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Mennonite in a little black dress : a memoir of going home
Janzen, Rhoda
Adult Nonfiction 811.6 J2695 2009
From Publishers' Weekly:
At first, the worst week of Janzen's life-she gets into a debilitating car wreck right after her husband leaves her for a guy he met on the Internet and saddles her with a mortgage she can't afford-seems to come out of nowhere, but the disaster's long buildup becomes clearer as she opens herself up. Her 15-year relationship with Nick had always been punctuated by manic outbursts and verbally abusive behavior, so recognizing her co-dependent role in their marriage becomes an important part of Janzen's recovery (even as she tweaks the 12 steps just a bit). The healing is further assisted by her decision to move back in with her Mennonite parents, prompting her to look at her childhood religion with fresh, twinkling eyes. (She provides an appendix for those unfamiliar with Mennonite culture, as well as a list of "shame-based foods" from hot potato salad to borscht.) Janzen is always ready to gently turn the humor back on herself, though, and women will immediately warm to the self-deprecating honesty with which she describes the efforts of friends and family to help her re-establish her emotional well-being. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
Forty was not fabulous to poet and professor Janzen (Babel's Stair). In the same week, she was dumped by her husband for Bob, the guy from Gay.com, and suffered an injury in a car accident. Our devastated author did the logical thing and headed back home to her parent's house and the conservative Mennonite community in which she was raised. This soulful, affecting first memoir renders a potentially off-putting subject-the Mennonite community in America-engrossing and will enchant anyone who has ever gone back home after suffering a setback. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/09.] Readalike: Sarah Thyre's Dark at the Roots.-Elizabeth Brinkley, Granite Falls, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Janzen, Rhoda
Adult Nonfiction 811.6 J2695 2009
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From Publishers' Weekly:
At first, the worst week of Janzen's life-she gets into a debilitating car wreck right after her husband leaves her for a guy he met on the Internet and saddles her with a mortgage she can't afford-seems to come out of nowhere, but the disaster's long buildup becomes clearer as she opens herself up. Her 15-year relationship with Nick had always been punctuated by manic outbursts and verbally abusive behavior, so recognizing her co-dependent role in their marriage becomes an important part of Janzen's recovery (even as she tweaks the 12 steps just a bit). The healing is further assisted by her decision to move back in with her Mennonite parents, prompting her to look at her childhood religion with fresh, twinkling eyes. (She provides an appendix for those unfamiliar with Mennonite culture, as well as a list of "shame-based foods" from hot potato salad to borscht.) Janzen is always ready to gently turn the humor back on herself, though, and women will immediately warm to the self-deprecating honesty with which she describes the efforts of friends and family to help her re-establish her emotional well-being. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
Forty was not fabulous to poet and professor Janzen (Babel's Stair). In the same week, she was dumped by her husband for Bob, the guy from Gay.com, and suffered an injury in a car accident. Our devastated author did the logical thing and headed back home to her parent's house and the conservative Mennonite community in which she was raised. This soulful, affecting first memoir renders a potentially off-putting subject-the Mennonite community in America-engrossing and will enchant anyone who has ever gone back home after suffering a setback. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/09.] Readalike: Sarah Thyre's Dark at the Roots.-Elizabeth Brinkley, Granite Falls, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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