Saxton Reads! & Reviews

****reviewed by Mercedes

The title is what first caught my attention...Mennonite in a black dress    ? It sounded like an oxymoron. I told our librarian about it and she graciously purchased it for the library. I was the fabulous first to check it out and I zipped through it. I was sucked in by the premise - a woman who grew up as a mennonite, but as an adult had done her own thing (wasn't really religious at all), returns home after her husband of fifteen years leaves her for a man named Bob he met on gay.com. Crazy way to start a story, so I read on. The book vasillates between her sixth month stay with her parents and other siblings and reminiscences of her childhood. Much of it was hilarious, some was thought-provoking. I especially enjoyed her stories about her parents. She spent more time talking about her mother but she also discussed her father. It was fascinating to see how, though she disagrees with her parents theological beliefs, she can respect and appreciate them, and who they are. A wonderful book, my only complaint is that the ending sort of fizzled. There was no real conclusion, no neat little packing of an ending, mostly because the author is living this life and there can be no neat little endings to real life. But even if the ending isn't full of pizzazz, this book is definitely still worth a read.