alldaffer's review
4.0
Picked based on this review: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Christensen-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
rebbemcc's review
3.0
A quick and easy read. Very funny and I laughed at out loud several times as something she wrote caught me off guard. Not very deep, though, so I am glad there was an extended explanation (of sorts) about Mennonites at the end.
crikhopit's review
1.0
Sorry Rhoda...the first 100ish pages were entertaining. Then your writing got boring which made your story boring.
lemanley's review
3.0
Rhoda Janzen uses a lot of humor to get through the fact her husband left her for a man.
beccacraven's review
3.0
MiaLBD reminds me of Chelsea Handler's "Are You There, Vodka?..." book, except it's intelligent and actually has some interesting observations about the interaction between religious culture and main-stream American culture.
I did find myself wishing that Janzen had dropped the poorly referenced pretense of a story arch and just made this a collection of short stories (or some other motif that didn't lead me to expect a coherent and conclusive ending).
I did find myself wishing that Janzen had dropped the poorly referenced pretense of a story arch and just made this a collection of short stories (or some other motif that didn't lead me to expect a coherent and conclusive ending).
rlk7m's review
2.0
I'm not going to lie, but I was a little disappointed. Janzen jumped from humor to dark introspection and it was a bit frustrating. That and I needed more of a definitive ending. I wanted more.
kricketa's review
4.0
rhoda janzen tackles the tough stuff in her life with a marvelous sense of humor. while planning her sabbatical (she's a professor at hope college in my humble hometown of holland michigan), rhoda's husband leaves her for a man. then she gets into a serious car accident. thus, her sabbatical is spent back home with her mennonite parents in california. rhoda, though no longer a mennonite, is loving and respectful of her parents' lifestyle, but (as "they" say) you can't go home again.
some of my favorite passages are the seemingly unimportant conversations rhoda has with her adorable mom, or around the dinner table with family. she's just recording the things that people say, and it made me laugh so hard, because they were so true.
the memoir is a bit unfocused and jumps back and forth in a way that could be confusing. but overall, a solid pick for anyone who enjoys a bit of irreverence with their religion.
some of my favorite passages are the seemingly unimportant conversations rhoda has with her adorable mom, or around the dinner table with family. she's just recording the things that people say, and it made me laugh so hard, because they were so true.
the memoir is a bit unfocused and jumps back and forth in a way that could be confusing. but overall, a solid pick for anyone who enjoys a bit of irreverence with their religion.
jnt7w2's review
2.0
So dry and hard to read. It was funny and cute in places, but not my genre in the end
melissakuzma's review
4.0
This memoir is by a women who left her Mennonite roots years earlier to marry an atheist who 15 years later leaves her for a man he met on Gay.com. That doesn't necessarily sound like it would be funny, but this was the most hilarious book I've read in a long time. Her description of borscht made me laugh so hard that I cried. In a train station. With people looking at me like I was crazy.