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A review by dearreader
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen
2.0
Wow. This was hardly what I had expected.
While I myself am not Mennonite, I do hail from a Christian family and continue this practice in my own family. Janzen is slightly over the top. She desires to not be bitter, yet I couldn't help but detect bitterness from page one. Janzen's mother was an absolute riot and probably should have written a memoir herself. I think it'd be far more appealing of a read than Rhoda's.
I'm not a big memoir fan. In fact, I probably rate memoirs on the same scale I do chick-lit (which, by the way, I dub this as a chick-lit memoir). Usually these genres never strike me. However, I had better hopes for this. The title is very catchy (probably a credit to Janzen's professional poetic background) and a former Mennonite in the modern world...? What isn't catchy about that?
Rhoda reminds me of the type of business women who are too caught up in themselves, too impressed with who they are to take a moment to really glance at what they had and what they should appreciate in life. It took her husband to leave her for another man and a tragic car accident to send her back home and see what she'd turned away from.
I'm not here to critique her life choices though. As a memoir, it was okay. By no means prophetic (as sometimes I got the impression was her attempt), and certainly didn't yield anything more from me than some good laughs (only thanks to her mother) and a good couple of shakes of my head (as duly noted by my inquiring husband).
Don't read it. It is only okay.
While I myself am not Mennonite, I do hail from a Christian family and continue this practice in my own family. Janzen is slightly over the top. She desires to not be bitter, yet I couldn't help but detect bitterness from page one. Janzen's mother was an absolute riot and probably should have written a memoir herself. I think it'd be far more appealing of a read than Rhoda's.
I'm not a big memoir fan. In fact, I probably rate memoirs on the same scale I do chick-lit (which, by the way, I dub this as a chick-lit memoir). Usually these genres never strike me. However, I had better hopes for this. The title is very catchy (probably a credit to Janzen's professional poetic background) and a former Mennonite in the modern world...? What isn't catchy about that?
Rhoda reminds me of the type of business women who are too caught up in themselves, too impressed with who they are to take a moment to really glance at what they had and what they should appreciate in life. It took her husband to leave her for another man and a tragic car accident to send her back home and see what she'd turned away from.
I'm not here to critique her life choices though. As a memoir, it was okay. By no means prophetic (as sometimes I got the impression was her attempt), and certainly didn't yield anything more from me than some good laughs (only thanks to her mother) and a good couple of shakes of my head (as duly noted by my inquiring husband).
Don't read it. It is only okay.