Bad Mormon

“How the fairy tale had all imploded. How the impact had revealed all the cracks in my faith. There was no putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. There was no moral dilemma to wrestle with. No real decision to be made. This was my way out.”

The prologue establishes the fact that Gay is no longer an active member of the Mormon church, foreshadowing her journey over the course of the memoir. This passage suggests that the trauma of her divorce and exit from the church made the break with her old life easier than it might have been otherwise. However, the rest of the book contradicts her claim that she faced no moral dilemma when choosing to join the cast of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

“My parents were Mormon, but they weren’t weird. I wasn’t one of those run-of-the-mill Utah girls, I was a Carmel-by-the-Sea California girl, and I planned on living a life worthy of the distinction.”

Although Gay was raised in a family of devout Mormons, she grew up thinking of herself as distinct from the other members of the church. Gay’s insistence on this distinction reflects both her discomfort with the church and desire to stand out, two of her defining characteristics.

“We arrived on time, starched and stiff in our Sunday best, and sat attentive for all three hours. We’d come home hungry and happy and gather for a family meal of fork tender Crock-Pot roast, Rhodes rolls, and frozen green peas, eating and talking and laughing until our stomachs and hearts were overflowing with family togetherness.”

Criticisms of the Mormon church and the structure of Mormon families appear throughout the book. However, this passage reflects the many positive episodes that Gay includes of her early life in a Mormon family. Although she grew to question the church’s teaching, Gay nevertheless treasures the family time and feelings of togetherness that came from her family’s involvement with the church.