The Printed Page

Title: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home
Author/website(s): Rhoda Janzen
DNF’d @ pg. 162
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication date: October ’09
Genre: Memoir
Review book or pleasure reading: Review book
New-to-me author: Yes
Would I recommend this book: No
Would I read more from this author: I don’t think so
Journal notes: My love of memoirs and having Mennonite cousins sparked my initial interest in reading Mennonite in a Little Black Dress. The first chapter of this book is an absolute laugh riot. I could totally identify with, or imagine myself, in Rhoda’s situation. After that opening chapter I had high hopes for this book that were quickly dashed the more I read. It digressed from funny to OK to a snooze fest. I found myself reading the words on the pages and losing focus on the gist of her story. By the time I got to the end of a chapter I didn’t even remember enough of the beginning to put everything in between together. I stewed for about six hours at work trying to decide if it was worth finishing having only a bit more than hour’s worth of reading left. Finally I decided to move on to something else. This is another book that most readers will love and I’ll be in the minority – oh well.

At first, the worst week of Janzen’s life—she gets into a debilitating car wreck right after her husband leaves her for a guy he met on the Internet and saddles her with a mortgage she can’t afford—seems to come out of nowhere, but the disaster’s long buildup becomes clearer as she opens herself up. Her 15-year relationship with Nick had always been punctuated by manic outbursts and verbally abusive behavior, so recognizing her co-dependent role in their marriage becomes an important part of Janzen’s recovery (even as she tweaks the 12 steps just a bit). The healing is further assisted by her decision to move back in with her Mennonite parents, prompting her to look at her childhood religion with fresh, twinkling eyes. (She provides an appendix for those unfamiliar with Mennonite culture, as well as a list of shame-based foods from hot potato salad to borscht.) Janzen is always ready to gently turn the humor back on herself, though, and women will immediately warm to the self-deprecating honesty with which she describes the efforts of friends and family to help her re-establish her emotional well-being.

(Mennonite in the Little Black Dress was provided to me by Jason at Henry Holt and Company. I was not paid and this book is being passed along to the another book blogger through Read It Forward )