The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life: Essays and Poems by Julia Spicher KasdorfMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reading this was a bit like I imagine a historical therapy session might be. Kasdorf’s essays reflect on the back stories of her poems, the creative process, her relationship to her family and community of origin, and that sometimes strange group of people called Mennonites. Kasdorf’s writings prompted lots of memories, thoughts, and reflections, responses I hope she would appreciate from her readers.
For someone like me, a Mennonite whose family moved every 4-5 years in and out Mennonite communities in Iowa, it was easy to identify with being part of, yet different, of easily fitting in because of my name and lineage, yet always feeling I wasn’t quite normal. Being the only family in the “freindschaft” who had a television made us popular whenever the Hawkeyes games were aired, but not so much at other times. Living in Philadelphia and being part of the Germantown Mennonite group referred to briefly by Kasdorf, was life changing, yet now back in the Kalona area it is not something easily talked about. Kasdorf gives voice to these thoughts and feelings but like most writers I appreciate, she asks more questions than she answers.
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