Love Times Three audiobook

A very interesting book about a polygamist family. Joe is twenty, and he marries Alina and Vicki on the same day. He courted them together. The book discusses how expensive it is to go into plural marriage. Ten years later he takes a third wife, Vicki's twin sister, Valerie. She is eight months out of a really bad plural marriage. She was 19 or 20 when she married a 44 year-old who already had four wives and lots of children. She had five children with him. But he turned into a jerk and a compulsive gambler. I think Joe and his wives are presented as very loving, Christian people in this book. Are they the 'typical' polygamous family, though? I think probably not. They have 24 children, 23 living. The one who died, Kyra, was five months old and her death triggered an investigation into the family. The wives talk about being 'sister wives' and loving each other, raising each other's children, and trying not to be jealous.

I just finished this book. It is an insiders look at a "modern" polygamist family. Very interesting. I have to admit I liked the book and read it super fast. I think it would be a fantastic book club selection. SO.MUCH.TO.DISCUSS.Polygamy is not something I have ever really wanted to think about let alone read about. I am LDS and I get annoyed by people who think that people who are LDS practice polygamy...we do not. We haven't for over 100 years and anyone who does is excommunicated. But still it is there...lurking in the past. That said, my Great-Great Grandfather was a polygamist and I am a descendant of one of his plural wives, Jane. (After reading her life history it didn't sound like she was a happy plural wife but that it was a sacrifice that she made.) So while this practice makes me truly uncomfortable, I still am curious about how in the world people subscribe to and practice this lifestyle...especially in our day and age.I have never seen the TV show Big Love that was inspired by this family because it was about...you know...polygamy and I was sure it was filled with all kinds of fallacies about the Mormon Church. But, somehow, I did start watching the train wreck that is the TV show Sister Wives. It is infinitely more intriguing to watch a show about actual polygamists than watch actors pretending to be polygamists. Every time I watch Sister Wives I think that they are crazy!! (and I really think they are) This family, though, the Dargers seem so much more intelligent and normal. They are able to articulate why they live this way and why it is important to them to shed light on this particular practice. They feel compelled to bring it out of the dark and dispel the myths so that people will know that it is only a very tiny population of practicing polygamists who are the Warren Jeffs of the world and that they too (the Dargers and most all other Fundamentalists) are appalled and repelled by his actions and crimes.I guess that was what was so interesting to me. Hearing these seemingly normal people (not living in a compound somewhere in a long dress, french braids, and being child brides) talk about their beliefs in a way that made me have a deeper understanding of their choice of lifestyle and how it works for them. I found their day to day logistics fascinating. I loved learning how they run their household, raise their children, buy their groceries, coordinate three families integrated into one large family in one large house. I feel like I can barely do all I need to do taking care of four kids and one husband and here they are throwing in homeschooling, religious instruction, running a business, educating the world about polygamy, serving in their community, and helping the state of Utah work with polygamous families, getting 24 kids to various extracurricular activities, and grinding their own wheat and making 7 loaves of bread a day. Hello? How? They explain it all which was very satisfying.They are also very open about honest about things that are hard. They talk very candidly about the difficulties and struggles they have had to overcome. Jealousy, persecution, wayward children, prejudice, dealing with the state, and particularly standing up for what they believe even when it is in complete opposition with the rest of the world. Unlike the Browns of Sister Wives that come off as somewhat false...don't tell me that Janelle is a happy wife. No way. I don't buy it. But...I do buy the Darger's story. I think they are sincere. Hearing all four of their different perspectives including the perspectives of their three oldest children was interesting and compelling. I found myself liking and caring about this family.I do feel sad for them though. It has to be a lonely lifestyle even in mainstream society and surrounded by wives and children. To never be able to give yourself fully to one person and have that one person give themselves fully to you is very sad. Joe has to be the loneliest person of all. I was surprised to feel so much empathy for this family (and Joe) but I did and I do.I found this book to be unusual and affecting. It gave me a different perspective on polygamy and those who practice it.My Rating: Good

