Writer Wednesday: Mennonite in Blue Jeans (and a book giveaway!)

I wasn’t sure I even wanted to read a book that was so clearly a knock-off of the wildly successful Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (Rhoda Janzen, 2009, pictured below) which I’d read in my pre-blogging days. That was a book that I loved but hated, as did many other Mennonite or formerly Mennonite readers.

I got Mennonite in Blue Jeans (Rhonda Langley, 2011) free at the office, and the frugal Mennonite in me brought it home and finally ventured to read it recently.

Blue Jeans was worth the read. Rhonda Langley had me when she confessed why she eventually decided not to go the academic route and instead went into special education working with children with autism. She started a masters in comparative literature but stopped short of writing a thesis because she grew a little dubious of the pattern in much of academia (for literature scholars in her case) to do endless research and papers and articles and go to conferences debating or defending literary theories, which in 10 years is replaced by a new literary theory debunking the research of the past 10 years. And repeat.

As a college English major who sometimes thought my professors had gone off the deep end in explaining the rather obtuse (to me) meaning behind certain poems or passages in novels, and debated said theories, I connected.

Langley also had me when she confessed that while Mennonite in a Little Black Dress was drop dead hilarious and had me laughing because Janzen got so many things just right, I was also extremely bothered that Janzen got so many things wrong or twisted or just off base enough that if anyone were to read Mennonite in Little Black Dress and think “this is how all Mennonites are,” they would be oh so wrong.

Mennonite Brethren Rhonda Langley actually knows author Rhoda Janzen (also originally Mennonite Brethren, now Pentecostal, I believe) and went to school where Rhoda was an adjunct professor, but she did not know her well. They both grew up near Fresno, Calif. (“not a mile from each other”) and with their similarity of names, Rhonda says she was a logical fit to write this knock off. They are also both nearly six feet tall. Which is kinda rare among Mennonites of any type to grow so tall. Eh? Rhonda does an admirable job of correcting or speaking to the places where Rhoda got Mennonites wrong (or was misleading), or painted with too broad a brush.

At first I was a little put off by the made up “Advance Praise” for Mennonite in Blue Jeans from her husband, mother and son with lines like “It’s good. Really!” and “I’m sure Aunt Marie won’t burn this one!” And “It’s really funny.” With all the really’s and weak descriptors though, it’s obvious she’s just poking fun at weak writing and the “advance praise” practice. Similarly, the made up publishing company and fake Library of Congress information (she used online company Lulu.com to print the actual book) helps me realize that ok, this is a person who does not take herself too seriously. She takes her writing seriously—I mean she’s a fine memoir writer here (includes numerous touching sonnets for her husband), but when you’re writing a knock off, it helps not to take yourself “dead serious.” As can be expected in most self-published books, there’s a glaring error or three, but again, I won’t get my panties in a curl over them.

What I really appreciated were Rhonda’s sometimes painfully honest portrayals of their family life (husband and two sons), where for some years they were not able to sit through a complete church service because of several difficult diagnoses including her husband’s severe hearing sensitivity and fibromyalgia, and a son’s anxiety and high-functioning autism. Surely other families who have those or similar issues can not only empathize, but appreciate the dilemmas. When one Sunday they finally make it through a service where Rhonda is determined to hang in there for the singing of The Mennonite Hymnal’s 606 (Mennonite codeword for this “national Mennonite anthem”), we feel the joyous emotion of this beleaguered but totally normal young Mennonite mom. I love her line, “This is why we come. This is what church should be; a community of people lifted beyond themselves together.”

She writes of one service when a different but also beautiful hymn carries her to a higher plane: “Shepherd me O God / Beyond my wants /Beyond my fears / From death into life.” Rhonda’s father has written some hymns and worked on the committee that compiled Hymnal: A Worship Book. She is also a pianist herself and, remarkably, learned to play carillons while at Duke University.

Rhonda’s chapter on Portland Mennonite’s annual retreat at Twin Rocks along the coast of Oregon could make a Mennonite out of almost anyone, it is described with such inviting and homey/community vignettes.

There’s much more I could say but I’ll leave you read the book. If you read the first Mennonite Girl in a Little Black Dress and loved/hated it, or were confused about what Mennonites actually believe and do, you would likely appreciate this book.

And, uh, I’m a little late to the game. A few others have reviewed this small book including memoir writer and blogger, Shirley Hershey Showalter. For another take.

But I’m glad I read it. Working for the publisher of More-with-Less Cookbook and Living More With Less, the book contains many enjoyable and appreciated cultural references to these landmark Mennonite books.

And now in good frugal fashion, I’m happy to pass on my copy of Mennonite in Blue Jeans to the first person who comments here that they want it. Freely I received, freely I’ll give. I’ll contact you for a mailing address. (But I won’t be giving away my copy of Mennonite Girl in a Little Black Dress, for which I paid full price.) If you’re not the first commenter and would like the book, never fear, you can still buy it on Lulu.com

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Have you read either or both books? Thoughts?

What hymn moves you most?

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The cover of Mennonite in Blue Jeans reminds me of the sorta-amateurish looking book with another young Mennonite woman in blue jeans, on my own first published book (Herald Press, a memoir before we used that word much). I did not take the photo but suggested the idea and was pleased to know my friend and writing bud, Ginny Hostetler was the model Mike Hostetler used for this photo!