Falling from Disgrace - E-book - ePub

Tammy Dietz grew up committed to her family's Mormon faith, a profoundly patriarchal hierarchy that declares men superior and women subordinate, that demands devotion, purity, and chastity. But when the dogma of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints clashes with the forces of a changing world, Tammy's destiny transforms. Patriarchy provides order but also chaos in a family with a depressed mother and a hoarding father.
Set in the affluent Bay Area, Tammy's coming-of-age story is one of poverty amid wealth and a desire for status, recognition, and inclusion, both inside the Church and out. But when Tammy breaks the most serious of rules, her once certain path falters, her once protective community turns intrusive, and she finds herself on an unexpected journey. Foreword Reviews, Clarion Rating: 5 out of 5: "A sensitive and beautiful memoir, Falling from Disgrace is about perseverance, doubt, and the importance of claiming one's identity....
Told via evocative and descriptive passages, Falling from Disgrace brims with powerful metaphors and vivid images.... Throughout the book, the prose mirrors Dietz's maturation well: as she covers each era of her life, the book's language and style grow with her. It includes interior monologues during critical moments to deepening effect, resulting in powerful scenes.... The result is a book that achieves fantastic balance throughout-between reflection, confusion, and understanding.
Even the cover image of a rose proves integral to the larger story." Kirkus Reviews: "Dietz explores her religiously conservative upbringing in this debut memoir.... The author's childhood commitment to her family's faith is juxtaposed with her later ostracism as a young adult.... 'Shamed and shunned' by her family and church as a sexually active teenager, she became disillusioned with the hypocrisy of a religion founded by a man who she describes as 'a cheating, polygamous, predatory hoarder of wives.' .