His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy Reviews

• Couldn't Put It Down...

  
  By A11G0USB08XP6F on 2007-05-14
  This is a wonderful book, very well written and engrossing. This woman's life is or has been so far removed from anything that I've ever known that it almost seems unbelievable - but after living in Utah for a few years I know that every detail is absolutely correct. I've always wondered how intelligent people could be fooled into living this lifestyle and this book makes it clear. The people in the book are complex, her busband is an awful man with no concept or seeming concern for his wives and children; he makes them live in proverty and fend for themselves - but as strange as it sounds he believes that he is a loving man with everyones best interest at heart. He is so totally deluded about his own superiority simply because he is male that he also misses out on real love and family kinship. He is a likeable man - flawed by his own upbringing. I was not expecting the criminal element of the book, the murders in God's name - this group, or parts of it turned out to be the Polygamist Mafia. Truly a wonderful book and so full of action and odd characters, I'd love to see it as a movie.
  
  

• An Amazing Story...... Recommend for BOOK CLUBs

  
  By A2BYOB1QQNFM00 on 2007-01-02
  I wanted to know more about polygamy and thought it would be an interesting subject to read about. I have never read such a detailed personal struggle as Susan's. I felt like I was in every situation she was in. This book has it all -conspiracy, murders, poverty, husband-wife relationships, strained yet fulfilling relationships with women/sister wives, and all the children! The pictures in the back were especially interesting. I chose this book for my Book Club. It was a hit b/cs there were so many issues to discuss.
  
  

• Couldn't put it down...

  
  By AH32BK6OVLY93 on 2007-09-16
  What a powerful, moving, educational and disturbing read! For much of this book, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was reading fiction. How could people really believe what they were doing and how they were living. It would have been a great work of fiction, but because it was a true story, I often found it very disturbing. So disturbing that the story incorporated my dreams many nights after I put it down and went to sleep.
  
  I read the whole book in a week. It only took me that long because I just had to get some sleep and work all day instead of read. Susan Schmidt wrote a book that captured my interest. Were it not "true", it would have been the best book I've read in a long. What a nut "Ervil" turned out to be, but truthfully, all the brothers were "nuts" in my interpretation of that word. Thank God Susan was a smarter girl than she initially appeared, and as she matured, she accepted the truth that was tugging at her heart and soul.
  
  I always knew those wives weren't all peachy happy. I read this book to find out the truth, and thankfully, I now know what I suspected is correct.
  
  

• Brain washed

  
  By A1QBBL0BGB11HM on 2008-01-20
  I have read Irene's "Shattered Dreams" and yes, it is the better book. That said all women should read these books.
  This 'religion' is the bench mark for brain washing. 14 year old girls being told they must marry these old men so that they both can get into heaven.
  The husband of both Irene and Susan had 10 wives and 56 children!! He was a house painter! Couldnt provide a good living for one wife much less 9 others.
  
  These women and the children lived in poverty. No lights, no bathrooms, no furniture and their clothing was brought to them by the husband from thrift shop cast offs.
  
  It is absolutely disgusting. In my opinion this "religion" is all about these disgusting men wanting a new young wife every 6 months! In other worlds, it is about these men wanting sex. Getting into Heaven and being a God is their
  con
  to have these young , very young, girls to submit to them and have sex!
  
  
  
  

• Good Read

  
  By A1EQQGCKL4JWUZ on 2007-11-07
  This book was a good book however it pailed in comparison to "Shattered Dreams" written by her sister wife. This is the reason I gave only 3 stars. I did not like the direction I felt the book was taking early on in the story. I got the feeling from reading that the author was too absorbed with herself to explain her life. I hate to say it but when I read "Shattered Dreams" I felt compassion for Irene. I felt I could relate to her as a human however, I found it diffucult to read about Susan because it seemed as if it was a "poor me" story line. I am not saying the book was not a good read it was just not a great read.
  
  
• An autobiographical doozy!
  By AZ64ZDB7LSHE0 on 2008-03-31
  Let's get right to it: this highly recommended book is an autobiographical doozy. Billed as a true story of violent fanaticism, this is the tale of Susan Ray, who was raised by a loving family in Colonia LeBaron in Mexico and who in 1968 married Verlan LeBaron one week after her 15th birthday. He was some 30 years her senior. Susan was Verlan's 6th wife. More wives would soon follow.
  
