved religion when he sees that its entire flock “would fit into the lawn-care department” of a giant superstore. He begins to wonder if their mission “sprung not from compassion, as we’d told ourselves, but from bitterness over our own approaching demise. We wanted to drown with strangers in our arms, to take outsiders down with us and feel them struggle.”
In a remote corner of Montana resides a matriarchal religious sect, clinging to a home-brewed doctrine that rejects much of what modern American stands for. The Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles (AFA) are largely immune to television, drugs, junk food, and materialism. Money is accepted for purchase at their stores, but then so are “Virtue Coupons,” which are earned by doing good deeds. “Edenic Nutritional Science” forms the backbone of their faith, and eating habits are carefully regulated in order to ensure smooth digestion. As Mason LaVerle, the narrator of this novel asserts, “Our bowels should work ceaselessly, not just at intervals.”
The AFA has survived for over a hundred years, yet their quiet, gentle existence has come under threat. Generations of inbreeding have weakened their genetic stock and their economic foundation is far from secure. They need to bring in new blood. So Mason LaVerle and his partner, Elder Stark, embark on a “Mission to America.” Armed with pamphlets and a variety of low-rent proselytizing techniques, they seek to convert “vain free-spenders with poisonous diets.”
Walter Kirn’s satirical portrait of modern America is pungent, drawing connections between America’s junk food diet and its spiritual blight. This is serious humor, drawn from the same vein that nourished Kurt Vonnegut and Walker Percy.
Mason and Elder arrive in a swanky Colorado resort town, where they find themselves quickly overmatched. Their vinyl shoes and bad teeth rank them as objects of ridicule, or pity, rather than harbingers of a more advanced civilization. Mason quickly realizes the impossibility of winning “the hearts of two darling banker’s daughters who can’t wait to move to Montana, drive junky cars, pray in a building with a caved-in roof, have three kids apiece, and eat trout six times a week.”
Mason’s partner, Elder, quickly succumbs to sugary processed foods and the easily availability of pharmaceuticals. Even as Elder grows ever-fatter and mentally unbalanced, he remains committed to the mission. He counsels a billionaire whose irritable bowel syndrome keeps him from enjoying the meat from his private buffalo herd. Mason, meanwhile, falls in love with an ex-internet porn queen that he saves from a alpine-hiking Christian who confesses that he’d enjoy tossing certain people over the edge of mountain cliffs.
Kirn’s lyrical language is compelling, though sometimes at odds with the plainspoken naiveté of his narrator. Mason LaVerle is suspiciously sophisticated at times, as when he skillfully discerns evidence of a woman’s cosmetic surgery. The most serious challenge to Kirn’s narrative technique is the reduced effectiveness of satire in today’s world—reality has bounded far ahead of any sense of shame. What’s left to lampoon in a country where a jailed media icon emerges from captivity only to star in her own TV show? In Mission to America, Mason and Elder become fascinated by television, and when Kirn describes the outlandish programs they view—such as one involving a corpse and a rabid cat—the effect sounds less like satire and more like a promo for the upcoming Fall season.
Despite the wobbles, Kirn’s novel gathers captivating momentum as his characters transcend sociological concerns and focus on the more important question: how does an individual attain grace in a gluttonous world?
Mason finally realizes the ultimate fate that awaits his beloved religion when he sees that its entire flock “would fit into the lawn-care department” of a giant superstore. He begins to wonder if their mission “sprung not from compassion, as we’d told ourselves, but from bitterness over our own approaching demise. We wanted to drown with strangers in our arms, to take outsiders down with us and feel them struggle.”
September 4, 2017
The Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles is a small, benign cult that is isolated in remote Montana. All is not well there. An aging, declining population and inbreeding are taking a toll.
Two young men, Mason LaVerle and Elias Stark, are appointed to travel through America and recruit new members. Armed only with a few tracts and some New Agey-Dale Carnegie advice, they venture out into the world.
The first part of the book reads like The Giver meets Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with a little Native American medicine thrown in. You have to admit, that's a pretty intriguing combination. There is plenty of humor as Mason chronicles the adventures of the two innocents. He has a skeptical streak, which sharpens the joke.
Unfortunately, both the Apostles and the story become addled. The missionaries find themselves on the ranch of a rich, eccentric man who is entertaining his rich friends and family. Elias tries to convert the rancher and guests to the cult (or at least convert some of their fortunes). Mason just tries to figure things out.
