Tuesday, May 4, 2010

BOOK REVIEW: I am Hutterite

I Am Hutterite


The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman's Journey to reclaim Her Heritage

By Mary-Ann Kirkby
 
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 where author Mary-Ann Kirkby spent her childhood. When she was ten, her parents packed up their seven children and a handful of possessions and left 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.






With great humor, Kirkby describes how she adapted to popular culture, and with raw honesty she describes 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.


First I would like to comment on how quickly I received my book selection from booksneeze.  I placed my order on April 29th (Thursday evening) and had it in hand by Monday, May 3rd!  That's awesome delivery time for a service that's free!  With that said, here is my review of the book: "I am Hutterite" by Mary-Ann Kirkby. 

Although the book description talks mostly about Mary-Ann (Dornn) Kirkby's family moving from the Hutterite Colony to main-stream English life, the actual move does not take place until three-quarters of the way through the book.  For the most part, the book describes life in a Hutterite Colony beginning with her great-grandparents who left main-stream English life and freedom for the security of living in a colony.  The beginning is a little confusing because the author seems to jump around between her childhood to her grandparents marriage and then on to her great-grandparents courtship.  Although that can be confusing, reading about the history and day-to-day lives of a Hutterite is very interesting.  I really enjoyed reading how the community operated and how they lived as one big, happy family. 
Colony life was basically set up like it's own little world.  Everyone had a specific job to do, and as children turned a certain age, they were given more privledges and more responsabilities. A very devout Christian people, they read constantly from the Bible and also had their own bible for living with other rules and ways of life that were based on the Bible. 
Kirkby peppers her story with many Hutterite phrases and words and one can imagine being there at the compound with the other Hutterites. 
When the Durnn's finally decide to leave behind the only way of life they have ever known, it is very interesting to see how Kirkby adjusted to life outside. 
I give this book 4 stars for originality and it really is a very interesting book.  It's only downfall was that it didn't seem to "flow".  Like I said earlier, there seemed to be a lot of jumping around and some paragraphs would end and the next would really have nothing to do with the one before it.  I will also say that learning about a life that is much simpler in so many ways had me reflecting on my own life and thinking that I could incorporate some of the Hutterite views and ways of living.  Simplicity and God-fearing.  Very good standards for anyone to learn and live by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leave a comment and one winner will recieve my copy of this book for free!  Drawing will be held at random in two weeks on Tuesday, May 18th.  Thanks and good luck!


 
  Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

1 comment:

  1. Excellent review. Thank you! I'm about a quarter into this book and it's a bit boring so far. She is an excellent author though...I'm was born and raised, and still live, in a Hutterite colony so I'll keep reading it...check out my blog if you can find the time!

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from all my readers! Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions (preferably nice ones!) or anything else. Please no advertisements! I know all us SAHM have or have had a home business and would love to get new customers. I will post a link to an awesome website where you can post such ads.
Thanks!

<3 kimberly <3