  Filled with teenage romanticism, Susan, true to her age at the beginning of this story, is in love with love. She is swept off her feet by the twinkling blue eyes of Verlan, one of the brothers at the pinnacle of the LeBaron fundamentalist Mormon sect. Polygamy is common--even expected--in this isolated world, and Susan looks forward to having her own home with Verlan and close friendships with his other wives. This is God's will for her.
  
  Things go down hill fast when Verlan moves her to Baja California where his other families live. One of her sisterwives is frequently cheerful and friendly; the others range from haughty to jealous and disdainful to blindly, seethingly angry. Verlan is oblivious. He works in Utah as a painting contractor and is away for weeks and months at a time either working or on church business. His random 2- or 3-day visits to his families mean that no wife ever gets enough time with him. Abject poverty barely describes how the wives and their manymanymany children live. (At the time of his death in 1981 in an auto accident, Verlan had fathered 57!)
  
  In the midst of all this, trouble is brewing in the LeBaron sect. Ervil LeBaron, Verlan's brother, decides that he is the voice of God and that anyone who disagrees with him and his followers on anything must pay with his or her life. Yes, murder. Yes, kidnapping. Yes, pure mad fanaticism. And, yes, some of the Ervilites are still wanted by the FBI.
  
  This book is a trip through the looking glass, a journey into an absolutely alien theology, a work that would be astonishing as fiction. As autobiography it is dumbfounding. The writing is as clear as a bell, the pacing excellent; Susan's voice never strikes a false note. How this uneducated, isolated young woman with 4 small children came to realize that the life they were living was not God's will and how she managed to escape polygamy and divorce Verlan in 1974 is absolutely gripping.
  
  
• A MUST read!
  By A2DRIJX08LCTV4 on 2006-11-08
  I believe that this book will do for polygamy what Anne Frank & Corrie Ten Boom did for holocust victims. Susan is a gifted storyteller and her book reads like a novel rather than a typical autobiography. You pick up His Favorite Wife and are instantly transported into the world of polygamy and it is difficult to put it down (I read it in less than 24 hours). Any woman who has ever been in a marriage where you felt lonely & neglected, or has longed for more love and attention from her husband, will connect with the characters. If you are looking for a book for your book club that is a awesome read and as well produces thought provoking conversation, this book should be at the top of your list!
  
  
• An interesting read that I couldn't put down
  By A1ENOANR06P197 on 2007-07-22
  This book was one that I couldn't put down. I needed to find out if Susan's husband was going to marry that girl, or if she really was going to move to Nicaragua. I could not believe the way in which the author lived in poverty while her husband continued to marry other girls. He relied on the older boy children to support the family. This opened my eyes to this way of life in an open and honest book. It was a book worth reading to expand the mind,
  
  
• His Favorite Wife: Trapped in polygamy
  By AQANUBTHTOLV on 2006-07-12
  This book is an absolute MUST READ! You won't be able to put it down. The words "riviting" and "compeling" hardly do it justice. I hope to see more by this author! She has a unique freshness, a beautiful way of telling even a story like this without being hateful or hurtful......AMAZING!!
  
  
• Opened My Eyes to a Whole Other World
  By A25P8KGM6ZKGW8 on 2007-10-30
  Susan Ray Schmidt is an excellent story-teller. The story of her life in polygamy unfolds with a fascinating and unforgettable cast of characters, heart-wrenching tales of isolation and struggle, and inspiring accounts of strength of character and resolve. To think this is a true story is remarkable- it opened my eyes to the daily life of a young woman growing up in and participating in a polygamist lifestyle. The details were just right- not too many to bog down the story, but enough to reveal the ugly truths of polygamy. I could barely put it down because I wanted to know what happens next! I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in a question/answer session with the author of this book over the phone recently and I have to say she is so gracious and inspiring. I can't believe she lived through all she did and was able to come out of it without bitterness and she is able to use her experiences to inspire and inform others. I highly recommend this book to everyone and I know you won't be disappointed.
  
  
• Excellent Book! Very insightful!
  By A2XS417J53JWSH on 2008-01-31
  I enjoyed this book thoroughly. I couldn't put it down. It did start out slow but I quickly was hooked on this true story. Susan tells it from her teenage years to the time she escapes. Then she gives the reader a synopsis of what happens to those involved in her story and further information should you want to read more. I can't imagine being a member of such a cult, then having the conviction and willpower to escape. She is lucky to have escaped with her life, and she saved her children from a horrible future as well.
  
