Rift by Todd Robert Petersen, a review

Posted by Shelah | October 30, 2009 | 22 Comments

I’m a city girl. I grew up in the great Northeastern megalopolis where it’s possible to drive for six or eight hours along Interstate 95 without seeing evidence of the existence of rural America. During my BYU years, I looked down my nose with derision at the wrangler-wearing Animal Science majors, and viewed any part of the state of Utah south of Provo (with the exception of the national parks and Cedar City during the Shakespeare Festival) as one giant speed trap saddled with an unfortunate accent.

Somehow, I managed to fall in love with a boy from Springville whose ancestors hail from Sanpete County. Once we left Utah, he spent the next decade learning to say “field” instead of “fild,” and we got regular updates about life back home in the land south of Provo, complete with Sunday drives to Fairview to decorate graves and picnic on the grounds of the Manti temple.

Todd Robert Petersen’s novel, Rift, takes place in the fictional town of Sanpete, which he describes as “ringed on all sides by mountains. It had no interstate and no quick way to get to one. Other towns in the valley had junior colleges or BLM offices, but the town of Sanpete was frozen somewhere between between 1965 and 1972….” It’s a town where the lone sheriff’s deputy addresses people by name when he turns on the lights in his patrol car to pull them over, where the three-chair barbershop is the local hangout for the retired set, and where the buck stops with Bishop Darrell Bunker (whose counselor, incidentally, is named Bud Miner, and just may be my husband’s fictional second-cousin).

Jens Thorsen, Rift‘s crotchety-but-eventually-endearing hero, has been engaged in a decades-long feud with Bunker, which apparently began when Bunker returned a broken drill to Thorsen (it wasn’t broken when Thorsen loaned it to him, it just shorted out occasionally). The two men seem to delight in getting each other’s goats (figuratively, I didn’t read of any goats in the story, just lots of horses, sheep and dead crows). The strife escalates from petty annoyances like tracking mud across kitchen floors and “borrowing” heavy equipment, to the arena of the heart when Bunker’s daughter returns from “up North” and turns to Thorsen for help when she doesn’t get what she wants from her father.

The novel won the Marilyn Brown novel award, and when I interviewed Brown last year, she said that the purpose of starting the award was to “encourage [Mormon] writers to write about themselves in the best language and artistic structure possible.” Petersen’s novel is worthy of the award, with great descriptive writing (“Only a day had passed since Thorsen’s showdown with Bunker, but in that time, talk volleyed furiously across back fences and shopping carts and checkout counters. It had come into restaurant tables on serving trays, and it left the hardware store in bags of concrete and roofing nails… By sundown the valley had been slathered in gossip.”). Jens Thorsen is likely my very favorite character in Mormon fiction, including The Backslider’s Frank Windham, who reminds me in some ways of a very young Thorsen. On one hand, Thorsen manages to hold a grudge for decades, grumbles at his wife, evades the police and buys cigarettes for a pregnant woman, but on the other hand, he spends his days engaged in good works for the Jewish “gentile” doctor, an elderly nonmember couple, and others who have been cast off from Sanpete society.

I’ve read a lot of books about women in small towns banding together to fight ignorance (like this year’s The Help) and women in religious communities fighting gossip and small-mindedness (like The Ladies’ Auxiliary), but one of the things I love best about Rift is that it’s a book about close male friendships, and men engaged in good works. Petersen’s debut novel is a beauty, and Jens Thorsen is a character who will stay in my mind, and make me think twice about the people who live in the small towns of rural Utah as I speed past them on my way to Bryce or Zion.

Category: Book Reviews

Comments

22 Responses to “Rift by Todd Robert Petersen, a review”

ZD Eve
October 30th, 2009 @ 6:24 am

Thanks for the review, Shelah. I’ve loved Petersen’s other work, and I’m eager to read this one.
Jenny
October 30th, 2009 @ 7:55 am

Fabulous!
Thanks~
Wm Morris
October 30th, 2009 @ 8:38 am

Rift is available from Zarahemla Books.

I must admit that after reading Petersen’s excellent short story collection _Long After Dark_ with its international flavors, I was a bit disappointed to hear he was working on a novel about rural Utah (I was like: Do we really need another one of those?). It’s good to hear that it’s a strong enough novel that those us with certain literary or social prejudices (I spent my childhood in Kanab so I don’t have quite the same social prejudice Shelah does; however, I admit to some serious Mormon fiction set in Utah-Idaho fatique) should set those aside and read _Rift_.
FoxyJ
October 30th, 2009 @ 8:47 am

I’ve loved Petersen’s other work as well, and will also admit to some ‘rural fatigue’, but I think I will have to check this out.
Angela
October 30th, 2009 @ 10:13 am