I was with Mason on that.
Two young men, Mason LaVerle and Elias Stark, are appointed to travel through America and recruit new members. Armed only with a few tracts and some New Agey-Dale Carnegie advice, they venture out into the world.
The first part of the book reads like The Giver meets Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with a little Native American medicine thrown in. You have to admit, that's a pretty intriguing combination. There is plenty of humor as Mason chronicles the adventures of the two innocents. He has a skeptical streak, which sharpens the joke.
Unfortunately, both the Apostles and the story become addled. The missionaries find themselves on the ranch of a rich, eccentric man who is entertaining his rich friends and family. Elias tries to convert the rancher and guests to the cult (or at least convert some of their fortunes). Mason just tries to figure things out.
I was with Mason on that.
June 18, 2025
This book had a very interesting premise which drew me to pick it up. Parts of it were funny, but it really felt like a book you'd read sophomore year of English and your teacher would say "tell me about the motifs" and "what does this say about human nature?" and you weren't really sure because it was an odd book that your teacher had read when they were younger
and tbh, sorta reminded me why I stopped reading fiction
and tbh, sorta reminded me why I stopped reading fiction
May 12, 2017
An entertaining fish out of water story from the viewpoint of a missionary sent by small and diminishing sect based in rural Montana out into America to seek women to help replenish the flock. Amusing observations about America ensue for a while and the book ends, having gone no where in particular. Kirn's writing is excellent, while the story is merely serviceable.
July 31, 2024
Though he doesn't glorify the actual nastiness of some of the lurid backstories and events, you get the sense that Kirn kind of relishes talking about it.
Solid main character, interesting setup (two missionaries of a dying, provincial religion leave their town to evangelize and find wives), great follow-through.
Solid main character, interesting setup (two missionaries of a dying, provincial religion leave their town to evangelize and find wives), great follow-through.
September 26, 2018
Interesting concept but I never got the suspension of disbelief needed to be enthralled. I was definitely pulling for Mason but he tended to disappoint but I’m pretty sure that was the point. Just weird enough for my taste level.
August 6, 2017
Couldn't finish it.
February 22, 2021
Eh.....not my thing.
January 5, 2025
Sorry I couldn’t abide this book. Kirn can write well enough I suppose, but the ridiculous plot line simply didn’t resonate.
April 24, 2012
The plot of this story is not easy to do in a few words, given the two main characters' frame of reference - a matriarchal religious community in the hinterlands of Montana. Sent on a mission to bring in new converts, they are classic fish out of water, sometimes mistaken for Mormon missionaries. Setting out into the big wide world of American materialism, they fairly quickly lose their way, winding up among some wealthy high-end consumers who represent various marginal religious beliefs of their own.
The opportunity, which Kirn seizes by the throat, is for a satiric vision that doesn't so much deny the validity of religious principle as gently ridicule those who use it for their own selfish ends. Religion, as it's practiced by the novel's characters, is as much common sense as it is nonsense. Finally, returning home after eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the narrator finds himself in a Garden of Eden myth of his own - unexpected, but waiting there in plain sight for any reader looking back over the whole story.
A somewhat meandering novel, it is packed with closely observed detail. Page after page entertains with droll wit that sees through the self-indulgence and self-serving rationalizations of its cast of characters, as well as the thin veneer of reason and order that covers the heart of American darkness. I laughed out loud often and reread parts for the sheer cleverness of the writing. Fans of Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins will enjoy Kirn's wry humor and off-kilter brand of satire.
The opportunity, which Kirn seizes by the throat, is for a satiric vision that doesn't so much deny the validity of religious principle as gently ridicule those who use it for their own selfish ends. Religion, as it's practiced by the novel's characters, is as much common sense as it is nonsense. Finally, returning home after eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the narrator finds himself in a Garden of Eden myth of his own - unexpected, but waiting there in plain sight for any reader looking back over the whole story.
A somewhat meandering novel, it is packed with closely observed detail. Page after page entertains with droll wit that sees through the self-indulgence and self-serving rationalizations of its cast of characters, as well as the thin veneer of reason and order that covers the heart of American darkness. I laughed out loud often and reread parts for the sheer cleverness of the writing. Fans of Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins will enjoy Kirn's wry humor and off-kilter brand of satire.
September 10, 2012
This novel was sometimes a bit muddle but not without it's highpoints.