  
• A real page turner!
  By A3C6L9D9U3HYWZ on 2006-07-06
  This book was outstanding! I normally take at least a month to read a book of this size, but I could not put it down. I read it in only 4 days! This book taught me a lot, and answered many questions that I had about the thoughts of the polygamist wife. The author really makes you feel like you are part of the story. Amazing!
  
  
• Fascinating
  By AMEU1NX37EVS5 on 2006-07-07
  Susan Schmidt's book is an absolutely fascinating true story. I couldn't put it down. I think that the hand of God was the only thing keeping her out of the clutches of the murderers in this group.
  
  
• His Favorite Wife
  By A39UQI4VEZGJFX on 2006-09-02
  I found this book very much a page turner and finished it in three evenings!! Being from Canada, I did not know much about the lifestyle but my eyes were opened. The author gave her accounts of her life in an understanding way to all readers. You will be happy you purchased and read this book.
  
  
• A strange story of love and faith
  By A2A343XOK8VRK6 on 2007-01-26
  It is so very difficult to understand how a woman could love a man under the conditions described in this book but she does. This book gives a very stark description of life in the LeBaron polygamy clan. This is a story of a child becoming a woman before she was really ready and living a life that most of us would run from rather quickly. I can see no honor or reason to live like or try to raise children in these circumstances; but, apparently some women have and still do.
  
  
• His Favorite Wife - an incredible emotional journey
  By A1PP7GQZPE9UQ6 on 2007-02-27
  This book is engrossing--an eye-opener for those learning about the realities of living in a polygamous marriage. Susan Ray had turned 15 one week before her marriage to a member of the LeBaron clan, a family of brothers who had established a polygamous colony in Mexico. Susan accepted polygamy as it was the only kind of marriage she'd ever been exposed to. It's odd to read of dating and courtship rituals in a polygamous community. A married man will spend time with another woman, being seen clearly as "courting" her, and the entire community understands there will likely be a wedding soon. Courting is done openly, and chastely, in full view of the community, to indicate the good intentions of both the man and the woman he's courting.
  The realities of polygamous life for Susan were lots of hard work (the people in Colonia LeBaron lacked indoor plumbing, and got their water from wells). But Susan was used to hard work. What she had to accept was her love and emotional life being forever put on hold, as her husband attended to five other wives and unending church business.
  By the time Susan is 23 she has three children, is pregnant with her fourth, and is one of eight wives. Her emotional pain and confusion lead her to search through Mormon writings and Biblical sources. She concludes that polygamy was abjured by the mainstream Mormon church leaders decades before for very good reasons. In a memorable passage Susan talks to one of her "sister-wives" about their situation: "Has it ever occurred to you that Verlan [their husband] never stays for very long in any of these remote dumps he moves us to? He comes for a short visit, and receives the very best each of us have to offer. We make special food, and wait on him...and wash his clothes in the creek...and he has a willing wife to snuggle up to every night he's home...And then within a week or so he's off, to see another batch of wives, where they also give him the very best they have to offer." (The sister-wife says yes, she's thought of these things, but "that's just the way things are...he has his own crosses to bear...he has our huge family to support, and the problems of the church..." The sister-wife tells Susan if she continues her rebellious questioning, she'll be giving up her "eternal blessings.")
  At one point, Susan has her husband drive her and her children back to her parents' house, several days away. It's during this road trip, with her husband being attentive to her and the children, that Susan realized "the closeness and dependency that monogamous couples took for granted." This is probably the most poignant line in the book.
  Eventually, Susan has this to say about the polygamous life she was raised in and lived: "The task of living polygamy so overwhelmed us all, that the very reason for the church's existence--our solemn duty to share the precious gospel of salvation...was lost in the confusion."
  Another fascinating aspect of Susan's book is the fact that her husband's brother was a magnetic, deranged personality who set up a rival polygamous church and convinced a number of his fanatical followers to kill those he felt threatened by in the original colony church. He even killed his own brother, the "prophet" of the colony, Joel LeBaron. This is an exciting read on its own, (just Google "Ervil LeBaron") but surprisingly doesn't impact much of Susan's life until a year or two before she decides to leave Mexico for life in Idaho, and the search for a life unlike the "colony" life she'd known. That's the reason I didn't include it before this last paragraph. Susan's story is one of coming to respect her heart and mind, and having the courage to leave everything familiar behind to find the emotional support she hungered for, that could only be supplied by a loving, and consistently present, man for whom she would be the only wife. Something as ordinary as monogamous marriage was this woman's dream, and she eventually found it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A must read for anyone interested in polygamy/cults
  By A3IT742BLR29NL on 2006-11-16
  A fasinateing look into polygamy. Susan writes her story in a way that makes you feel as though you're standing right beside her. She shows such a strong will that you can't help but be proud of her while at the same time you'll want to scream "Get out now!" I can't believe she lasted as long as she did. I only wish she would have included more pictures of the whole LeBaron family. The LeBaron family story as a whole is fasinateing and this is a true 'insider's' guide to all the personalities. I hope she writes an update some day soon so we know what has happened since the murders.
  
