Jenny Proctor's Mountains Between Us both respects the previously establish boundaries of the LDS novel while simultaneously taking some appreciated dives into uncharted waters for Mormon readers. The story circles two characters and the difficulties both bring to the table as their relationship develops. Henry, a recently divorced man with a complicated past with a biological father and a heart full of bitterness towards life, meets Eliza, whose positive attitude in spite of an alcoholic family and losing her father at the age of eleven inspires Henry to reconsider his condition. Set over the appropriate backdrop of Rockbridge Academy, a facility for troubled teens located in North Carolina, this is a story of personal forgiveness and redemption.
While both forgiveness and redemption are familiar themes within the genre of Mormon literature, they rarely tackle the issues with such honesty as I saw in this novel. For example, in previous novels we have read, I have sometimes felt that authors tip-toe around tough issues by addressing their existence through conversation or commentary between characters, but ultimately, no character faces the kinds of trials they discuss. I appreciated Proctor's portrayal of a divorced man looking to land on his feet after facing a challenge that is so dark in the eyes of the church. I appreciated the realistic reemergence of Henry's optimism, that doesn't come exclusively through diligent prayer and scripture study, but by learning to love someone again.
I will confess that I wish all Mormon literature would go further. It is a timid genre in my opinion. I don't mean to imply that these novels need offend or insult anyone, and certainly everything can be kept in a virtuous realm, but I long to read about characters deeply set in problems that do not have obvious happy endings. This novel was enjoyable for me because it approached that reality.
Showing posts with label Mountains Between Us. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mountains Between Us. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Mountains Between Us: Too Many Problems, Too Little Time
In her novel, Mountains Between Us, Jenny Proctor tells the story of two characters, Eliza Redding and Henry Jacobson, who come to work at Rockbridge Academy, a rehabilitative boarding school for youth located in North Carolina. During this time Henry is recovering from a divorce and struggling to repair his relationship with his son. Eliza, on the other hand, faces a shaky relationship with her mom and an alcoholic sister who won't get treatment. Through these struggles they draw closer together and finally find a way to have it all.
This novel is interesting in that it tries to grapple with a lot of different struggles and trials all at once. These are real problems that deserve consideration in literature. However, there are too many problems to sufficiently cover in a 227 page novel. Not only does it grapple with parent child relationships after a divorce, the struggle of dealing with alcoholism in a family, and moving on romantically after a divorce, it also takes on the issues of starting a new job, spreading the Gospel, abandonment, foster care, and dealing with troubled teens. Any one of these topics would be good for an individual novel, but to include them all in such a short work makes it difficult to do even one them justice. Many of the problems fall by the way side or are too easily resolved.
This is not to say that such big, real life issues shouldn't be dealt with in literature. That is one of the biggest benefits of literature, that it struggles and grapples with life, allowing us to find solutions as we read. And I have to say that it took courage on Proctor's part to bring so many large, challenging problems together in one novel. The combination definitely brings about a unique read unlike the other LDS fiction I have read thus far.
This novel is interesting in that it tries to grapple with a lot of different struggles and trials all at once. These are real problems that deserve consideration in literature. However, there are too many problems to sufficiently cover in a 227 page novel. Not only does it grapple with parent child relationships after a divorce, the struggle of dealing with alcoholism in a family, and moving on romantically after a divorce, it also takes on the issues of starting a new job, spreading the Gospel, abandonment, foster care, and dealing with troubled teens. Any one of these topics would be good for an individual novel, but to include them all in such a short work makes it difficult to do even one them justice. Many of the problems fall by the way side or are too easily resolved.
This is not to say that such big, real life issues shouldn't be dealt with in literature. That is one of the biggest benefits of literature, that it struggles and grapples with life, allowing us to find solutions as we read. And I have to say that it took courage on Proctor's part to bring so many large, challenging problems together in one novel. The combination definitely brings about a unique read unlike the other LDS fiction I have read thus far.
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| Picture from Wikipedia |
Something More than Romance
Jenny Proctor's essay Mountains Between Us focuses on the lives of two people, Eliza and Henry, and their experiences at Rockbridge Academy which is a facility/school for troubled teens. Both being member of the Mormon Church, they often find their paths intersecting at school, church and romantically. However, Henry is guarded due to a recent divorce and complicated past with his biological father and Eliza never knows where she stands with him. She herself has faced her own struggles losing her father at age eleven, living with an alcoholic mother and dealing with now an alcoholic sister. However, Eliza's outlook is much different than Henry's as she finds the blessings in life rather than focusing on her struggles. After undergoing a change of heart, Henry finally lets go of the bitterness toward life and forgives his father and lets Eliza into his life, both romantically and spiritually.
Honestly, I loved this book. Similarly to Will Wonders Never Cease by Douglas Thayer, Proctor writes a story that provides a look into the lives of members of the Mormon church. Mormon authors have often been described as cookie-cutter but rather I think Mormons are sometimes seen as cookie-cutter when that isn't necessarily the case. Proctor showed that Mormons are just these always smiling, always baking cookies kind of people. She provided a look into the life of a person who goes through trials, loses faith, finds love who so happens to be Mormon. Most of the time, Mormon books are referred to as "cookie cutter" because the stories usually end with a happy ending. And yes, this novel did. But that doesn't make it a fairy-tale. Henry wasn't able to say goodbye to his father, his ex-wife was still marrying his old friend and AJ was going to have another father figure. Eliza's sister did get treatment but there is still that fear that she might fall back into old habits. Nothing about this ending is butterflies and rainbows. This endings show the blessing of opening yourself up to forgiveness and to others. Yes, it did involve a romance as many Mormon and Non-Mormon literary works do but it was more than that. A lot more and I commend Proctor for her work.