Great review, Shelah. Petersen is a fabulous writer and _Rift_ is a great book.
Michelle L.
October 30th, 2009 @ 1:28 pm

Thanks Shelah, for this fantastic review. I know it takes a lot of time write something like this. Looks like I need to pick up that book!
Melissa Y.
October 30th, 2009 @ 9:31 pm

Thanks for the great review! I haven’t read any LDS lit for a while–this looks like a good way to jump back in.
Dovie
October 30th, 2009 @ 10:47 pm

Go ahead say “fild” instead of “field” at least around me. I love regional dialect. Even Utah’s. As the world gets more and more connected, we are constantly able to hear each other speak. From one end of the country to the other, seems like consciously or not we are all trying to sound like one another. I’m afraid all that distinctive variety will be homogenized away. If so I will count it a loss.

The book sounds like a wonderful sample of rural Utah culture and speech (as well as mighty fine story). I fear the day is coming in the not to distant future where the only place I will be able to find those tasty bits will be in works of fiction.
Scattered by nature
October 31st, 2009 @ 9:49 am

Why should “field” be turned into “fild” and be acceptable? What’s wrong with pronouncing words correctly? Poor language skills are not endearing.
Nani Lii Furse
October 31st, 2009 @ 10:41 am

I’m commenting late on this post, but as a gal from a rural background I had to say my piece. I enjoy reading books set in different places and I’m glad to see more diversity in LDS literature. But I found some aspects of this post and comments a tad condescending. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Or Palmyra? These questions keep running through my mind this morning. LDS culture began in a series of small-town settings; maybe that’s one reason why some authors continue to write about people who live in rural settings. Rural life is what I know best; as it intersects with technology and an increasingly frenetic world, I think it still offers plenty of fodder for fresh interpretations. (Pun intended.)

I’m glad that Peterson’s novel has given Shelah a reason to think twice about people in the hamlets of Utah as she speeds to often-congested Zions and Bryce.:) Thanks for the great review.
Dovie
October 31st, 2009 @ 11:16 am

Scattered by nature: I love it that’s all I can say. Not really anyone that has read my comments here knows I never get to the point of “all I can say.” I ask in advance for forgivness for the following tangent.

From a western twang and to a southern drawl to the way my neighbor and a local professor from Australia “whipper snips” her lawn or makes cookies to share with or without “sultanas.” I love it all. We use to have people from every where in our ward and my husband who is not a member use to love to come to gospel doctrine class to just to hear all the accents not to mention the profound hard won truths that professor would humbly share. I love the native German who bears powerful testimony in a heavy accent. When I go to North Carolina I feel like I am swimming in it. When I go to the Harker’s Island where my mom is from there is an even more distinctive sound. There are words and phrases that are unique to just that island. The younger more connected folks not so much but the older generation you almost need a translator, but once you have been given a little bit of a primmer about it, it is so fun to hear it and have your brain work it out. I even love how the some of the older folks in my neighborhood refer to “BYU” you as “the BYU”. When I go down to southern Utah and hear people talk about Escalante with no “E” sound at the end I know I am talking to a native.

I can even hear it sometimes here on Segullah. I hope the two I mention will not be offended since you can link to their blogs from here, I take that as an invitation to “come read more”. Before I read a little of Traci’s blog the APPALACHIAN WOMAN, I could tell by the way she wrote that she was from a different part of the country than I was. Also who doesn’t appreciate Selwyn’s comments and her recent post not just because she is an amazing writer but also because she is from Australia and you can tell.

My favorite HS English teacher use to say “If you say it and I can understand it, it’s a word.” Generally I believe in writing reading conventions but there is so much more to language than that. I won’t let them be ‘them’ be the boss of me. At least not all the time.
Dovie
October 31st, 2009 @ 11:24 am

Post edit “writing and speaking convetions”… not “writing reading convetions”, I just get so dang excited to hit that Submit Comment button.
Selwyn
October 31st, 2009 @ 2:43 pm

Dovie – yay for whipper snippers! And wait, don’t you have sultanas?

It’s something I love about making new friends and reading books from other places – you find out just how huge the world is, even learnt from a plate of bikkies with sultanas in them

Thanks for the review Shelah, particularly one so highly regarded and about male friendships. I’ve added it to my wishlist.
sar
October 31st, 2009 @ 6:52 pm

Gotta watch out for those hillbilly cannibals who don’t know the difference between “fild” and “field.”
Dovie
November 1st, 2009 @ 2:41 pm

Watching my favorite Australian professor right now leading a discussion on the Book of Mormon on BYUTV. The discussion is the what I tuned in for but her wonderful accent is like frosting on the cake!
Amy
November 1st, 2009 @ 4:39 pm

Does anyone know any member of the church that uses the word “gentile” to describe people outside the church? I’ve been seeing that in writing lately, both in and out of the church, but have never actually heard a member of the church use it in conversation . Am I missing out on part of my culture here? Because the usage of the word both in above review, and elsewhere, REALLY REALLY bugs me.
Shelah
November 1st, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

Amy, there’s a lengthy discussion in the book about the use of the word gentile, with the Jewish doctor laughing about how this was the first time in his life he had been labeled as such.

