A Lost Argument Review

A Lost Argument by Therese Doucet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked the dramatic, traditional narrative trajectory of Part I. It pits an innocent, college-aged Mormon woman against real arguments to her faith. I was also riveted by the love story. At first, I felt tricked by a particular scene toward the end of Part I, but I have since thought that it had the appropriate effect of emphasizing in the reader's mind just how much Marguerite longed for being loved and wanted. The author handles the characters and scenes in Part I well, maintaining a balance between all the philosophical ideas Marguerite learns about and the pace of the narrative.

Initially, I thought the episodic structure of Part II causes the work as a whole to flag, because the momentum of Part I is lost. The narrative is built up in Part I based on certain cause-and-effect situations that come to a climax (no pun intended). Part II, conversely, seems to wander. There is more analysis-like writing in the form of journal entries than there is mimesis of actual events. But that idea of wandering may be the author's point with Part II. Marguerite’s life back at BYU is a kind of wandering through a literal wilderness. In the end, it was a pleasure to be privy to Marguerite’s journal entries and to follow her in her quest to learn about and ultimately define what faith means to her.

The diction of the work is straightfoward; sometimes poetic, sometimes breezy. The latter is appropriately characteristic of Marguerite. Her mind races with thoughts. Perhaps what I appreciate the most about Marguerite as a character is her unbridled honesty. The poetic descriptions of the various settings in the work are fresh and reinforce the mood of the scene. I’m partial to works with a lyrical style and intertextual depth. This work had lyrical moments, certainly, moreso in Part II than in Part I, but is rather matter-of-fact as a whole, the very thing that Marguerite complains about of her poems. The title tends to give away what direction the story will go, but that may be all right, because discriminating Mormon readers often want to know what they’re getting into.

As I neared the end, I fully expected Marguerite to sustain her faith in Mormonism with the faith quest she had begun, with Kierkegaard’s leap of faith, or his idea of infinite resignation. Indeed, I was surprised while reading Part II that she has so much faith in the idea that she can find her own faith through researching its history in human communities. It was, in itself, a fascinating trajectory. Marguerite’s decision to leave Mormonism comes somewhat sudden to me, but considering that before that point in the story, her feelings of alienation in Mormon communities are based on thinking from lived experience rather than knowledge of the religion's history, it's no wonder that once she discovers the latter, all arguments against leaving are soon overthrown. She can choose to stay only if she, Kierkegaardian-like, resigns herself to the Mormon way of life. Some hands find the glove of Mormonism a comfortable fit, others rather tight. I wish Marguerite and her creator the best.

View all my reviews
Read, write, execute!