Monday, July 18, 2011

Another Amish Novel Rant/Critique

Ok, here I go again.

Every time I go on a rant about Amish fiction I tell myself, as you probably would like to tell me also, ok, enough already, we get it, hello?, time to move on, JUST LET IT GO.

And then I do it again.

At our annual birthday tea on the porch the Neighbor Lady Who Does Not Like to be Named Online said her daughter has a set of Beverly Lewis books that I just might like. She thought they were better than the norm. And she was interested in my take on the historical period they covered, which was in the 60s when the New Order began.

So I borrowed the 3-book Courtship of Nellie Fisher set, read the first half of the first book, and quickly skimmed the rest.

I have to hand it to Beverly Lewis, she actually got me interested in the story lines. Will Nellie and Caleb get together? Well, you know they will, but how? Was Suzy saved before she died? Whatever happened with that bizarre baby-sharing idea? Did Datt and Mamm join the New Order?

And I have to admit the characters were reasonably authentic and real and interesting.

The historical aspects of how the New Order began were probably the most interesting. It doesn't mention the Brunk revivals specifically, but I wonder if they were involved. And my biggest question was--with all these winds blowing, why didn't my parents join the New Order instead of leaving Iowa in 1967 for the sake of their older children approaching Rumspringe age? They moved to this new community in southern Ohio composed of people from northern Ohio who turned out to be a rather hotheaded bunch, very different culturally from Mom and Dad, even though they were Amish, and it didn't work out well at all. So yeah, why didn't they stay in Iowa and join the New Order?

So I have to hand it to Beverly Lewis for what she gets right. And for how many books she sells. Mei zeit. I'm sure she could have bought that house at the coast, the one I'll get when my ship comes in, half a dozen times over by now. Not that I'm jealous.

But.

You know this is coming.

The details in her books are what drive me crazy.

She goes to great lengths to show us that these characters are speaking Pennsylvania Dutch. She throws in such words and phrases as Denki, wunnerbar gut, Ordnung, rumspringe, ferhoodled, and so on.

So, ok, we get it, they're speaking another language.

But then of course she writes 99.5% of the dialogue in English, since not all of us know Dutch, primarily Beverly Lewis herself. So, this is all a translation, right?

So why? WhywhywhywhyWHY does she always write the dialogue in this bizarre hick-pioneer-midwestern-redneck lingo, dropping g's all over the place and putting in these strange phrases that have absolutely no counterpart in Dutch? "It's ever so wunnerbar gut of ya to take me to the quiltin'." "Time to get to the plowin' fer sure and certain, ain't so?" "I was hopin' ya would be willin' to go home from the singin' with me tonight."

Ok, I'll stop there before I start foaming at the mouth.

But please hear me on this: AMISH PEOPLE DO NOT TALK LIKE THAT.

If Beverly Lewis could get this part right, I would be quiet, I promise.

Quote of the Day:
"I saw me some wonderful-gut writin' today, Mamma."
Emily, after I mockingly read the line, "I saw me some wonderful-gut stitchin,' Mamma!" and Emily said after I write my Amish/Mennonite novel, people will say this instead.

28 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Dorcas, I don't ever want you to be quiet.

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  3. I very much enjoyed this. Very interesting to me, having little to no knowledge of the Amish (barely counting what I've seen on tv and read in books). I think you should definitely continue these rants/critiques. :)

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  4. Could be they didn't join a New Order group in Iowa 'cause there ain't none?

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  5. Pretty sure there's a New Order group in Kalona but I'm not sure when it started.

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  6. YES, YES, YES.....finally a woman after my own heart. I so dislike when they throw those 'Pa. Dutch' words in . I have oodles of Amish relatives ,was Amish myself for the first 30 years of my life and it just drives me bonkers when I read what is supposed to be authentic Amish fiction and it's nothing like what I've experienced. Most books make them sound like very simple souls (yah,gute)others like unbelievably perfect saints.I even critique the pictures on the cover and the clothes that are totally wrong for the area the book's about. Now and then I actually find one where they come across as normal human beings........ Keep on ranting, I've done my share!

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  7. Please, please, please keep ranting! You're being incredibly kind to Lewis IMHO.

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  8. Ha! My dear hubby is from Amish and his relations have NEVER spoke like that while I have been present! LOL! You about had me roaring, except than my kids would have yelled, as they hate when I laugh at something I read online!!
    Btw my hubby hates them books, I read some of them to see what for crazy things are in them!

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  9. Goodness! Does she really make her characters talk like that? I would rant right with you if I'd read another of her books, then. My thought always is, "Why don't they get somebody in there to edit those books who KNOWS BETTER?" Hmmm. Why don't they?

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  10. You are doing fine! I have no first hand knowledge of the Amish, but I've read some of these books, no more. Susan R. from Oklahoma

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  11. In college I did a research project on the English speaking habits of people in our community, both those who had an Amish background and those who didn't. I found that the people with an Amish background generally spoke more standard English than did those without an Amish background. You are so right--"ain't" is redneck language--certainly not Amish, as is dropping the "g" on the end of "ing" words.

