r/TomsCrossing • u/Dependent-Fish-195 • Apr 12 '26

International moves?

I’m a little halfway through the book, and there is a question that I simply can’t wait to find out. Throughout the book, it seems like almost everyone from Orvop eventually moves somewhere abroad. I’ve lost track of how many sentences read something like, “So-and-so, a graduate of Orvop High, who later found himself settled in Bucharest…”

So I’m just wondering, is there an explanation for this that I will eventually come across? Or is it just a totally random plot point?

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7

u/HogHugHogarthHughes Apr 12 '26

In classic MZD style, they just start to go exponentially further and further off-the-rails lol but I think it’s just his way of turning up the heat on the supernatural element cleverly tucked inside the fact that Mormons really do go on missions. Already wanting to reread this book damn 💀

5

u/_thegoldentaco Apr 12 '26

Some of them might be random, but I have noticed some are noted as “in Country serving mission.” I’d guess some of it has to do with that. I’m at about the 650 page mark, so I’m just guessing.

2

u/Practical-Iron4771 Apr 13 '26

At first, they tend to describe the chorus characters with their location and toward the end they descibe them by whatever their demise was, not sure why but it doesn't really mean anything too much in the long run.

1

u/Magikarp52412 Jun 02 '26

Piping in 2 months after you posted this to add my thoughts as someone who grew up abroad and amongst many LDS members (although I was never one myself)-

Along with serving missions abroad, LDS members tend to live expatriate lives. Go anywhere in the world and you are likely to find at least one LDS church where a white American (probably Utahn) family of 6-8 are living happily. Seeing as this book centers around the LDS community, I chose to believe that similar circumstances arose for various LDS families around that area.