Mission to America: A Novel
by Walter Kirn
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Book Summary Information
Author: Walter KirnEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-11
ISBN: 038550764X
Number of pages: 271
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Reviews of Mission to America: A Novel
Book Review: "If you're going to convert, you might as well choose the wealthy."
Summary: 4 Stars
The Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles, replete with New Age tracts and feminist ideals, is a closed society in danger of extinction without the infusion of new female blood. A matriarchal cult, much like the self-contained Amish culture, the AFA has existed for years without interference from the outside world. Threatened by natural selection, the elders send two representatives from their enclave in Butte, Montana into the world, commonly referred to as Terrestria, charged with sage advice: "If you're going to convert, you might as well choose the wealthy, who have friends."
At the beginning of their trip, the hapless missionaries, Mason LaVerle and Elder Elias Stark, stick to the rules, eating natural food and sleeping in the second-hand Dodge van provided for their journey, but before long they fall victim to temptation, gorging on junk food and watching television for hours on end, psychologically invested in the outcome of game shows and daytime soaps. Spurred on by a distant advisor, Lauer, who may or may not have taken up with Mason's ex-girlfriend, the newly-hatched evangelists paper small towns with their literature, often stopping for conversation with anyone who will give them the time of day. Cultural innocents, their entire lives spent in the clannish environment provided by their religion, Mason and Earl occasionally fall for dubious roadside advice, as when Earl buys crank from a local and the evangelists spend a lazy afternoon with two equally messianic underage Christian young ladies.
The greatest culture clash occurs when Mason and Earl arrive at the tourist-friendly, snow-bunnied slopes of Snowshoe, Colorado. Snowshoe is a haven for the spiritually overindulged, wealthy dilettantes who hand-pick their beliefs from a variety of religions, creating a loose philosophy that requires little of them beyond discussion, a sort of elitist's compendium of moral values unburdened by personal responsibility. The missionaries are introduced to the local social hierarchy by Lara, an Emmy-winning ex-actress they befriend when her suicide attempt by antihistamine fails to produce the desired results. Lara is the key to the upper-class of Snowshoe that Lauer has suggested they cultivate, particularly the filthy rich old Mr. Effingham and his cronies.
While Earl disappears into the bowels of the Effingham estate, there to spread the word, Mason is sidetracked by Betsy, a girl with an infamous past and a love of all things vintage, fascinated by Mason's discount store clothing and easy amiability. Earl and Mason are soon ensconced in a Neverland where communal damnation is an acceptable concept to an overfed, overspun culture, where every physical need is met and what to have for dinner takes on the importance of a summit meeting, "There was no such thing as separation here, not once you'd started listening. Never listen." Absorbed by the excess around them, feted daily with the other guests, Mason and Earl grapple with their individual concerns while AFA is in crisis on the home front: "There is no authority Mason, we're on our own." And not everyone is receptive to the evangelicals, the wealthy man's son, Eff Jr., especially annoyed by these "crude gypsy mystics aiming for a windfall".
This tongue-in-cheek view of the new millennium is as twisted as it is astute, Kirn dissecting the complex heart of religious orientation in America, the west inundated with gurus, the cult of personality and the true believers who refuse to give up on the moral slackers. Luan Gaines/ 2005.
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