Bound on Earth
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It is Thanksgiving Day and the Palmers have gathered to celebrate. But one person is missing: Kyle, Beth Palmer's young husband and a once integral member of this close-knit Mormon family. Kyle’s bipolar disorder has spun out of control, and each family member’s reaction to his disease reveals tensions that have been at work among the Palmers for generations. In the interconnected narratives that follow, the family’s past is revealed, illuminating themes of loyalty, betrayal, forgiveness and, ultimately, love.
Bound on Earth is the winner of the 2008 Award for the Novel from the Association for Mormon Letters, as well as a 2008 Whitney Award for Best Novel by a New Author. Portions of Bound on Earth have won awards from Irreantum magazine (2003); Dialogue's "Best of the Year Award: Fiction" (2005); honors from the Utah Arts Council (2006); and the Salt Flats Annual Emerging Writer Fiction Contest (2007).
REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS
Deseret News review Times and Seasons review
Mormon Mentality review C Jane Enjoy It review
Segullah review Association for Mormon Letters review
Feminist Mormon Housewives review A Motley Vision interview
Mormon Artist interview Writer in the Pines interview
The Low-Tech World review
COMMENTARY
"[The novel's] language is beautiful and transparent, evocative in its descriptiveness. Its characters are complex and well-rendered, its ambitions serious and sincere. A compelling exploration of one family’s struggles toward intimacy and self-awareness in a world that pulls people asunder, Bound on Earth succeeds on many levels." --Utah Arts Council judge Rob Van Wagoner
"Angela Hallstrom demonstrates an admirable mastery of the art of fiction. The subtle background to this novel is the Mormon world view, established without preaching or assumptions of superiority. But it presents a far from idealized vision of reality. By moments the members of this extended family writhe with conflict, tension, depression, self-pity, and misbehavior. If there's a lesson to be learned from this novel, it's that the pain and endurance required to create a family are worth it." -Levi Peterson, author of The Backslider and editor of Dialogue magazine
"Combining deep emotional candor and spare, elegant prose, Hallstrom's debut novel is a poignant exploration of family, faith, and the ties that bind." --Kathryn Lynard Soper, editor of Segullah: Writings by Latter-day Saint Women
"Bound on Earth is a book in which the reader draws connections to the self; we see our own struggles, betrayals, hard loves, desire. It is a beautiful, honest chronicle of one family's journey through time." --Sheila O'Connor, author of Where No Gods Came, Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" selection and winner of the Minnesota Book Award
"I chose this piece for its wit and tenderness, its fully imagined world. This author has an impeccable ear for dialogue and a fine sense of character and setting. The story's final moments of disillusion feel just right. Bravo!" --Salt Flats Annual judge Karen Brennan
Bound on Earth is the winner of the 2008 Award for the Novel from the Association for Mormon Letters, as well as a 2008 Whitney Award for Best Novel by a New Author. Portions of Bound on Earth have won awards from Irreantum magazine (2003); Dialogue's "Best of the Year Award: Fiction" (2005); honors from the Utah Arts Council (2006); and the Salt Flats Annual Emerging Writer Fiction Contest (2007).
REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS
Deseret News review Times and Seasons review
Mormon Mentality review C Jane Enjoy It review
Segullah review Association for Mormon Letters review
Feminist Mormon Housewives review A Motley Vision interview
Mormon Artist interview Writer in the Pines interview
The Low-Tech World review
COMMENTARY
"[The novel's] language is beautiful and transparent, evocative in its descriptiveness. Its characters are complex and well-rendered, its ambitions serious and sincere. A compelling exploration of one family’s struggles toward intimacy and self-awareness in a world that pulls people asunder, Bound on Earth succeeds on many levels." --Utah Arts Council judge Rob Van Wagoner
"Angela Hallstrom demonstrates an admirable mastery of the art of fiction. The subtle background to this novel is the Mormon world view, established without preaching or assumptions of superiority. But it presents a far from idealized vision of reality. By moments the members of this extended family writhe with conflict, tension, depression, self-pity, and misbehavior. If there's a lesson to be learned from this novel, it's that the pain and endurance required to create a family are worth it." -Levi Peterson, author of The Backslider and editor of Dialogue magazine
"Combining deep emotional candor and spare, elegant prose, Hallstrom's debut novel is a poignant exploration of family, faith, and the ties that bind." --Kathryn Lynard Soper, editor of Segullah: Writings by Latter-day Saint Women
"Bound on Earth is a book in which the reader draws connections to the self; we see our own struggles, betrayals, hard loves, desire. It is a beautiful, honest chronicle of one family's journey through time." --Sheila O'Connor, author of Where No Gods Came, Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" selection and winner of the Minnesota Book Award
"I chose this piece for its wit and tenderness, its fully imagined world. This author has an impeccable ear for dialogue and a fine sense of character and setting. The story's final moments of disillusion feel just right. Bravo!" --Salt Flats Annual judge Karen Brennan