I Am Hutterite
The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
In 1969, Ann-Marie’s parents did the unthinkable, leaving a Hutterite colony with their seven children to start a new life. Overnight, the family was thrust into a society they did not understand and did not understand them in this powerful story of understanding how our beginnings often define us.
“Your mother and father are running away," said a voice piercing the warm air. I froze and turned toward home. To a Hutterite, nothing is more shameful than that word.”
When Ann-Marie's parents decided to leave their Hutterite colony in Canada with their seven children in tow, it was a complete shock. Overnight, the family was thrust into a society they did not understand, and which knew little of their unique culture. The transition was overwhelming. Desperate to be accepted, ten-year-old Ann-Marie was forced to deny her heritage in order to fit in with her peers.
I Am Hutterite chronicles Ann-Marie's quest to reinvent herself as she comes to terms with the painful circumstances that led her family to leave community life. Before she left the colony, Ann-Marie had never tasted macaroni and cheese or ridden a bike. She had never heard of Walt Disney or rock-and-roll. With great humor, she describes how she adapted to popular culture, and with raw honesty, her family's deep sense of loss for their community.
Winner of the 2007 Saskatchewan Book Award for Non-fictionUnveils the rich history and traditions of the Hutterite people’s extraordinary way of lifeIncludes a glossary of Hutterite words and phrases, family photos, and a family tree
In this insightful memoir, venture into the hidden heart of the little-known Hutterite colony. Rich with memorable characters and vivid descriptions, this ground-breaking narrative shines a light on intolerance, illuminating the simple truth that beneath every human exterior beats a heart longing for understanding and acceptance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This sweeping prairie memoir, self-published in Canada in 2007, rapidly garnered both commercial and literary applause. Recounting the author's journey from a Hutterite girlhood to an adolescence of desperate striving to catch up with fashions of the time, the book manages to pack information about Hutterite life into a coming-of-age narrative without slowing it down. Kirkby's family moved away from their Manitoba colony when she was 10 years old, after what she calls a near idyllic childhood in the cradle of a communal society. Once a reader commits the many characters and their relationships to each other to memory, the book becomes as riveting and well-paced as a novel. Kirkby captures the complex cadences of Hutterite life the bawdy humor and knack for storytelling that stands beside austere ritual, the poverty of personal possession and freedom that exists beside the security of community life with pitch-perfect writing. She also manages to avoid either vilifying or romanticizing a culture that has been subjected to both. Readers will find themselves hoping that Kirkby follows the popular trend in memoir writing: producing a sequel.
