The Lost Book of Mormon

A Journey Through the Mythic Lands of Nephi, Zarahemla, and Kansas City, Missouri

By: Avi Steinberg

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Is the Book of Mormon the Great American Novel?

Decades before Melville and Twain composed their great works, a farmhand and child seer named Joseph Smith unearthed a long-buried book from a haunted hill in western New York State that told of an epic history of ancient America, a story about a family that fled biblical Jerusalem and took a boat to the New World. Using his prophetic gift, Joseph translated the mysterious book into English and published it under the title The Book of Mormon. The book caused an immediate sensation, sparking anger and violence, boycotts and jealousy, curiosity and wonder, and launched Joseph on a wild, decades-long adventure across the American West. Today The Book of Mormon, one of the most widely circulating works of American literature, continues to cause controversy—which is why most of us know very little about the story it tells. Avi Steinberg wants to change that.

A fascinated nonbeliever, Steinberg spent a year and a half on a personal quest, traveling the path laid out by Joseph’s epic. Starting in Jerusalem, where The Book of Mormon opens with a bloody murder, Steinberg continued to the ruined Maya cities of Central America—the setting for most of the The Book of Mormon’s ancient story—where he gallivanted with a boisterous bus tour of believers exploring Maya archaeological sites for evidence. From there the journey took him to upstate New York, where he participated in the true Book of Mormon musical, the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant. And finally Steinberg arrived at the center of the American continent, Jackson County, Missouri, the spot Smith identified as none other than the site of the Garden of Eden.

Threaded through this quirky travelogue is an argument for taking The Book of Mormon seriously as a work of American imagination. Literate and funny, personal and provocative, the genre-bending The Lost Book of Mormon boldly explores our deeply human impulse to write bibles and discovers the abiding power of story.

©2014 Avi Steinberg (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"[A] truly weird and beautiful memoir about an insane-sounding guy who retraces the geographical territory of the Book of Mormon in order to prove that it, the Book of Mormon, is the Great American Novel. If you need America to be reënchanted for you this year—and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?—pick this one up; you won’t regret it." —Elif Batuman, The New Yorker

"A multilayered narrative that grapples with some of the most fundamental questions of literature and of life ... [A] book about books, a story about stories, that sets out to explore why we tell them, how we craft them, and what makes some stand the test of time while others are forgotten." —Chicago Tribune

"It is as if [Steinberg] has managed to find a way of telling a Faulkneresque family saga through the form of a perfect sitcom ... [W]ith its vivid, honest and often hilarious prose The Lost Book of Mormon does justice to an electric text." —The Believer

Too much gonzo speculation

Avi needed to check his facts better. Some silly speculations throughout. There is too much bad information both pro and con about Mormonism and this book does not help. It was still fun to listen to, but had occasional face palm moments. I would recommend for it's entertainment value, but not its history.

A Unique Take on Authorship, Seeking, and Joseph Smith

This book is part travel log, part memoir, part musings. I enjoyed Steinberg’s observations about Judaism, Mormonism, and what it means to have faith in general.

Despite being seemingly non-theistic, Steinberg ultimately and subtly confessed that he does have faith- all writers must have faith. At times meandering, at times poignant, this book gives a fresh, personal perspective on historical figures. The author is perhaps too kindly to Joseph Smith (in my opinion), but fairly represents all the people he encounters as quirky, sometimes misguided, but ultimately lovable people looking for meaning.

If you are looking for a spiritual account, or a historical biography, this is not the book for you. If you are interested in LDS, writing, or feeling lost, this is a great book for you.

Worst narration I've ever heard.

What did you like best about The Lost Book of Mormon? What did you like least?

Not much, which is a pity because the idea behind it is interesting. The problem is Steinberg's ego overshadows almost every paragraph.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of P.J. Ochlan?

Almost anyone. P. J. Ochlan's narration is so bad as to make this audio book almost impossible to listen to. This is not the first time I've come accross bad narration on Audible but by far this is the worst.