This book was suggested to me while I was reading "Sister Wives" by the Brown family. Just like with that book, I enjoyed this book a lot, too. I have long been curious about modern polygamy, so it was really interesting to read.I liked this book better than the one written by the Browns, because this one was more forthcoming and honest about the stuff we "regular" people REALLY want to know. You know, all those questions that make us look like prying jerks if we actually ask them. At the same time they covered a lot of other stuff too that really provides an insight into how they live, and takes away the mystery that can lead to a negative view of them. This book also included a few chapters by some of the older children about what it was like to be children in that type of family, which I appreciated as well.Overall, a good book. I gave it one more star than the Brown book because this one was written better and had more information, and I would consider it an excellent book for anyone that wants to learn more about this lifestyle.I would say you do need to have an interest or curiosity about polygamy, though, or this book (and the other one) would probably be pretty boring to you.

Saw this group on Dr. Phil and was very impressed with how articulate they were. I was curious to learn more. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and spent several hours reading it from start to end. I must say that the reality of their relationship bore no resemblance to what my initial impression was when I thought of polygamy. They have exceptionally high morals and values and are raising children who seem very well grounded as well. They follow teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but have chosen not to stop practicing polygamy as the mainstream LDS church did when federal law changed to mandate that it cease. They have a strong argument for why polygamy should be decriminalized. After reading their book, I must agree. The life style seems to work very well for them and is probably healthier than most monogamous relationships. I applaud them for coming forward and putting another face to polygamy. Not all polygamists are like Warren Jeffs and his FLDS group.

This was an excellent book. For me, I really enjoyed the differing perspectives of the adults, even when they overlapped. I especially enjoyed their telling of Vicki's first date with Joe and how she perceived what happened versus how he perceived it. Ultimately it was an embarrassing experience for them both but because they ultimately married, they can laugh at it now. They also are honest in sharing their feelings of jealousy, some of their challenges and growing pains as the first two women dated Joe at the same time, literally. They dated as a threesome, and married at the same time, too. Valerie joined the family later, but I was fascinated that this family came together in such a way, and also that the first three adults have been married to each other from the very beginning.

From a family that inspired Big Love’s story of Bill Henrickson and his three wives, this first-ever memoir of a polygamous family captures the extraordinary workings of a unique family dynamic, and argues for the acceptance of plural marriage as an alternative lifestyle. Readers of Carolyn Jessop’s Escape, Elissa Wall’s Stolen Innocence, and James McGreevey’s Confession, as well as fans of shows like Big Love and Sister Wives, will be enthralled by the first groundbreaking book in praise of polygamy.

A much better understanding of plural marriage and the spiritual beliefs for it than Sister Wives by the Brown family.

This is excellent account of modern-day Mormon polygamy, biographical in the sense that it is told in various first-person stories. Polygamy is not that rare in Utah, although still, unfortunately, technically a felony. Book is told primarily from perspective of quite successful family which wishes to go public to combat prejudice. Odd combination of Christian conservatism which leads to extreme reticence about husband-wife intimacy between "sister wives," and no pre-marital sexual exploration, and degree of intimacy, at least ideally, between "sister wives" which to me, although I'm sure not to them, amounts to lesbianism. Platonic lesbianism. Learning to deal with family members kindly, and overcoming jealousy, is for them a spiritual value. Anyway, there's a lot more to the book than I can describe here. It is well worth reading, educational and engaging. Odd--I put "polygamy" into keyword search in the public library catalog, and there were tons and tons of hits, but this was the only positive one.

This was actually a pretty good book. It was written by a man and his 3 wives and gives you an inside look into polygamy. The ups and downs, the good and the bad and the trials and tribulations. It makes you do a little thinking. Great insights into how they handle the challenges of a plural marriage and parenting, etc. Makes you think about your own marriage and how you handle your own children.

this is the first Bio I have read I really liked, read it in less then 4 hours, easy, funny read

No way I could live like this. They seem to really love each other. I couldn't do it.