The Chinchilla Farm

by Judith Freeman

"[A] touching picaresque journey through the deserts of the west and the landscape of memory."― Washington Post Book World Verna Flake is fleeing Utah, a failed marriage (her husband has left her for a former beauty queen named Pinky), and the constricted yet reliable Mormon way of life. Seemingly naive but also gifted with an almost second sight for the emotional heart of things, Verna relates her adventures on the road, in Los Angeles, and eventually in Mexico, as she confronts her future and muses over her past. Reading group guide included.

Genres: Fiction, Literature

322 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Sierra The Book Addict · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I learned more about the mormon church form the first two chapters than I had living with a Mormin woman for a year. To me I felt like it was quite boring, it was trying to be exciting but just couldn't, was very slow paced and I come to the conclusion that I just didn't care about the characters.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt that the character's acknowledgment of her Mormon background but avoidance of hypocrisy by simply stating her distance from that belief system was refreshing. Plus her writing was lovely, both in plot and syntax. I love it when really normal lives make a good book.

I also have read a debate about how it's hard to think there will ever be a great Mormon novel, because most novels of a certain religion also reject it in some way. I think this book has come the closest to winning that title for Mormon culture at least.

[Brook White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose to read this book as part of an assignment for my university’s Utah history course, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved reading this novel. Freeman writes of Utah and the West with so much care and detail, and as a native Utahan, reading the novel feels very intimate and familiar. The narrative and the characters are so raw and human, in such a way that it really speaks to audiences. I highly recommend the novel, especially if you are from Utah or have been on the edge of Mormonism. I really can’t say enough about Freeman’s writing and the way it transports the reader.

[Jjean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1989 so some would say it is not always PC but I enjoyed the adventure she took in each chapter - the characters were well written, I felt like I knew them - Not sure I understand how the book was named? but I may have missed something - a first novel by this author was well written to me.

[Monica]

This book needed a better title.

[Marjorie McGuire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a refreshing change after so many so-so current books I’ve been reading. Published in 1989, some of the terms and topics are not PC for today, but the narrative about the American west took me back to my teens and twenties. The characters are painted brilliantly and were so vibrant I feel like I knew these people.

[Rae · Rating 1 out of 5]

A woman leaves Utah and her marriage for something she hopes will be better. I wanted to like this novel. But I didn't. The description is wonderful but the narrative never held me.

[Jeffrey Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really excellent. Also fun for the local Utah references I recognize.

[Elvan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book which ı have read for a very very long time.I did not want it to finish.Beatufully written and very weşş observed.I highly recommend anyone who also changes their lige and moving away.I love road stories.This is very human and touchingly written.
I can not understand the bad reviews at all.And what the hack with people saying that this book is not PC.
According to reviews we should destroy all the wonderful novels written in the past..

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, pleasant read detailing an ex-Mormon divorcée trying to find her place in the world and attracting other lost souls along the way.

[Debbie Okrainetz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Mormon woman rebuilds her life after divorce. Could have used a bit more polish but I liked it.

[Elizabeth Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel filled with entertaining eccentrics might as well have been called "Escape from Utah". Raised Mormon but never very good at it, when is left by her husband, she decides to follow a dream and try a new life in Los Angeles...and then Mexico...and then back to Los Angeles, where the Patsy Cline-lovin', dirt poor, ex-Mormon finds contentment with a new husband, Vincent, a rich, non-Mormon classical composer. Everyone here is simply, bumpily, trying to do the best in the life they can with the hand they've been dealt, and by the end, most of them do a right decent job of carving out a happy life.

[Ngaire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very strange book in some ways. It's told mostly in flashback, and it's definitely not a happy book. But it's not depressing either - in fact, I liked it a lot, even though very little that's good happened to the protagonist until the very end. I have to say I was a little bit surprised at the end - it reminded me of the end of "A Version of the Truth," mainly because the protag ends up with someone that the writer hasn't gone out of her way to make us like. But I was happy that Verna was happy, if that makes sense.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A female on-the-road novel with lapsed Mormon Verna Flake traveling from Utah to LA to Mexico. After her husband leaves her for Pinky, a former beauty queen, Verna hitches up her horse trailer and heads to LA. Along the way she picks up hitchhiker Duluth whom she later rescues from homelessness on the next leg of her journey to Mexico with her brother's widow,escaping from an abusive man. Verna tells her own story in her unique and compelling voice.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this, and I ended up being very disappointed. It would start to get going, and then Verna (the narrator) would flash back in time. To me it was overwritten and nothing really "happens" until the last 10 pages. While Freeman writes beautiful prose, I found the story very flat, and the characters depressing.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really thought I would be irritated with this book; It turns out that it was interesting and strange at the same time. I found it strange in the sense that hearing about some of our Mormon culture and attitudes from the main character made me want to talk to others, and get a feel about how they felt growing up here in Utah. However, I felt that Verna Flake was,well, kind of a flake.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. I'm kind of surprised that I didn't find it depressing, but it's so beautifully written and honest and believable that I was entirely engrossed. I couldn't go to sleep without finishing this book (which explains why I'm writing this review at 2 AM). Wonderful. I'll definitely have to check out the others Ms. Freeman has written.

[Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone in my family got this book as a library discard, and somehow it ended up at my house. So I read it. It was fine. It seemed kind of emotionless and sometimes had excessive descriptions of things or flashback memories that didn't do much to advance or enhance the story. Having said that, it wasn't terrible.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a rambling tale of a young woman from Utah, raised Mormon, but who seeks out a new life in LA. Not nearly as tightly written as the author's later novel, Red Water. The last section takes place in Baja CA; fun to read descriptions of the various small towns they drive by as I have made that drive myself!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The structure was interesting, with most of the book written in flashback. I'm torn between whether that worked or not. On the one hand the flashbacks are used not just to convey backstory, but as a way to show how memory is intertwined with action. Still, not sure it worked.

[Tomi-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter is reading this book right now, and I was reminded how much I liked it. Judith Freeman is one of those authors who doesn't seem to have a LOT of books in her, but the ones she has written are truly lovely.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I was hoping for some more about chinchillas. This guy leaves his wife and she heads to California. She meets some interesting characters and finds some distant relatives. It was kind of interesting, but not exceptional.

[Rene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is in my top four all time favorite books. A woman at a crossroads. Following the character on her road trip and subsequent events in California and Mexico...it manages to be sad and uplifting at the same time.

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just came across this book again and remembered how much I liked it. It was one of the first novels I read set in part in Utah,my own country, which might have been why I was so charmed

[Maritt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reminds me a bit of Barbara Kingslover

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just liked the main character. I liked following her narrative and listening to her memories. And I never like characters so there you go.

[Betsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book on a list produced by King's English Bookstore as an "easy to read, hard to put down" book. I enjoyed reading the novel.

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

One I would likely have never read if not for bookgroup. Others liked it more than me - Verna Flake really was kind of a flake:)

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring, I stopped on page 93.