|
| Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life | 
 enlarge | Authors: Ruth Irene Garrett, Rick Farrant
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $2.98
You Save: $10.97 (79%)
New (36) Used (41) Collectible (3) from $2.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 101764
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 006052992X
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.7092
EAN: 9780060529925
ASIN: 006052992X
Publication Date: January 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: *VERY GOOD* CONDITION - NO WRITING OR MARKS - NO TORN OR BENT PAGED - SOME WEAR TO COVER & PAGE EDGES *** FAST SHIPPING ***
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Fascinating look at the Amish Culture October 18, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is about one woman's journey into the "English" world after she decided to leave her strict Amish parents and their Old Order ways. While the writing wasn't stunning or spectacular, I do think it accurately reflected her plain origins and described her emotions and feelings very well. Some criticize her for seemingly publicly attacking her parents and other family members over the incident; I don't think it's so much an attack but her interpretation of the events. She does say several times that this was what she experienced - and might not necessarily reflect the ways of other Amish families or the communities in which they live.
I applaud her for her courage to stand up to the contradictions of her Amish faith and to make a positive change for herself - I'm sure it was not an easy decision. Past reviewers have criticized her for trying to come back to her family for visits, and wondering why she complains about not being served in a grocery store. As far as wanting to come back to see her parents - who can blame her? This is still her family, regardless of what has happened in the past, and those are not easy ties to sever. She says, at the very end, that no matter what, she will still love them unconditionally.
I grew up surrounded, near and far, by Amish communities in Holmes, Ashland, Richland and Knox Counties in Ohio. Growing up in this environment, you see them daily or weekly and give them no more than a passing thought, and they mingle in and out of English society without much more than a glance. But to tourists, and possibly the English at large, they are seen as `perfect,' without sin and that they are pure in thought and actions - which is largely untrue. I think this is why so many people are angry at Garrett's book - because it shatters the picture perfect image that so many people have of the Amish. They are, essentially, just like us - that is to say, humans - except for manner and style of dress. Even they seem to forget this most important part.
There are some basic tenets of the Amish faith that I understand and believe are true: for instance their belief that the English worship Santa Claus at Christmas and not Christ. The overcommercialization of Christmas leads me to believe this is true. The belief that our pastors preach about Heaven rather than Hell is largely true, too, at least in my experience. This is part of a growing trend in Christianity to please everyone and say exactly what they want to hear, something I'm not sure the Amish community has been subjected to. In this sense, yes, they probably do turn passages around (or omit certain ones) to suit their needs; but the Amish do this as well. It seems they are perfectly willing to turn a blind eye to those things that narrowly separate them from the English - they are unwilling to accept their most basic faults.
For further reading, I suggest Tom Shachtman's "Rumspringa", which takes a more academic approach to the subject. Both are excellent and insightful reading to get the true picture of what the Amish are really like.
 Sad September 16, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I enjoyed learning about the Amish people, but feel the writer was very young and naive and certainly DID NOT find her prince! I felt very sorry for her. Like another reader said...would like to see a follow up in 10 years or so and see if she still feels the same about her husband.
 Wow I love it. August 1, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed getting some facts from the other side about the Amish. I like all the fiction works I read about them but this was great hearing from a woman who grew up Amish but learned to live outside their world on lesson at a time.
 Unstructured drivel June 20, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I read this book for a book club, and do not recommend it. It has no literary value, and does not even provide much insight into Amish life. Instead, the author gives only random recollections and gripes about the Amish. The book is loaded with filler--lots of excerpts of letters, blank pages, and wide margins to hide the fact that it has little content. Nothing about the writing is worth mentioning. The author leaves her life with the Amish to lead what sounds like a completely pedestrian and uninteresting life (living off of her older husband's disability pension). I cannot think of any reason to read this book.
 Somewhat Interesting Read, April 17, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The book was a quick and somewhat interesting read. The story line tends to be choppy and consists of vignettes of her life both as an Amish and as English. It begins with her returning to her childhood home to visit her parents, then goes into a series of flashbacks. The last chapter explains the visit, but there seems to be little conclusion to the book other than that. The book does give some highlight into the Amish lifestyle of the particular sect Mrs. Garrett is from. It helps remove the idealistic view many have of the Amish. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that the book was not written to show the difficulty of escaping Amish life, but rather to give the author extra income. (This is suggested more than once in the book by her frank discussion of their financial situation.)
|
|
|
 Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