Honestly, I loved this book. Similarly to Will Wonders Never Cease by Douglas Thayer, Proctor writes a story that provides a look into the lives of members of the Mormon church. Mormon authors have often been described as cookie-cutter but rather I think Mormons are sometimes seen as cookie-cutter when that isn't necessarily the case. Proctor showed that Mormons are just these always smiling, always baking cookies kind of people. She provided a look into the life of a person who goes through trials, loses faith, finds love who so happens to be Mormon. Most of the time, Mormon books are referred to as "cookie cutter" because the stories usually end with a happy ending. And yes, this novel did. But that doesn't make it a fairy-tale. Henry wasn't able to say goodbye to his father, his ex-wife was still marrying his old friend and AJ was going to have another father figure. Eliza's sister did get treatment but there is still that fear that she might fall back into old habits. Nothing about this ending is butterflies and rainbows. This endings show the blessing of opening yourself up to forgiveness and to others. Yes, it did involve a romance as many Mormon and Non-Mormon literary works do but it was more than that. A lot more and I commend Proctor for her work.
Putting More Trust in You Reader
I appreciated the characters and plot of Jenny Proctor's Mountains Between Us. In fact, I probably liked it better than any of the other novels we've read so far. I especially appreciated the real-life circumstances of this story. Though my family life is a lot calmer and quieter than those of Henry (jailbird father and resulting abandonment issues) and Eliza (dead father, rehabilitated mother, alcoholic sister), all the experiences were realistic and showed two normal people addressing their individual challenges.
However, like the other novels we've read so far, I feel like this book could have used a couple more rounds of substantive editing because some elements of her writing style made me CRINGE. And it's not just Jenny Proctor. The authors Disprited, Will Wonders Never Cease, and even Seventh Son suffered from some of the same issues. You see, while I believe clarity is important, I think spoon feeding the reader lowers the quality of the novel. This idea may take getting used to for some readers or writers (and I'm not one to talk, being currently unpublished), but bear with me. Here's some examples:
Original:
After Eliza mentions she was baptized when she was seventeen: Henry turned to Eliza. He’d never thought to ask about her membership in the Church and was curious to hear how it came about. “Seventeen— that’s not very old.”
Problem? It's overstated. The quotation “Seventeen— that’s not very old” implies that he is curious. The reader is smart enough to realize this. The author doesn't need to tell us outright.
Fix:
Henry turned to Eliza. “Seventeen— that’s not very old.”
Original:
After Henry says he has to be careful reconnecting with his father because of AJ:
Henry made a very valid point. He did have to think about AJ, and that was reason enough to be extremely cautious.
Problem? He just made a point, Eliza thought it was valid, and then they restated the point. Overdone. The reader knows what the "point" is.
Fix:
Henry made a very valid point.
However, like the other novels we've read so far, I feel like this book could have used a couple more rounds of substantive editing because some elements of her writing style made me CRINGE. And it's not just Jenny Proctor. The authors Disprited, Will Wonders Never Cease, and even Seventh Son suffered from some of the same issues. You see, while I believe clarity is important, I think spoon feeding the reader lowers the quality of the novel. This idea may take getting used to for some readers or writers (and I'm not one to talk, being currently unpublished), but bear with me. Here's some examples:
Original:
After Eliza mentions she was baptized when she was seventeen: Henry turned to Eliza. He’d never thought to ask about her membership in the Church and was curious to hear how it came about. “Seventeen— that’s not very old.”
Problem? It's overstated. The quotation “Seventeen— that’s not very old” implies that he is curious. The reader is smart enough to realize this. The author doesn't need to tell us outright.
Fix:
Henry turned to Eliza. “Seventeen— that’s not very old.”
Good rule of thumb. If you don't need it, chop it.
Original:
After Henry says he has to be careful reconnecting with his father because of AJ:
Henry made a very valid point. He did have to think about AJ, and that was reason enough to be extremely cautious.
Problem? He just made a point, Eliza thought it was valid, and then they restated the point. Overdone. The reader knows what the "point" is.
Fix:
Henry made a very valid point.
Here's some no brainers:
Original:
....but Henry couldn’t help feeling like there was a giant
elephant in the room— something they both wanted to talk about but wouldn’t.
Problem: The reader should know what the expression means. Explaining it takes out all it's pizazz.
Fix: Don't rob an elephant its pizazz!
Fix: Don't rob an elephant its pizazz!
Original: She shrugged. Apparently she didn’t know what this
pertained to either.
Problem: Shrugging = "I don't know"
Fix: Chop the explanation on why she shrugged
I like Jenny Proctor's novel, but at times the tone and voice became very amateur because of her tendency to overdo it. Less is more, especially in high emotional scenes. Her novel would have been elevated to the next level if she had let the emotions show what's going on.
Proctor, Jenny (2014-09-01). Mountains Between Us (Kindle
Locations 1042-1043). Covenant Communications Inc.. Kindle Edition.
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