  
• One of the BEST books I have read!!! Should get TEN STARS!!!
  By A32N4PP4MQHVUO on 2007-08-12
  This book is truly captivating! I couldn't put it down (even with my busy schedule)! I constantly thought about the book even when I wasn't reading it. Fans of the HBO show Big Love will really enjoy this book as it gives the true unsweetened version of what living a polygamist life is like. Obviously this isn't a lifestyle that the majority of people would choose or want, but this book is NOT about judging. It was beautifully written to tell the detailed story of one woman's experience. What I really liked about the book is that the author wrote about her beliefs and feelings at different stages in her life starting a age 14 (she was married at 15). With that style of writing I was able to understand how she was raised to believed the polygamist life style was the right thing to do. As the book progresses the author describes how her eyes were opened to hardships, violence, and depression that "plural marriage" and the Fundamentalist-Mormon religion creates. She later writes about her struggle for herself and children when she manages to escape from that lifestyle.
  
  Again I have to say this book is CAPTIVATING! It should be a national best seller. Buy it -- you won't regret it!!!
  
  
• Eye-opening
  By A6BEWVC0II9P6 on 2007-11-18
  A very interesting book about how fundamentalist cults use their power over women and others who look to their leaders for direction and salvation. Sure there were some good and kind men and women in the group, but the fact that a 15 year old girl is married to a man who already has several wives and children and was not capable of really taking good care of them is hard to fathom in our recent history. The fact that these women relied on their husbands to get into heaven and any form of insubordination is a surefire way of being doomed just shows how dangerous these religions are. It is hard to face the manipulation and self-interest that is mascaraded as the "TRUTH". Wise up people and face reality. Any religion that says that the only way a woman can get into heaven is through their husband sounds suspicious to me.
  Fortunately Susan was able to leave and live a relatively "normal" life after all her experiences. Apparently she had enough self-preservation to get out of that situation.
  
  
• Honest and insightful
  By A2IZ0V6LJST19Q on 2006-07-06
  I found the authors honesty very refreshing. Although I am familiar with the story many of the questions I have had were answered. It gave great insights into the life of polygamy. An excellant book.
  
  
• His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy
  By A2LBV7W1F2J9OV on 2007-03-08
  Reading this book was difficult as I was unable to concentrate on any other thing in my life. Susan was so strong, so young, and yet so vulnerable that I truly could not put the book down until I learned what had happened in her life. I highly recommend this book.
  
  
• This should have been titled "Escape from Polygamy".
  By A25JYBJW3WSX6R on 2007-07-20
  A well written, riveting story of a woman's journey through her faith as a polygamist Mormon in the 1960's. Her spiritual path shows growth and eventual questioning of the heirarchy of the Mormon polygamist movement where women are kept like breeders and many lived in poverty. What courage it took for this woman to break away from this cult and try and raise her many children on her own after leaving her polygamist husband. I recommend also reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" which gives an extensive history of the Mormon religion and chronicles how these splinter Mormon groups have evolved and flourished. Religious fanaticism is alive and well here in our country...scary. As other reviewers have already stated...you will not be able to put this book down. A must read for anyone wondering how religious zealots operate and gather their followers.
  
  
• A different take
  By A3LHBV5MGDANHR on 2007-10-15
  Susan Ray Schmidt's, His Favorite Wife, is the fact based account of one polygamist family, the same family which is recounted in the book Shattered Dreams. Irene, the author of Shattered Dreams was Verlan's second wife. Susan Schmidt, was Verlan's sixth. It is interesting to see how each wife viewed not only polygamy, but also their "sister-wives" (Verlan's other wives). The book also gives insite into the life, and personality, of the infamous Ervil LeBaron, the brother-in-law of Susan and Irene. Irene rarely discusses Ervil, Susan almost married him instead of Ervil's brother, Verlan. It's fun to compare the two account, although each book separately is a great read.
  