Page 217
"The only hitch in my noble plan," said Edward, "was that, since boyhood, I've been a pitiful liar, and fictional narratives lie in every line. For example, when something is said to take place 'suddenly.' In life, nothing ever happens suddenly, not even a drunken automobile wreck. The driver spends hours in a tavern first, and before that, of course, there the painful adolescence that initially led him to imbibe. Which neccessitates a description of the parents and their own flawed origins. It's endless."
I thought this through, but wound up disagreeing. I explained to him how time sits or stands in place, and that one moment is as good as any other to begin a new journey or end and old one. Things did indeed happen "suddenly," I said. There was no other way for the to happen. Life was suddenly after - suddenly - so myany suddenlys in such quick succession that people wrote made-up tales to stop their onslaught, to rest in the illusion of some smooth flow.
"You're either an upbeat nihilist," said Edward, or an opportunistic bullshit artist. Either way, you remind me of myself. Of what I remember that self to be, I mean. I leased it to someone. They haven't yet returned it.
Page 217
"The only hitch in my noble plan," said Edward, "was that, since boyhood, I've been a pitiful liar, and fictional narratives lie in every line. For example, when something is said to take place 'suddenly.' In life, nothing ever happens suddenly, not even a drunken automobile wreck. The driver spends hours in a tavern first, and before that, of course, there the painful adolescence that initially led him to imbibe. Which neccessitates a description of the parents and their own flawed origins. It's endless."
I thought this through, but wound up disagreeing. I explained to him how time sits or stands in place, and that one moment is as good as any other to begin a new journey or end and old one. Things did indeed happen "suddenly," I said. There was no other way for the to happen. Life was suddenly after - suddenly - so myany suddenlys in such quick succession that people wrote made-up tales to stop their onslaught, to rest in the illusion of some smooth flow.
"You're either an upbeat nihilist," said Edward, or an opportunistic bullshit artist. Either way, you remind me of myself. Of what I remember that self to be, I mean. I leased it to someone. They haven't yet returned it.
February 5, 2011
Walter Kirn’s “Mission To America” had been sitting on my TBR bookshelf for years, so I finally decided to pick it up. I had no idea, that Kirn also wrote the book for “Up In The Air.” I loved that movie and that gave me a lot of hope going into this novel.
This novel was a huge let down. It’s too quirky for its own good and quickly becomes ridiculous. It’s about two missionaries from an obscure cult who go out into America to recruit new members for its dwindling sect.
The book has far too much back story about their cult. It simply wasn’t interesting and didn’t seem like it should be the focus of the book. Their society seemed much like the one in the movie “The Village.” The only interesting part of the book was early on as the missionaries are discovering American culture.
I actually can’t believe I stuck it out and read the entire novel. It was tedious and dull.
This novel was a huge let down. It’s too quirky for its own good and quickly becomes ridiculous. It’s about two missionaries from an obscure cult who go out into America to recruit new members for its dwindling sect.
The book has far too much back story about their cult. It simply wasn’t interesting and didn’t seem like it should be the focus of the book. Their society seemed much like the one in the movie “The Village.” The only interesting part of the book was early on as the missionaries are discovering American culture.
I actually can’t believe I stuck it out and read the entire novel. It was tedious and dull.
September 24, 2011
This book had lots of vivid detail, a few cute moments, and absolutely no point. It was trying to be super clever and ended up just being pointless and dumb. If your two favorite characters are going to be from an isolated cult then don't try to sell me on them knowing how to use a remote control and recognizing Cher. If these cult members are on a mission to recruit new members, why is there precious little detail about them actually doing any of it? I just don't get it, and frankly I shouldn't have bothered. Walter Kirn wrote Up In The Air, and I also found that movie to be quaint and full of details and totally pointless. Oh well, I am glad to have at least read some fiction. It'd been ages. I do hope my next fiction is better than this stinker!
May 27, 2009
Walter Kirn is a contributing editor to Time magazine, where he was nominated for a National Magazine Award in his first year, and a regular reviewer for the New York Times Book Review. The author of four previous works of fiction, including the novel Up in the Air, Kirn reads from and discusses his new novel Mission to America, a superb story about the collision between the forces of faith and an overstimulated, overfed, spiritually overextended America.
