Mission to America

Many reviewers here attempt to recount the plot of this story, which is not easy to do in a few words, given the two main characters' frame of reference - a matriarchal religious community in the hinterlands of Montana. Sent on a mission to bring in new converts, they are classic fish out of water, sometimes mistaken for Mormon missionaries. Setting out into the big wide world of American materialism, they fairly quickly lose their way, winding up among some wealthy high-end consumers who represent various marginal religious beliefs of their own. The opportunity, which Kirn seizes by the throat, is for a satiric vision that doesn't so much deny the validity of religious principle as gently ridicule those who use it for their own selfish ends. Religion, as it's practiced by the novel's characters, is as much common sense as it is nonsense. Finally, returning home after eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the narrator finds himself in a Garden of Eden myth of his own - unexpected, but waiting there in plain sight for any reader looking back over the whole story. A somewhat meandering novel, it is packed with closely observed detail. Page after page entertains with droll wit that sees through the self-indulgence and self-serving rationalizations of its cast of characters, as well as the thin veneer of reason and order that covers the heart of American darkness. I laughed out loud often and reread parts for the sheer cleverness of the writing. Fans of Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins will enjoy Kirn's wry humor and off-kilter brand of satire.

This novel is a bit thin and under-achieving, though it is subversively funny and very observant about some uncomfortable truths in American religion. With a sly and somewhat understated use of humor and offbeat characters that reminds me a bit of Carl Hiaasen, Walter Kirn tells the story of an inbred Mormon-like cult that is on the verge of extinction, and the two hapless missionaries who go forth into the outside world (i.e. the American West) to preach to new recruits and bring them back to the commune as fresh genetic material. The two missionaries, who grew up in their na?ve and isolationist compound, are totally bewildered by what they see out in America, while the potential new recruits who are receptive to their preaching aren't exactly the pick of the litter. Kirn uses these plot devices to explore how an outsider would perceive the weirdness of Middle America, in its unfocused religious fanaticism and worship of power and money. Some of the unfavorable reviews here have criticized Kirn's rather weak character developments and some unrealized potential in the plot, and I can agree with those criticisms. But I find this novel to be a winner because of Kirn's subversive and uncomfortably insightful observations on America's religious and social underbelly. [~doomsdayer520~]

A truly top-notch novel by Walter Kirn, possibly his best, that explores the emptiness and tackiness of American culture and society (I know, it's shooting fish in a barrel). It is, I think, pretty much a textbook picaresque novel, and although similar themes have been explored in other works, they've never been developed so freshly and to such humorous effect...

The book bravely (but in a quiet fashion) addresses the Big Themes of this country. It looks at how where we came from (i.e., an idealistic Democratic "Great Experiment" tainted by slavery, Native American genocide & an obsession with materialism and Manifest Destiny land-grabbing) affects where we are today (kind of haplessly seeking some Grand Answer in response to pervasive social/cultural vacuity), leading us to often making some wacky (i.e., bad) moral/social choices. Two isolated insulated social groups confront each other (a fictitious Mormon/Amish-type religious cult vs. the super-rich)with occasionally funny, occasionally sad, & ultimately tragic consequences. Some positively beautiful, acutely observed writing with a quietly powerful ending. Well worth reading!

Walter Kirn was on National Public Radio yesterday (October 19, 2005), discussing his new novel "Mission to America" with Terry Gross, the legendary host of the long-running interview program "Fresh Air." Kirn's semi-autobiographical novel, his fourth, centers on the tale of two apostles on a mission to find new converts for their flagging religion, Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles (AFA). As Kirn revealed during the candid interview, door-to-door missionaries converted his then-troubled-and-isolated family to the Mormon faith when he was twelve. Having, therefore, grown up a Mormon, he originally started writing the story in the context of Mormonism. However, somewhere along the way he tired of Mormonism's idiosyncrasies and invented AFA as a religion he could actually believe in. The Baha'i-like AFA recognizes the divinity of several others along with that of Jesus Christ. To this day, however, the author remains ambivalent about his theological status as a Mormon. On the one hand he critiques Mormon theology: the human body is at once a glorious gift from God and the greatest source of temptation; believers must get down on their knees to access the sweeping forgiveness that Jesus Christ supposedly already earned with his sacrifice; and the Garden of Eden is apparently located in Missouri! On the other hand, almost inexplicably, Kirn willingly retains his nominal Mormon citizenship. His name is still on the church books, but he no longer attends church and admits to his six-year-old daughter that no one knows what happens after we die. Kirn has deep insights into the functioning of organized religion. He says that critiques of religion are useful only if they begin by recognizing that religions serve critical human needs, such as that of community. Missionaries, he says, have a keen eye for folks who are too busy picking themselves up off the ground to preserve their faith. I don't read much fiction. However, Kirn's interview was intriguing enough to convince me to consider reading this manifesto-like work of fiction.