This is the autobiographical account of the authors' polygamous marriage to each other.
The book tells the tales of the
authors' upbringings in families
that were fundamentalist Mormons and polygamists, as well as the history of their present plural marriage.
As children, the Dargers' respective families were not much different from their neighbours, who were primarily non-polygamous Mormons.
They were not raised on compounds or in cult-like settings (circumstances that people often associates with polygamy, due to media coverage of criminal cases such as that of notorious polygamist-cult leader Warren Jeffs).
Rather, each of the Dargers grew up in the suburbs, surrounded by neighbours of similar, though not
polygamous, Mormon faith.
The authors grew up as neighbours in the same town and religious
community.
It is also interesting to read about the discrimination that each of the Dargers' families faced from their mainstream Mormon neighbours, as well as the fear of legal persecution that their families lived with, due to their religious
practices being deemed illegal.
The Dargers' continued their mainstream suburban lifestyle in adulthood, living as endependents in suburbia, rather than within a polygamous community. A picture of the three Darger wives and their most recent babies was even featured on the cover of a conventional Mormon lifestyle magazine, the women dressed in their preferred style of modern fashion, as opposed to traditional fundamentalist clothing, looking far from fundamentalist.
It was this picture, presenting a modern, suburban polygamous family, which partially inspired the creation of the hit TV series Big Love, a fictional drama chronicling the plural marriage of an American man and his three wives in Utah.
The authors describe the principles of their faith and what polygamy means to them, and they detail their struggles to deal with arising issues of jealousy and insecurities in the contexts of their plural marriage.
At the heart of their beliefs are a strong religious faith and a desire to overcome selfish motivations and to devote themselves to their spiritual values and the well-being of their
family as a whole.
This book raises interesting moral and philosophical questions: since polygamy is not synonymous with child abuse, or abuse of any kind (as illustrated in this book), and since polygamous couples do not seek to have any more than one of their marriages recognized by the State, these facts beg some interesting questions.
What is the justification for making such relationships, when between consenting adults, illegal?
Love times three, by Joe, Alina,
Vickie, and Valerie Darger, is a very interesting and though-provoking autobiography. Readers who enjoy booksabout religion and culture, and/or who enjoy interesting biographies, will be fascinated by this book.
-- Reviewed by Teresa DeReis, reader's advisory assistant at the Prince George Public Library
