Source: I won a copy from LibraryThing. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I am familiar with a lot of Amish fiction. You know the kind, all romance and sometimes
mystery. There is almost always a happy ending.
I am also familiar with books that talk about people leaving the Amish
lifestyle for various reasons. My former
daughter-in-laws grandmother was Amish until she was shunned. Living in Sarasota, Florida I see everything from
Mennonite to all levels of Amish.
Knowing all of this made this novel seem so dark. Unfortunately from people I know, I
understand that there are Old Order Amish that go through situations like this
all the time.
A lot of young Amish kids go through a Rumspringa, where
they try out the Englisher world. This is done before they decide whether they
want to join the church or not. Leah
wasn’t that type of kid. At age 17 she
loved God so much she wanted to know more about him. In her order she was only allowed to read the
German Bible, which she had difficulty understanding. She also didn’t understand why her order had
certain rules that were extremely strict compared to other orders. She learned very quickly that you didn’t
voice those questions aloud. She also
learned that you didn’t read an English Bible and you didn’t question what more
God had for you. To do so in her order
was considered being disobedient to her family and her bishop. The consequence of this was to be counseled.
Unfortunately this wasn’t the type of counseling we might go through. The
counselor could put her in a hospital and treat her with drugs and other things
against her wishes. It didn’t matter if
she was 18 or older. They would take it
so far as to keep her prisoner until the counselor would arrive. Anyone trying to rescue her would be kept
away. In Leah’s case her boyfriend Jacob
stood by her side. Other members of the
order stood guard in the barn and around the property to make sure there was no
rescue attempt.
I could identify with Leah.
Their belief system reminded me of a time in Catholic history when
Bibles were chained to the pulpit and people were kept illiterate so they
couldn’t read the Bible for themselves. They could only believe what they were
told. When my mom became a Christian I
was five years old. She had no one to
guide her in her walk so she decided to err on the side of right. She got rid of all board games because they
contained dice and since people used to shoot craps with dice then games with
dice might be a sin. Dancing became a
sin. The worst spanking I ever received
was because my cousin and I were pretending to be ballerinas. Most TV shows
were a sin. I had to wear dresses most
of the time because to wear pants to church was a sin. You see where I am going with this. Sometimes rules and regulations can become
more important than God’s word. I applauded Leah for wanting to have a personal
relationship with God. This is a book I
would recommend to everyone whether they like Amish fiction or not.
I'm so happy to read your review of my book, Sandra. I assure you, I, too, was surprised by many of the things my former Amish friends told me. Even though I grew up alongside these same Amish groups that are represented in The Miting, I had no idea it could be as repressive as I learned. My husband's extended family are Amish from Holmes County, and he was also taken aback by some of the things we have learned since becoming mentors with Mission to Amish People. Thank you very much for reading my book and for taking the time to provide a great review.
ReplyDeleteDee Yoder