Ponder Post: Book of Morman

Frank and I and our friend Vickie went last Thursday night to see The Book of Mormon musical playing in San Jose. The singing and dancing was particularly high energy and the production was hugely theatrical on an exceedingly grand scale. The actors did a fantastic job. The play was very funny and very enjoyable and yet it was extremely irreverent and the song lyrics were shockingly crude. I am not a fan of comedians who seem to think that saying a four letter work makes something funny that inherently is not, yet I did not find this musical at all offensive.

The story line focuses on a pair of Mormon missionaries' trip to Uganda to convert the villagers there to Mormonism and baptize them into the church of Latter Day Saints. One of the pair, Elder Kevin Price the dominant self-assured missionary, feels he should have been sent to Orlando instead and as he perceives himself to be much more needed there. Elder Arnold Cunningham, the less confident, social inept member of the pair, accepts Uganda as his assignment without question and looks with awe that he was partnered with such an outstanding Morman as Elder Price. His creative adaptation of the stories in the Book of Mormon so they relate to the lifestyles of the Ugandans are very effective in making people stop doing bad things. And isn't that the point of any religion?

The musical does poke fun at the Mormon religion and, to some extent, other religions as well. More pointedly, though, it does not shy away from addressing many of the more sensitive issues encountered by missionaries in third world countries – AIDS, sanitation, female circumcision, rape, military domination. It does so with an imaginative humor one would not think possible. The musical does a lot to raise awareness of the challenges and atrocities faced by third work country inhabitants. The topics are serious topics that must be discussed if they are to be remedied. If an entertaining musical is a successful vehicle to that end, then I am all for it.

Interesting enough, the Mormons took out several full page ads in the playbill. They must agree with the publicity quotes floating around:
"There isn’t any such thing as bad publicity," has been cited in print since 1916.
“Any publicity is good publicity,” has been cited in print since 1925.
“There isn’t any such thing as bad publicity," was written in 1939.
"All publicity is good publicity," was written in 1939.

Personally I think the adage that fits best is, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

Ponder Post: The Hypnotist's Love Story

The Hypnotists's Love Story by Liane Moriarty tells the tale of a peculiar type of love triangle amongst Ellen, who is a hypnotherapist, her boyfriend Patrick, who is a widower with a young son, and Patrick's ex-girlfriend, Saskia who has been stalking Patrick since he broke up with her. I would not call it a romance, but more of a tongue-in-cheek exploration of relationships, blended with an exposition of the hidden fears of women who are confronted with the reality of their ticking biological time clocks.

Ellen is a single, thirty-five year old woman, who had been raised by her very independent single mother and two godmothers without the knowledge or presence of a father. Her career is hypnotherapy. She helps her clients with a particular problem such as losing weight, stopping smoking, overcoming a fear of public speaking, or coping with a phantom pain for which there is no medical explanation, by engaging them in relaxation techniques that place them in a trance where she can explore their needs. Ellen then plants the seeds of post-hypnotic suggestions to empower the clients to act in their own behalf. I liked how she really cares for the welfare of her clients. She even appears to care for the welfare of her boyfriend's stalker. Her eclectic, imaginative home, which she inherited from her grandmother, is in on the beach and the office where she meets her clients overlooks the ocean. Her description of it is lovely. I would love to visit such a setting. In my mind it was similar to this calming image.

The premise of the book was good. Unfortunately, the novelty of the situation wore off when I was two-thirds to three-quarters through the 400+ page book. I will admit that the stalker was pretty brazen and that her shenanigans held my interest. But the Hypnotist's Love Story really was a "girl's night out" kind of discussion about relationships. I enjoy engaging in the occasional amateur psycho-analysis of a situation as much as the next speculator, but I have never viewed myself as a cliché girls-night-out type gal. I grew tired of all the second guessing and re-interpretations of people's motives. There was indeed a climax but it was short-lived and pretty much anticipated. I finished the book but it seemed to drag on and truthfully seemed a bit wearisome. Perhaps it was the author's intent to convey that feeling of inescapability felt by the victim of a stalker.

Liane Moriarty also wrote the Husband's Secret which I positively loved and highly recommend.  I reviewed it in my post for April 10, 2015. I think this author's strong suit is her characters and she portrayed them very well in the Hypnotist's Love Story, also. However, characters also need a strong story line to maintain interest and I felt the Hypnotist's Love Story had nothing much to tell – or at least nothing much I cared to learn. In checking out reviews for this novel on Amazon I noted there is a companion analysis book available on a Kindle for $2.99. I am considering downloading and browsing through it to see what I may have missed.

I would hate to give the Hypnotist's Love Story a bum rap if it does not deserve it. If I were to download the guide I'd also gain some practice using a Kindle, a reading mode I have not adopted as yet because I still prefer the feel of a book in my hand and the satisfaction of turning a page. On a Kindle the electronic sound of those swishing pages can be somewhat ... hypnotizing ... ?