The Chinchilla Farm

by Judith Freeman

Book Overview

Verna Flake is fleeing Utah, a failed marriage (her husband has left her for a former beauty queen named Pinky), and the constricted yet reliable Mormon way of life. Seemingly naive but also gifted with an almost second sight for the emotional heart of things, Verna relates her adventures on the road, in Los Angeles, and eventually in Mexico, as she confronts her future and muses over her past. Reading group guide included.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393324265
• ISBN13: 9780393324266
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Nobody here but us Chinchillas

Reading this book is like taking a long drive down a lonely road with the main character, Verna at the wheel. On the way, you meet interesting and quirky characters as well as live her memories of the past. As the road stretches out ahead of you, sometimes the rear view mirror image blends in with the present.I was intrigued by an insider's view of Mormons and their customs, as Verna physically and spiritually distances herself from her roots. I'm glad to know this one is going back into print. It's a winner.

One word: Delightful!

Judith Freeman's "The Chinchilla Farm" is a wonderful first novel and a delightful story. Like William Least Heat-Moon's "Blue Highways", which also focused on new beginnings, she has a strong storyteller's voice. ("Blue Highways" was his first novel too.) I consider both these books as "must read" and have given them as gifts to many people.

Lovely Clean Prose

The Chinchilla Farm is one of my favorite books and I'm sorry to see that it's out of print. It is the story of a Mormon woman who, when her marriage to a fellow Mormon fails, travels to California to seek a new life. It's a realistic novel that has shades of the autobiographical about it, (the author is herself a Mormon who lives in California.) The strongest point of the book is its beautiful, clear unsentimental prose and its unflinching portrayal of life in a hard and uncaring city. Ms. Freeman is particularly sympathetic to people living at the fringes of society; the homeless, mentally ill, alcoholics and immigrants. In her compassionate yet unsparing representation of these characters she is almost Dickensian. The novel also provides a fascinating insight into growing up in Salt Lake City as a Mormon. Although the novel is sometimes bleak in its realism its final message is one of redemption and I found the book to be overall uplifting. Structurally my only criticism is that the ending is a little rushed, but the high quality of the prose more than makes up for that.