"Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father’s forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible. After Ruth's father—the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony—is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant.

In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collects welfare and her stepfather works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her. As Ruth begins to doubt her family’s beliefs and question her mother’s choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself."

Acquired via PaperBackSwap. (Unabridged on 7 CDs; read by the author)

Ruth Wariner spent the majority of her childhood and teen years in a rural polygamist community in Mexico, where she was the 39th child of her father's 42 children, and the 4th child of her mother's 10 children. Following her father's death shortly after Ruth's own birth, her mother marries a second time, and Ruth(ie) is forced to live with a stepfather who takes turns spending the nights with his various wives. Meanwhile, all of his wives and children live in poverty and struggle to stay fed while living in homes usually without indoor plumbing or electricity. Spending some time with her mother's somewhat estranged family in the United States and living portions of her childhood in Calilfornia and Texas, Ruthie knows that her family's way of life is not necessarily typical outside of her own community, and as she becomes older, she yearns to escape.

Stories like this make me very angry. It's really very difficult for me to have patience for women who subject themselves to the chauvinistic behavior of men who use religion to brainwash and achieve what they want. While the men in these communities anger me as well, it's the women who anger me more for their weak and spineless behavior. I realize I'm looking at this from an outsider's view, but still. This is a heartbreaking memoir which nearly brought me to tears on several occasions. I thought it was fairly well written, and while the author read her own audiobook, I felt that her voice was too monotone to really do this story justice. I doubt that this will ever make the big screen, but I'd love to see it there someday.

Sending off to PBS member. Enjoy! :')

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