William Morris- thanks for including the publishing info.

I apologize if my somewhat flippant tone was offensive. My purpose was to show that I was sort of stupid and naive when I arrived in Utah for the first time, and that I was guilty of an urbanite’s prejudice against rural life, and that reading Petersen’s book, among other things, has been part of my continuing education in that regard.

The book is also available at amazon, and as I said before, definitely worth reading.
Zina
November 2nd, 2009 @ 12:53 am

Thanks for the review Shelah, it sounds like a great book.

(Now please forgive me for jumping on a couple of tangents.)

Amy, I grew up in Utah Valley and have Mormon pioneer ancestry and have often heard “gentile” used to mean “not LDS.” I think this comes directly from the fact that modern scriptures sometimes use the word that way–the modern saints become the Lord’s chosen people, and those outside that circle are therefore gentiles.

Scattered by nature said: “Why should “field” be turned into “fild” and be acceptable? What’s wrong with pronouncing words correctly? Poor language skills are not endearing.” This presumes that there is one ideal, superior, and perfect dialect or way of pronouncing any given language. Although people are always trying to dignify their own way of talking as the best way–Parisians want to elevate Parisian French, Londoners want the King’s (or Queen’s) English to be the World’s English, and Bostonians sneer at Southerners for not knowing how to talk, (etc. etc. etc.,) these attempts could be said to reveal a certain degree of bigotry or at least snobbishness. It also ignores some not-so-obvious facts, such as, for example, that Appalachian English is much closer to (classic!) Shakespearean English than that of a contemporary Londoner, or that the sneered-upon Quebecois accent is also closer to Academie-French than that now spoken in Paris.

Of course someone who wants to be well-spoken and sound educated will try to conform their pronunciation to whatever is the preferred and accepted standard pronunciation, but I’m one who agrees with Dovie that it would be sad to lose the regional flavors of language. I have heard that old men (who presumably don’t care what others think of them) are the best preservers of regional dialects, and I for one thank them for it.

My husband has some pronunciations that I like to mock (fool for full, nell for nail, etc.) (sometimes I also imitate them for fun, and then catch myself having inadvertently actually adopted them,) but the truth is that everyone has an accent, and mine is a Utah one, too, if a more moderated feminine version. After spending three months with an English mission companion, when I was transferred to serve with a sister from Springville (next to Orem, where I grew up,) I could hear my accent loud and clear. The Springville sister and I definitely spoke not just the same language, but the same dialect.

As long as I’m on this rant, another place to hear traditional Utah accents is during General Conference. Our prophet, apostles, and general authorities are extremely careful and well-spoken (not to mention, of course, inspired,) but that doesn’t mean you can’t pick out lots of regional pronunciations if you listen for them. Lard for Lord is one obvious example that you’ll sometimes hear.

*Note: I think a linguist would say I’m using the term “dialect” incorrectly, so I apologize to any linguists who might read this. I don’t know the right term for “regional pronunciation” (although maybe that’s the term.)
Zina
November 3rd, 2009 @ 1:28 pm

I think when I said “dialect” I just meant “accent.” (Not sure why I was having a hard time with something that simple.)
Todd
November 3rd, 2009 @ 6:52 pm

This is such an interesting topic of discussion, and a great peek for a writer to have. I really wanted to look into rural life because it’s so alien to me–not so much now, but certainly in 2001, when I moved to Cedar City.

I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and so a small Southern Utah town is, for me, like another planet. In writing Rift I felt more like an anthropologist than anything else. I think that helped me be cautious. The insider problem of writing out of a religion is always at one’s back. The same can also be true of writing from a particular geographical place all the time.

The fact that I was working these rural people, who are so often reduced to caricatures in fiction, was at the front of my mind for every draft. I’m so glad Shelah had the response she did to the book. I wanted to open these folks up and portray them as sophisticated entities. I see from this discussion how important it is, as a writer, to do that.
Dovie
November 5th, 2009 @ 12:28 am

The following was just a little blurb article I read yesterday on KSL.com featuring a BYU professor who studies language and how we seem to be loosing our “T” sound in some words in some parts of the country. I thought it was interesting given the discussion here.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8548383
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November 19th, 2009 @ 12:19 am

[...] by Todd Robert Petersen. This Marilyn Brown award winning novel was recently reviewed by Shelah Miner here at Segullah. I’ve read it as well and can attest that Petersen is one of [...]