I read the book, 'The 19th Wife' by David Ebershoff and liked it with a few criticisms: In the narratives and 'letters', every voice sounded the same.

This is two tales spun into one. The first is of a young man, Jordan Scott, who was thrown out of a fundamentalist Mormon cult or sect called 'The Firsts." The sect practices polygamy (the sect really exists), and the tale is interwoven with the biography of Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Brigham Young, who divorced her husband and crusaded against polygamy. Her crusade resulted in the passage of the laws ending polygamy in the United States.

Outcast Jordan returns to his hometown when his mother, his father's 19th wife, is accused of murdering him. He wants to help, but his mother, a true believer in the plural wife/fundamentalists principles, refuses to cooperate with clearing her name. The book offered great insight into polygamy in both accounts.

The movie: Whoa! Was this really the book I read? In the book, the character Jordan is gay. In the movie, he is stripped of his gender orientation and almost feels 'flat' compared to his literary version. Central characters were missing- his dog, the hotel manager and people who assisted him in his quest. A lot of these roles and functions are ascribed to his sister, Queenie, also a First, who is married to one of the deputies.

I understand why the story of Ann Eliza Young is told as if Queenie were reading the book,but why were some of the most interesting characters written out of the script? This is definitely one case where Hollywood botched it seriously in favor of - what? The movie was never a box office hit, and they have no one to blame but themselves.