Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage

Becoming Sister Wives was an awesome read for me. I stayed up all night to read it. The book has chapters writen by each Sister Wife along with Kody's version of how they came to their faith and the TLC show. I found it their stories to be heartfelt and honest. If you are reading the book to get some juicy gossip or to see how they all fight with each other. Then sad to say, this book isn't for you.I truly enjoyed the way the book was written and that they were open and honest in their own way. I did not come away with a sense as other readers, that Kody's wives were unhappy and miserable in their marriage with Kody and each other. I came to end of the book with a better understanding and admiration for these ladies. To open themselves up and allow the reader to know what they have been through, without going into detail about each argument/fight that they have had. I found it truly enjoyable.The book describes how each member of this family has come to terms with their own misgivings and jealousy issues with one another, in a way that let the reader feel their pain and yet not get all the behind the scenes dirty laundry. I normally do not give reviews on the books that I read. But I found it interesting that several of the reader's came away with a feeling that these women were miserable. I believe in my opinion that their faith and beliefs led them down the path that they now travel and that each and every one of them has had many issues to contend with. They have embraced their religion and struggled with those choices. They have a better understanding and respect for each other and have become better wives and mothers and friends, through their hardships and triumphs.This is how I saw it:Meri - While embracing her religion and her love of Kody, she has had to endure many years of pain and turmoil. Just being there and watching her Sister Wives give Kody the children that she never could, had to be painful for. While she agreed to the other marriages, she also suffere the jealousy that comes with the sharing. She has embraced her faith and through that she has been able to accept her husband and her sister wives with an understanding and committment that only she can truly know.Janelle - Is a very strong, independent woman, who has also embraced her faith and her beliefs and had come to a point in her life, that her sister wives may never be her best friends, and that her and Meri have a long ways yet to go, before they truly embrace each other. Yet they will be there for each other no matter what. The love she has for her children and their father is amazing.Christing - Is the baby wife, she is the bubbly, happy go lucky person. She knew what she wanted and she held to her beliefs in that respect. She has had her struggles with the jealousy and the acceptance of the fourth wife. She has a way with all the children and she is an inspiration, with her decision to be a stay at home mom, not only for her kids but her sister wives as well.Robyn - Was able to put her past marriage behind her and open her heart to another man, to me that took alot of couarage on her part. She brought 3 kids to the marriage and I can only imagine her fears and worries about them being accepted by her sister wives.Kody - He sometimes is clueless as to what is going on around him, he may at time be insensitive to all of their feelings, but what man isn't. There isn't a guide book, that has in detail, how to better undertand his family. But by trail and error he has come to head of the family and made tough choices in order to follow his beliefs. Some readers may not like his way of doing things, but no one can deny that his wives do not love him wholeheartedly, or that his children think any less of him.The browns went public with their personal lives in order to be able to let the world know that they are decent, loving and kind. To be able to be out in public and not have to hide who they are and what their religion has led them in their life. They allowed the cameras to come into their homes and we all get a glimpse of their every day struggles to be a family.I came away with a delightful feeling and new retrospect for my monogamus marriage and that marriage is life shared with your spouse(s)is a work in progress. To be able to live beside your husbands, other wives and embrace them and continually work at being better is a testament to their love for on another. The hardships they faced as a family and as each individual wife and raise such grounded kids is amazing.

