My book selection: Mennonite in the Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

Recommendation: So-so.  Read it, but have reasonable expectations.

Summary:  Rhoda Janzen’s memoir is shocking merely in terms of how many different experiences one woman has already encountered.  She details her return to her family after her bipolar husband leaves her for a man.  The book is essentially a series of vignettes that allow the reader to peek into this unusual life.

My thoughts:  I absolutely love this title, and found myself laughing out loud several times while reading this book.  She’s funny, if more than a bit crass.  I want to be able to give this book a total thumbs up; here’s why I haven’t:  She never really lets you in.  Ms. Janzen does a great job of describing the things that have happened to her, the circumstances, her surroundings, and other people’s reactions.  But she doesn’t open up her own feelings for us to share.  It’s clear that having her husband leave for a man is devastating.  She tells us that much.  But she never really describes the depth of emotions she  experienced.  She doesn’t help us understand her feelings as she walked through that pain, and in leaving it out, she leaves out everything.

What’s more, her divorce isn’t her only struggle.  Ms. Janzen has dealt with so many different issues.  I kept waiting for her to help us relate.  We struggle, too, right?  Some on a bigger scale, some smaller, but we’ve all got our stuff.  To go through the process of writing all of her “stuff” down, and not tie her experience to her readers, left me unsatisfied.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like her writing or appreciate her story.  But when I finished reading, I felt that I knew about her, not necessarily that I knew–or understood–her any better.

And now it’s your turn.  Have you read this one?  Did you feel the same way?  What else are you reading that you would recommend…or not?

What are you reading?