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  12. Frieda Yoder7/18/2011 7:41 PM

    Gut post! I am totally with you on those Amish novels. A while ago I 'forced' myself to finish one just to see whether it was accurate. Terribly inaccurate I would say, but hey, money talks.

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  13. If anyone is interested I wrote a review of Lewis' book THE SECRET on my blog. I personally enjoyed the book, but it's interesting to hear a counter viewpoint. I appreciate your honesty!
    http://projectpaperie.blogspot.com/2011/06/book-review-secret-by-beverly-lewis-i.html

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  14. My thoughts exactly! I simply croak when skimming through a book like that, it chust gives me a hankerin' to take a sharpie and cross out all that wunderbar gut talkin'!!!

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  15. Charles Miller7/18/2011 9:14 PM

    For the frustration about Beverly Lewis and such like and seeing all the interest across the country about the Amish and their life style Why: I say why don't ya'all write an accurate, authentic, believable, appropriate novel? Get this straitened out. Then we who know nothing could read an authorized version. You would be happy and I would be the wiser. Sorry, just saying.

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  16. As far as I'm concerned Amish novels are a waste of time. What is the point? Guy gets girl. That's not enough substance to be worth the paper they're printed on. Why are they written? Because they sell to the Amish-ignorant public and make money for the author. Very shallow. If a book has no message and does not make the reader think it has no viable purpose. I have so many other worthwhile things to do and don't have time to read them.

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  17. I love to read, but don't waste my time on Amish novels. Having Amish background myself, I see all the inconsistancies. I think people stereo-type the whole people group based on the writings of an author who hasn't experienced the life, therefore, really doesn't know.

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  18. Smile!!! I find Lewis' books entertaining, but NOT accurate.

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  19. actually, i enjoy a good rant.

    and like here, with yours? even more so, since you've communicated
    some of my own annoyances that i have yet to put into complete sentences.

    go dorcas!

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  20. In response to your suggestion, Mr. Miller, Amish and conservative Mennonites HAVE been writing novels/narrative for years. It's not that they don't write, it's that the general public isn't really interested in "authentic" Amish writing. They are interested in their own fantasies about authenticity. Books by Beverly Lewis and her ilk reveal more about their mainstream readers than they do about the Amish communities in their books.

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  21. My main question is...Why do I see so many Amish people themselves buying and reading these books when it so poorly depicts their culture. It seems like it should dismay rather than excite them!?

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  22. I read a few of Ms. Lewis' novels because I wanted to read stories about women who care about each other, value community over personal interests, and are from an American culture I know little about. I quickly discovered that Ms. Lewis is no Dorcas Smucker, but alas, so few writers have her talent:) Dorcas, would you please do a post about authors, Amish or otherwise, that you recommend? Thank you.

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  23. You have articulated in such a vunderbar gut way the way I feel about these books. Somehow the dutch phrases are supposed to lend some validity to the content and culture but end up making it look ridiculous. and I cringe when folks gush to me about how they've been reading "all about you". Maybe i'll refer them to this post :)

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  24. Totally agree with you, I can't read them because of that very thing,, drives me nuts.
    Have you read any Dale Cramer books on the Amish? Levi's Will? Great book!!!

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  25. I agree with you. I have read some of her books out of curiosity but it is very light reading.
    I was given a book by Cindy Woodsmall who also writes Amish novels. I enjoyed that one a lot more, but again it was light reading. Something to read while traveling.

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  26. I sure enjoyed this post....but I never knew the folks at M.P. (in southeastern Ohio) were hotheads. Of course, our family were only Mennonites in the midst of you all. Perhaps most of the hotheads moved out when the church changed to New Order. Of course, I was a little girl and didn't know all the bad stuff. I still have some very dear friends there. :-) Maybe you'll have to ask your folks why they didn't join the new order. They did later on, didn't they?

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  27. Wow, thanks everyone for the comments. Just a few responses...for all of you who wondered why they don't get a knowledgeable person to write and edit these books, I think Naomi said it very well--"the general public isn't really interested in "authentic" Amish writing. They are interested in their own fantasies about authenticity. Books by Beverly Lewis and her ilk reveal more about their mainstream readers than they do about the Amish communities in their books." Lanita, one of my daughters' friends just told me these are the only "worldly" novels her Amish cousins are allowed to read. Doesn't compute in my head but what do I know?
    Mrs. I, that must have been an interesting study and my observations would confirm your research.
    As for which novels I recommend, I've done several posts about this--try a search on the top left corner of the main page.
    And lastly, yes, in the early days of MP there were some very rash people and consequently decisions in that little church. I'm told everyone has grown up quite nicely since. My parents got cars when the church split so I don't think they were ever technically New Order.

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  28. words straight from 'my' mouth also...most Amish people I've ever known speak more precise 'english' than my own OO men. people did. No clue where she got that idea & it also drives me so bonkers that I never 'read' her stuff, give me Linda Beiler any day of the wk! But, since I 'am' a history buff you have made me curious about this series...I agree that most of her stuff is just plain sensationalism...I'll read Dorcas fiction instead...it's really great stuff 7 I'm off to share it on FB 'if' that's even possible!

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