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peggy56dj's review
3.0
I thought I'd love this book, but ended up only liking it. I loved a couple of chapters and found a couple to be like wading through congealed oatmeal. Overall, an "eh, it was OK." I found the author very self-indulgent and show-offy -- yes, my dear, you DO have a big vocabulary -- and humor in the funny parts was very heavy handed. So here's the thing: This brillant woman spent 15 years in a horrible marriage. Why? What on earth about this relationship was rewarding to her? And did she learn anything about herself after she left it? In the end, we wonder. What we're left with is an intellectual who lacked personal insight.
gglazer's review
3.0
These three stars would have been four if I'd be able to understand the order of this book... Janzen was telling you all sorts of nonsense at the beginning, before you actually knew her story (her husband leaves her for a man; she's in a hideous car accident; she goes home to live with her Mennonite parents for a while; she gets way too many bad things all at once).
I liked her more and more as the book went on and she became more and more honest about her husband's mental illness and her own intellectual pursuits, and it became a really meaty memoir -- if only she'd waited to tell the stories about how her brothers acted on camping trips and why her mom makes so much homemade jam until AFTER I cared about her, I'd have really really liked this book.
I liked her more and more as the book went on and she became more and more honest about her husband's mental illness and her own intellectual pursuits, and it became a really meaty memoir -- if only she'd waited to tell the stories about how her brothers acted on camping trips and why her mom makes so much homemade jam until AFTER I cared about her, I'd have really really liked this book.
aimsreads's review
3.0
See my review here: http://novelmeanderings.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/first-memoir-about-mennonites-book-1-of-in-book-hoarding-purge/
erinmully's review
3.0
"Although breast cancer also runs in my family, it hasn't played a significant role. It comes to us late in life, shriveling a tit or two, and then often subsiding under the composite resistance of chemo and buttermilk. That is, it would shrivel our tits if we had tits. Which we don't."
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress was a total impulse purchase one night at Target. (Who hasn't been there?) It's one of those books that I was actually a little embarrassed to buy, and read it sheepishly during my commute. With that said, Rhoda Janzen had me laughing out loud with her shameless descriptions like the one above. It's a fun read, definitely not earth-shattering serious memoir material, but Janzen does a good job encouraging readers to laugh along with her at the not-so-funny events she chronicles throughout the book - including a botched hysterectomy, her husband leaving her for a man he met on Gay.com, shortly followed by a serious car accident that requires a substantial recovery time.
I read one review of this book that proclaims,"The author calls herself a grammarian; but some of her descriptions in the book are pure gutter trash!" I didn't realize these were mutually exclusive categories; I actually appreciated a well-crafted section on the timbre and ferociousness of Janzen's mother's farts. As with any memoir, there are times in the book when a lot of self-reflection takes place, and Mennonite is no different, especially with some of the discussions of faith and the Mennonite culture and beliefs, and while I appreciated reading about some of the more interesting facts of the religion, I was more interested in the humor. I'd recommend this as an easy, fun, and quick beach read.
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress was a total impulse purchase one night at Target. (Who hasn't been there?) It's one of those books that I was actually a little embarrassed to buy, and read it sheepishly during my commute. With that said, Rhoda Janzen had me laughing out loud with her shameless descriptions like the one above. It's a fun read, definitely not earth-shattering serious memoir material, but Janzen does a good job encouraging readers to laugh along with her at the not-so-funny events she chronicles throughout the book - including a botched hysterectomy, her husband leaving her for a man he met on Gay.com, shortly followed by a serious car accident that requires a substantial recovery time.
I read one review of this book that proclaims,"The author calls herself a grammarian; but some of her descriptions in the book are pure gutter trash!" I didn't realize these were mutually exclusive categories; I actually appreciated a well-crafted section on the timbre and ferociousness of Janzen's mother's farts. As with any memoir, there are times in the book when a lot of self-reflection takes place, and Mennonite is no different, especially with some of the discussions of faith and the Mennonite culture and beliefs, and while I appreciated reading about some of the more interesting facts of the religion, I was more interested in the humor. I'd recommend this as an easy, fun, and quick beach read.
emerlea's review
3.0
Laugh out loud funny to be sure. That said it was a bit difficult to figure out where she was throughout the book. At points she was visiting her parents and then a chapter would pop to a place in the past and then you found yourself back with her parents. It would have been better to keep it as a series of vignettes rather than trying to tie it all together through a visit to her parents. Took me awhile to finish as it wasn't a "must read now" book.
overdueshrew's review
5.0
Funny, real, intelligent, relate-able, and insightful. Although I'm not Mennonite, I grew up in a Christian (and home-schooled!) household, so I found a lot of her experiences familiar.
For anyone with religious background that they drifted away from but could never fully let go of.
For anyone with religious background that they drifted away from but could never fully let go of.
nadiaes76's review
4.0
There were times while I was reading that I laughed outloud & so hard that I was crying. There were parts that I could definitely relate to, having also been raised Mennonite.
liloud0626's review
4.0
It's rare I give a book 5 stars, but this one came close. It started out just laugh-out-loud funny, then funny and sad, then sad yet hopeful. Unlike many writers of memoir, Janzen seems to have a real appreciation for her background and the people in it.
However funny, she hasn't had it easy. I found myself wondering if she realizes how many people in her life truly love her. I hope she does.
However funny, she hasn't had it easy. I found myself wondering if she realizes how many people in her life truly love her. I hope she does.