Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (A Memoir of Going Home) by Rhoda Janzen

Every time I review a non-fiction book on this blog, I always say non-fiction isn't normally my book of choice, but every once in a while I find one that I actually finish reading as opposed to jettisoning after only two chapters. This is the first memoir that I've read. I started this book and after two chapters I was undecided as to whether or not to continue reading. In the meantime I read another chapter and just like that a switch flipped and I was in it for the rest of the book.

As someone from Pennsylvania Dutch country and who is 100% Pennsylvania German, I assumed the Mennonite of the title was of this history, heritage, and extraction. Our own Mennonites (and Amish as well others of German heritage) immigrated to PA from Germany in the eighteenth century. As someone who has been researching family history for many years, I've read a little bit about this early German immigration. There were several waves of German immigrants to the New World starting as early as the seventeenth century (something I was surprised to learn recently) and continuing into the eighteenth century (when my ancestors immigrated) and beyond.

There were several options for these seventeenth and eighteenth century Germans fleeing the war-torn area we now know as Germany; one of these options was to migrate to America; another option was to migrate to Russia. Janzen's Mennonites took the latter option. After living the Ukraine for several generations, her grandparents immigrated to Canada. Finally her parents settled in California where they raised Janzen and her siblings in a large Mennonite community. Who knew there was a large Mennonite community in California? I didn't until I read Janzen's memoir.

Janzen has left her Mennonite faith and culture far behind in both years, geography, and lifestyle. However, through the course of some life changing events that lead her to return home for an extended visit for the first time in years, she comes to realize that her Mennonite upbringing had a much more profound and far reaching influence on the paths she chose in life. After Janzen's husband leaves her for Bob from Gay.com, she suffers serious injuries in a devastating car wreck. She returns home to her parents in California to recuperate physically and emotionally. Throughout her memoir Janzen recounts memories from her Mennonite childhood, experiences throughout her tumultuous marriage, details of her husband's demons and their effects on their relationship and her life, and experiences and conversations that take place throughout her visit home.

This memoir is by turns insightful, introspective and hilarious. The difference in tone between the mocking irreverence used when discussing various Mennonite customs and relatives and the insightful discussion and analysis of her life choices is pronounced enough to make one wonder if there are two different books in this memoir. I felt as if the later discussion and portrayal of her marriage--revealed to be controlling and abusive--came a little out of left field after the caring and sensitive characterization of her husband and how he cared for her after surgery. I appreciated most the discussion of her family history and how her family came to North America because of my own genealogical hobby.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

In The Woods by Tana French

"What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with the truth is fundamental, but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass. It is the core of our careers, the endgame of every move we make, and we pursue it with strategies painstakingly constructed of lies ... and every variation on deception. The truth is the most desirable woman in the world and we are the most jealous lovers, reflexively denying anyone else the slightest glimpse of her. We betray her routinely ... This is my job ... What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this--two things: I crave truth. And I lie." opening lines of In The Woods chapter 1, pages 3-4 In The Woods by Tana French, an Irish writer, is an extremely well-written and well-crafted mystery novel. The downside is that this is French's debut novel, and her website (located at http://www.tanafrench.com/ ) does not off

Broken by Karin Slaughter

Before I begin the formal review there are a few things I need to get off my chest in the wake of finishing this book; I'll do so without giving away too many (or any) spoilers. The OUTRAGE!: the identity of Detective Lena Adams' new beau; the low depths to which Grant County's interim chief has sunk and brought the police force down with him; agent Will Trent's wife, Angie's, sixth sense/nasty habit of reappearing in his life just when he's slipping away from her. Thank God for small miracles though because while Angie was certainly referred to during the book, the broad didn't make an appearance. One sign that I've become way too invested in these characters is that I'd like to employ John Connolly's odd pair of assassins, Louis and Angel, to contract out a hit on Angie; do you think Karin Slaughter and John Connolly could work out a special cross over? Hallelujah: Dr. Sara Linton and agent Will Trent are both back. There is no hallelujah fo

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is the first book by this author that I've read. I'm not sure how I first came across it, but it's been on my books-to-read list for a while. Recently my library acquired a copy, and since I was between books, I thought, hmm, let me try this one and see if it sticks. Sometimes when I'm between books I have a problem starting and actually sticking with a book to the end. The historical part of the story of Orphan Train is actually inspired by true events. There really was a train in the 1920's that took orphaned children from the Children's Aid Society in New York City out to the Midwest in a quest to find families to place them in. Some of these children are still alive today. However, I don't think that the characters of Molly and Vivian are based on any real life people. Molly Ayer has spent the last nine years bouncing among over a dozen different foster homes. She's developed a tough shell and a ha

A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

Search This Blog