We met Walter Kirn when he visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. You can listen to him talk about Mission To America here:
http://www.authorsontourlive.com/?p=35
We met Walter Kirn when he visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. You can listen to him talk about Mission To America here:
http://www.authorsontourlive.com/?p=35
September 18, 2007
Walter Kirn grew up Mormon and took a lot from his religious experience as a teenager to construct this fake cult.
The cult is losing members and have been cut off from the world all of their lives when it's time to start recruiting from 'the world'.
Two missionaries go out to bring back new followers, and start to bend the rules a bit as it's their first journey to the read world which may as well be outer space for them.
here's my kirn interview
[http://www.drinkswithtony.com/walterk...]
The cult is losing members and have been cut off from the world all of their lives when it's time to start recruiting from 'the world'.
Two missionaries go out to bring back new followers, and start to bend the rules a bit as it's their first journey to the read world which may as well be outer space for them.
here's my kirn interview
[http://www.drinkswithtony.com/walterk...]
October 28, 2008
A matriarchal cult cloistered in the mountains of Montana sends forth two missionaries to recruit young women for marriage in order to counteract the effects of inbreeding which are threatening their existence. In the end, this book seems to be as much as commentary on consumerism and modern culture as the place and function of belief and organized religion in society. I wanted to see a more in-depth treatment of the latter themes (make no mistake, they were there, but I wanted more), but I still have to give Kirn points for originality of his premise.
December 3, 2009
An interesting look into American values from the perspective of a character living in a society outside the American mainstream.
Despite the cynicism and pessimism the author suggests pervades our lives, there is always a ray of hope that we can ignore all the ugliness around us if we just try.
The beautiful ending to this wonderful novel left me feeling uplifted and happy that people can find love amidst the strangest of circumstances.
Despite the cynicism and pessimism the author suggests pervades our lives, there is always a ray of hope that we can ignore all the ugliness around us if we just try.
The beautiful ending to this wonderful novel left me feeling uplifted and happy that people can find love amidst the strangest of circumstances.
September 16, 2009
meh. this was billed as clever satire, but struck me more as chuck palahniuk lite. there were some interesting parts, most based on the novelty of the protagonist encountering the modern world after growing up in a sheltered religious group. some of the targets were pretty uninteresting, though - did you know some new age thought can be a little silly? and that sometimes people have religious faith for hypocritical reasons? it never quite landed for me.
December 13, 2010
My introduction to Kirn's work was his appearance at the Central Library for Lost in the Meritocracy. If you were there, you know the excerpt he read was memorable. (Teaser: there is college humiliation and piano destruction.) So I started this book, which had been on my shelf awhile. Mission to America is enjoyable as a subtle parody of the current state of American spirituality and lack thereof.
July 24, 2013
This goes dangerously close to Tom Robbins territory (whom I loathe, more than Madonna loathes hydrangeas), almost, but not quite, stepping over the boundary, which would be a very bad thing. By that, I mean quirky just for the sake of being quirky. All that kind of crap. A dying religious sect sends out two missionaries to attract new followers and, guess what, they become enchanted with American culture! What a whacky idea! Too trite and cute.
May 7, 2008
Man, this could have been a great book. The premise is funny: members of a cloistered matriarchal religious community going out into the real world, which they call Terrestria, to recruit new members. It had some funny moments, but I guess I thought it could have been lots funnier. So I was a little bit disappointed.
July 30, 2008
This is an entertaining novel about a matriarchal religious sect in Montana that sends two young men to "America" to find brides to prevent the group from becoming inbred. The highlights of the novels are funny descriptions of their reactions to American culture. It is worth reading, but the ending trails off and the novel looses its poignancy.
August 5, 2009
Two young men--one of them the narrator--set out from their isolated, eclectic cult in Montana to recruit fresh blood as a man plots a takeover of the matriarchal cult. The pair end up on the Colorado ranch of a sick, elderly man. Our narrator is confused about his role in the cult & in the world but is ultimately a healthy soul surrounded by manipulators.
September 2, 2009
It had an entertaining premise - missionaries from a fringe religious cult send strapping young men to proselytize and bring back wives. However, I found the satire so broad that all the characters felt like caricatures of goofy religiosity, new-age woo-woo, or consumerism, and in the end, I felt a bit let down that I didn't care more.
July 15, 2010
I struggled to get through this book. The premise was good but the story was not well written nor as creative as the author could have been with the subject matter. I found myself skimming parts and struggling to understand what is actually taking place. Would have been more interesting to me if the subjects had actually interacted with some more mainstream characters.
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