  
• His Favorite Wife
  By A2TR89I5TV90HT on 2007-10-22
  This book exceeded my expectations. If you are interested in understanding the problems and greif that come with polygamy then this is a great book to start with. The good news here is Susan Ray tells her story in such a way that you do not despise her husband or other wives. It is told in a fair and intellectual way. Her maturity comes from being able to live and do what was expected of her at such a young and tender age. Her strength and all the other wives comes in learning to live with responsibility woman in our lifetime will never have or understand unless they are in fact a part of polygamy or complete and utter poverty which is indeed happening on this earth. Any person that believes that this type of living will bring Godhood in the after life, makes as much sense as terrorist going to heaven with a plastic key if they blow up a car... or whatever. This is a sad phenomenon of life that only true cult beliefs can cause briliant woman and chiidren to sign up and follow suit. I must say I admire these woman who survive and get out and also, the ones who stay. God bless them.
  
  
• One of the great all time stories
  By A2349OZQGKOIX8 on 2007-12-27
  I just finished this book and wow what a story. Ever since I moved to Las Vegas and heard stories about the FLDS from my Mormon friends, I have been curious about the lifestyle. This story depicts what it is like through a wife's eye. The jealousy, the loneliness, and the poverty. My heart ached for Susan. Tremendous read. This book should be made into a movie.
  
  
• Wonderful book on a true story of polygamy
  By A35PZVVCHLXLZ1 on 2008-02-19
  After reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" and watching Big Love, I became interested in the subject of polygamy in America. I was shocked to learn of the way these groups live in modern America. Susan's book is a true story of her upbringing with polygamy and her years of living as a plural wife and the danger she and her family were in as their church divided and were at "war". But the book is so much more than that; it is a woman sharing her life, the ups and downs and innermost feelings of her struggles with that life she was living. I really felt like I knew the characters in the book so well and I have not been able to stop thinking about them since I finished the book. It is a wonderful story of sadness, fear, love, hate, friendship, family, and bravery.
  
  
• A Captivating Story!
  By A2PN020IKUCKP7 on 2007-08-15
  This book is so interesting that you will find yourself unable to put it down! I spent every free moment I had reading Susan's story and wanting to know what was going to happen next! She is an excellent author and she leads the reader deep into her world of polygamy, crime, and poverty. Both her positive and negative perspectives on her life will have your emotions whirling! Excellent book!
  
  
• What a Survivor's Story
  By A3GZHTNXM0QP01 on 2007-09-16
  Once I started Susan Ray Schmidt's "His Favorite Wife" I couldn't put it down. I constantly had to remind myself that this isn't fiction, that this poor woman really lived through all of this. She isn't the only one either, women still live like this today. Schmidt does an incredible job of bringing the horrible realities of polygamy to life for the reader. What consistently shocked me was the level of poverty this women were forced to live. This book is a good first person narrative of the LeBaron family and all of the violence and terror Ervil LeBaron created until his 1981 death. Highly recommended for anyone interested in studying the polygamous groups of Utah and Mexico.
  
  
• His Favorite Wife
  By A3GU7YQ7ENO3EN on 2007-09-30
  Thanks everyone for your excellent reviews on this book. After reading the reviews, I had to read it. It is everything you all said it was. I had trouble putting it down. Not only is the story compelling, but the author has a wonderful writing style that is easy to read. You will find yourself thinking this can't be real! Thank God this dear sister got out when she did. I just finished Shattered Dreams, which was written about the same family, by Irene. It is very interesting to see another angle on this story.
  
  
• Fascinating Story, Bad Writing
  By A2O421DTA8J0RW on 2008-05-19
  The story here is pretty amazing, the author though should have gotten real help with a co-author or ghost writer even. It's written on a 7th grade level at best and some of the early chapters are written for a 5th grade level. The hardships placed on these women in general by their religion are outrageous in the eyes of the rest of the world and why on Earth states like Utah, Idaho and Arizona haven't cracked down on these cults is beyond my comprehension. Freedom of religion is one thing, being born into slavery and neglect under the guise of religion is what really goes on inside these groups.
  
  
  

• Escape
• Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
• Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs
• God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women Who Escaped
• Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up In Polygamy