Angels in America

Just finished reading Angels in America today. It's been on a my To-Read list since HS. I knew I'd like it--didn't know I would LOVE it.

In the work Kusher paints a pretty (arguably) distasteful image of the the Mormon lifestyle. I studied the church of LDS pretty closely my freshmen year in a two part course called "Religion in American Politics." We even went to historic Navoo. Now, for how absolutely kooky I found the way the religion was founded (a dude stumbling upon some golden pages of the Bible that soon after "disappeared"), I've never met a Mormon I didn't like. They're genuinely sweet people.

Yet, Kusher, on the other hand, totally rips on the inner-mind of a Mormon as Harper battles with addiction and Joe with his homosexuality. They are nasty, fear and hate-filled characters. And angels, miracles, divine intervention, vanishing holy texts...all real in Kusher's world.

I like that--Kusher takes what most of society sees as pleasant about the religion and makes it a living hell. The part others have difficulty accepting he promotes as lovely and true. There are no rules I guess.