Mennonites are a conservative Christian sect that has two million-plus followers around the world. They are pacifists. The women cover the tops of their heads. The Amish broke off from them long ago, deeming them not conservative enough. They keep largely to themselves, frequently marrying second and third cousins. They are lily white. No, I'm not converting. I just finished
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, a memoir by Rhoda Janzen. Although she went out into the real world, she did not do so with bitterness. She loves her family and is fond of her upbringing. She was 43 when the book, which she began while on sabbatical in her California hometown, was published in 2010. She'd suffered a triple whammy: a hysterectomy, being dumped by her abusive bi-polar Italian-American husband for a man, and a car wreck. Despite that run of bad luck, the narrative's tone is largely upbeat and witty. Her mom is highly interesting, someone who always looks on the bright side, and who takes frugality to comical lengths. The writing is first rate. Here are two examples: "... he brought back a plate with three more Hollapse stacked up like an Egyptian pyramid. He had ladled a veritable Nile of sauce over the whole..." And, while babysitting a spoiled child: "... fists balled and cheeks aflame, his pain swelled until he seemed the very incarnation of pathos. His whole body became a rigid whirling wild thing. He was the emissary of us all, we who felt we had not received our due, we who felt the late afternoon of our lives stung with fury and sorrow." Mercifully, political commentary is minimal. The author, a PhD, has an impressive vocabulary that will have the most diligent readers reaching for a dictionary. Her poetry has appeared in big time magazines, and she has published a collection. She followed up her memoir with a second:
Mennonite Meets Mr. Right. She teaches at the college level. I was skeptical when I began the book, which is only 224 pages, but it quickly won me over. Apparently, many have been. It rose to number one on the
NY Times best sellers lists and is still selling modestly. 445 users at Amazon have rated it, forging to a consensus of 3.3 on a scale of five, with which I agree. Here's a pic of the author:
This early Halloween decoration in North Dakota prompted a 911 call, and calls to the house by concerned neighbors:
My thanks to Wolf and a middle age woman, who each bought a book in Russian; and to the gentleman in the mechanized wheelchair, who purchased Alex Haley's
Roots; and to the local home attendant who selected a Martha Stewart Christmas cook book; and to the grandmother walking her tiny dog, who chose Al Yankovic's
When I Grow Up. I wonder if he didn't use his "Weird" moniker fearing it would turn off potential buyers who knew nothing about him.
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