If you are a fan of the T.V. show, Sister Wives, then you will probably like this book. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different wife or of their husband, Kody. The first part of the book starts out explaining how they met & married. The second part addresses problems that each wife has experienced - partly from being a sister wife, partly from being essentially a single mother and partly from the point of view of just being a woman.Kody comes across as a very loving father and family man, but a bit lost and overwhelmed. And this follows through in his chapters of the book. He obviously knows each wife and child very well. I was a little surprised at how willing he was to admit mistakes he had made and what he has done/is willing to do to fix those mistakes. All in all, I find him to be a likable person.It was interesting to me how differently I perceived each sister wife before and after reading this book. I never expected to learn that Meri, the only "legal" wife, and the first wife, is so mean-spirited, jealous. selfish and downright bullying to the other wives. Janelle and Christine come across as very caring and respectful of everyone in the family and Robyn does not come across as being the "home wrecker" than many people felt she was from watching the show. It is clear that they all love the all of the children. I enjoyed the parts where a wife would explain a quirk of a certain child and how that was the thing that connected them, even though they were born to a different mother.I would have liked to have read more about the children and their relationships with each other. Robyn's daughters appear to be very clingy and too familiar with extended family members but Robyn sort of explains why she coddles her kids. I hope that as time goes on, she will toughen up a bit because coddling will lead to weak children who are always looking to someone else for guidance since they don't feel confident in themselves. Especially important in a family that size.It was very interesting to hear Meri talk about a certain incident, how she felt, her description of the other person involved and that persons reactions and then hear the same story told by one of the other wives. While Meri seems to have no problem insulting them, blaming them (and not accepting blame), the other wives were generally very sweet, obviously hurt at times and fairly level headed, especially Janelle. Meri obviously has a lot of anger towards a lifestyle that she chose and anger that she was only able to have one child, instead of embracing it fully and accepting the other children as hers. She is very smug when talking about how her house is the clean one, the quiet one, the peaceful one while making snide remarks about the chaos and clutter of the other wives homes. She can't accept that she has one, nearly adult child and that SHE needs to make the sacrifice for the good of the entire family and not demand so much time, attention and expensive things (a huge house when she could share with one of the other wives and help parent, vacations to Mexico when the other wives go camping, etc).The book could have benefited from some editing, especially Meri's parts. Meri tended to repeat the same thing several times in a paragraph, almost like she lost her train of thought. Robyn came across as a lot more intelligent, thoughtful and way more sincere than she does on the show, though I'm not convinced that she is as sincere and the peacemaker that she portrays. I almost feel, and especially after reading the book, that she is just biding her time to take over Meri's place as the leader of the family and that is why she is close with Meri. Either that, or she sees how Meri treats the others and wants to stay on her good side. I'm just suspicious of Robyn. It just goes to show that a good editor can make or break you in reality television!What surprised me the most about the book was how unhappy they all seem and how they don't appear to spend much time with each other, outside of the birthday/holiday/meal every now & then. The sister wives don't seem very bonded with one another or to be very close to each other, though it does sound like the children are. On the show, it appeared as if they squabbled over minor things but that down deep, they had each others backs. From the book, it doesn't seem that way at all - it seems more like they were each once married to the same man and all get along for the kids' sake.If there as a follow-up book written in the same style by the children, I would definitely read it. All in all, it was a quick read and interesting, though I don't know how much sense it would make to someone who didn't have a general idea of who each person was and the back-stories but I did learn a lot about the family that I never would have learned had I not read the book.

will be an interesting read ..

Truly loving the book, got to know about the show by one of the closed one and that's how I got attracted to the book. Best for those who wants to know more about the understanding, accommodating, adjusting between the relati okkns ships and overall living and let rest all live the way they wanted.

Ich habe vor ein paar Wochen Sister Wives bzw. Alle meine Frauen entdeckt und war sofort interessiert an der Geschichte der Familie Brown ich habe praktisch alle verfügbaren Folgen angesehen und dieses Lebensmodell ist faszinierend mich hat aber auch immer interessiert wie diese Menschen alle zusammen gekommen sind und ja das Buch bietet darauf ausführliche Antworten es erzählt wie jede Beziehung entstanden ist z.b. Auch was glaube ich nur einmal in der ersten Staffel erwähnt wurde das Janelle mit Meris Bruder verheiratet war, wir erfahren hier mehr über alle Beteiligten wer die Browns mag wird dieses Buch auch mögen und Vor allem wer mehr wissen möchte was die Vorgeschichte der Browns angeht ist hier richtig.... Sprachlich fand ich es nicht wirklich schwer zu verstehen muss ich ehrlich sagen ich habe aber zwischendurch auch 1 oder 2 Wörter machgesehen.

I thought this book was excellent although I was saddened by the reality that the sister wives seem to really dislike each other in the early years and are still working on things twenty years later. They talk of loving each other and the choice they have made and stuck too but it seems they have to modify their attitudes, personalities and behaviour for a way of life that they have been "called to." However I think all the wives would be happier if they didn't have to share their husband. I really like the family and respect that they stick at it but I can't really see why they do. It seems to me it would be simpler to each have their own husband. They all come across as very stable and as if they've made this choice which I know is the point of the book - no body was forced in to anything but it all seems a little too much effort to change themselves - jealousy is a naturally human emotion, the main reason why most of us only have one spouse. You shouldn't have to work so hard to suppress it.Great book though.

Letto tutto d'un fiato e l'ho davvero apprezzato addirittura più dello show televisivo che in Italia sta andando in onda da poco. Gran bella famiglia e gli auguro tutto il bene del mondo - I've really loved this book also more than the tv show that we're seeing also in Italy every morning.