Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I Am Hutterite Book *Review*


This book is a true story about a woman's life and journey in the Hutterite Religion. 

About the book:
A Fascinating journey into the heart and culture of a reclusive religious community.
I Am Hutterite takes readers into the hidden heart of the little-known Hutterite colony in southern Manitoba where author Mary-Ann Kirkby spent her childhood. When she was ten years old her parents packed up their seven children and a handful of possessions and left the security of the colony to start a new life. Overnight they were thrust into a world they didn't understand, a world that did not understand them.
Before she left the colony Mary-Ann had never tasted macaroni and cheese or ridden a bike. She had never heard of Walt Disney or rock-and-roll. She was forced to reinvent herself, denying her heritage to fit in with her peers. With great humor, Kirkby describes how she adapted to popular culture; and with raw honesty her family's deep sense of loss for their community. More than a history lesson, I Am Hutterite is a powerful tale of retracing steps and understanding how our beginnings often define us.
Controversial and acclaimed by the Hutterite community, Kirkby's book unveils the rich history and traditions of her people, giving us a rare and intimate portrait of an extraordinary way of life.

My Thoughts: When I chose to do this review I actually thought it was going to be a book about her being trapped in this colony and not being able to leave, which in all honesty I would have really enjoyed. When I started reading this book I was intrigued to learn about a new religion I had never heard about I have always loved hearing or reading about other heritages other than my own. I actually had talked to my husbands grandpa and grandma about the book and they had both heard of it and even knew someone that had delivered a tractor to a colony in Canada, so that was really interesting to find out.I must admit it was a really slow moving book. She talks about all the family problems and also how the colony works. I just could never really get into the book and therefore don't have a lot to say about it, other than I can not recommend it to anyone else, it might be a good book to read if you had to do some kind of report on a religion or something but other than that there is just not enough substance for me. I would not be able to live as they did back then, I love cooking dinner myself and having family dinners. I also could not follow their dress codes either.

I actually did some research on the internet after I finished this book and came across a few Hutterite blogs, and by reading them their colony or religion sounds nothing like this book does.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

1 comment:

  1. Hi, interesting review...you seem to have lots of questions. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. I am a single, Hutterite girl who loves to blog. I've contacted the author of I Am Hutterite and we've been talking about doing an interview on my blog, but I'm not quite sure how to go about that...we disagree on quite a few issues. I guess we'll see? I saw that you became a follower of my blog. I hope you enjoy learning about my culture and Hutterite lifestyle.

    http://blogs.allhutterites.com/lightofevenstar/

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking a look at my blog, come back soon.