Nonfiction: biography/ethnography: Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor Among the Amish, Grace H. Kaiser

Found while weeding the collection.

Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor Among the Amish
Grace H. Kaiser
ISBN: 0934672342
Finished November 6, 2014

I was interested in this book because I've always had a bit of an interest/soft spot in my affections for Amish and Mennonite peoples.  My own church upbringing was rural and similarly sheltered from secular influence, so I see a lot of my own background in their culture and lifestyles.  One of my favorite nonfiction books as a child and young adult was Rosanna of the Amish by Joseph W. Yoder,("Restored Text" edition with editor Julia Spicher Kasdorf ISBN: 9780836194081).  I read it often, and was very interested in the lifestyles and religious practices which sometimes matched so closely to my own background, and sometimes seemed so strange and alien to me.

This book wasn't as good as I hoped for, the author is obviously not a natural writer (expected, as she's a professional credentialed working doctor), and her vignettes, while interesting, aren't written in a way that enhances or embellishes their natural circumstances.  On the one hand, that means that the stories are un-polished and sometimes lacking in narrative tricks to sustain interest, but on the other, they are obviously true and natural memories of real-life events in all their chaotic and messy undertones.

If you really adore the Amish, this is an interesting outsider's perspective on them, focused almost exclusively on the experiences of birthing mothers and expectant families (much like James Herriot's stories of veterinary life, there's lots of getting up in the middle of the night from a warm bed and rattling around a cold or rainy countryside, hoping that you get to far-flung farms in time to help).  There is very little internal information - the author never learned much (really any) Pennsylvania Dutch, and her experiences and friendships remain the somewhat reserved and professional contacts between patient and doctor, Amish and English, even though in the countryside, both of those boundaries are less restrictive or formal than they would perhaps be in other situations.

While the narrative voice is clear and appealing, the writing skills are a bit lacking, and for me, that lack of polish was a great detriment to the vignettes that were presented, and the vividness of the people and events suffered.

An Amish Garden, Laura Anne Lapp

An Amish Garden: A Year in the Life of an Amish Garden, Laura Anne Lapp. 
ISBN: 978-1561487929

Read August 26

Oversized photo-journal of Amish gardening practices and thoughts on life.  Photos by Jeremy Hess.

 

I liked this, and was interested in how many of the photographs showed the children's faces - apparently the not-being-photographed stricture is more for adults?  I also liked that the author was straightforward about her personal likes and dislikes, although I thought it was interesting that such an averred "bad gardener" would be so interested in doing a book about gardening. Apparently she likes flower-gardening better, but there was very little mention of flowers throughout the year's narrative.  Perhaps this is a cultural disconnect - with her insisting that she's "bad" at gardening to counteract the hubris of writing a book about it?  It was an odd note.

 

I was interested in the little ways that Amish lifestyles and culture slipped through the cracks of the story - mentioning that their house was designed for both Amish and English people, the eldest boy heading off to school on his scooter, the casual mention of eating on the porch because the house is hot during the summer (no electricity means no AC) and other little bits that just flit by without emphasis.

 

Interesting look at a part of Amish life that hasn't gotten much attention (that I'm aware of) so far.

Amish Values for Your Family, Suzanne Woods Fisher

Amish Values for your Family, Suzanne Woods Fisher.  ISBN: 9780800719968

August 2, 2013

Nonfiction, morals and character development of children, Amish life.

Ms Fisher is obviously taken with the Amish and their way of life.  However, she doesn't quite manage to convey that captivation in this book.  Each section is intended to show a facet of Amish life and values, to demonstrate that in a sketch of Amish life, and then to convey how to get that same feel or end-point in a modern (presumed Christian) family structure, especially in regards to children.  The reality doesn't quite measure up.  The very short sections are arbitrary and oddly divided (birding?  throwing eggs?) and the morals or lessons from the sketches don't always seem to relate to the moral or lesson she elaborates upon.  

In addition, the morals and lessons that are taken are quite simplistic - don't spoil your kids, let them have graduated responsibility, stay connected as a family, let kids be kids, nature is awesome, discipline rarely and from the standpoint of producing character growth not rebellion.  Not really earthshaking or new information there.

Perhaps I'm too cynical an audience for this one, but I think it is illuminating that the Amish have a church retention rate in the high 80% (and an additional 10% join up with more liberal Amish or Mennonite groups) for their children, while Christian families are clocking in at a dismal 40% retention rate for their children.  So a book that promises to help families pick the "values" of the Amish without adopting the accompanying lifestyle, seems to be a bit disingenuous.  Most presumed Christian families are supposedly already teaching the same basic values and morals as their religious Amish cousins, but for some reason, it isn't working for modern families, while it is working quite well for the Amish.  This book seems to be promising all of the gain for none of the pain, and I really don't think that's going to work out.

Sadly, not a book I would recommend about the Amish, or about values or character training for families and children.  Just too facile and fragmented to offer any real grounded valuable advice.