Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home~ Rhoda Janzen

This was June's book. My mom very generously sent this book to me.

I have always been fascinated with the Amish and the Mennonites. I went to college in Pennsylvania surrounded by Amish/Mennonite farms which was a lot of fun for me. My best girl friend in college literally grew up surrounded by them and she always brought back the best food and stories.

Because of this, I thought I would really enjoy this book. The book was okay. I definitely could have stopped reading it half way through (or any way through) and not thought about picking it back up. I did learn a few things. One being that the Mennonites came first and the Amish broke off from the Mennonites. I always thought the Amish came first and it was the Mennonites that "rebelled".


This book is Rhoda Janzen's memoir about her life and how it has changed since she left the Mennonite church. At the beginning of the book it talks about how she moved back home after her husband left her for another man. Once being at home she started to remember and appreciate her life. Apparently she got the idea for the book because her friends kept asking questions and once hearing the answers, suggested that she (Rhoda) make her email correspondences into the book. I think she could have, while remaining true to the stories and events, made it a lot funnier and cuter. Based on this book I would have been bored and uninterested in her emails if she had been emailing me.

Anyway, because of this book two good things happened: I got inspired to look up Amish/Mennonite books on Amazon.com and I succeeded in my New Years Eve Resolution for another month.