Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish

PLAIN and SIMPLE, A Woman’s Journey to the Amish, by Sue Bender (pp 149). Ms Bender, an artist, grew enamored of Amish Quilts, and wondered about their creators. In time, she decided to live with the Amish, spending two several-week stays with two different families over the course of several years. As anyone visiting a new and radically community, the author observed and (gently) judged the seemingly simple (non-tech) ways of the people who took her in. It’s easy to be critical of her observations, but I think it’s natural to compare and contrast what you know with what you don’t know. Ms Bender came to know, love, and respect the very different lifestyle of the Amish, and much of her book describes her experiences, and how show more what she learned changed her life and her art. This was, for me, a confirmation of wanting/needing to visit and live among different people and in different cultures. Only by seeing how others live, understand how and why they think what they do (as best one can), and thereby stretch yourself, can one truly understand oneself. The author includes some conclusions, but I think they can be jettisoned without harming the book. This little volume is an excellent tool for looking at one’s self, and possibly prompting the reader to put themselves in a new societal environment to explore their own way of life. And, if you like to quilt, that alone might be a good reason to read this book. show less

I'm not sure why I'm keeping this book. Just thumbing through it, it annoys me as much now as when I had to read it for a grad school assignment. The author is an artist who developed a highly romanticized view of the Amish, based on her impressions of Amish quilts. She spends time with an Amish family, hoping that the simple life she interpreted from the quilts will soothe her own overwrought spirit.

Except, she didn't want the Amish as they were. She wanted her internal storybook Amish. She is constantly amazed by them, as in "This supposedly unworldy young person, cut off from television, newspapers, movies, and radio, carried on a lively and intelligent conversation." I don't get the logic of that statement; it sounds like a 19th show more century anthropologist amazed by the cleverness of the locals. "The Yoders weren't poor, but their diet was awful..." she says, never stopping to consider that hard work might benefit from a heavier hand on the fats and carbs. Her fallen-from-the-fairytale Amish go outside her comfort zone when shopping: "I was surprised to see them buying deodorant, mouthwash, aloe vera skin lotions—a lot of items I labeled nonessential."

She says she wants to learn from them, but really seems to want them to have her taste:

"In their world they chose well, but when faced with a bewildering array of choices in the outside community, they often chose unwisely. In fact, before the 1850s, when they led a spartan and isolated life, their homes were bare, but handsome. Now with affluence, many homes had fussy china proudly displayed in living room cupboards."

This strange blend of arrogance and condescending judgment fills the book. My professor was appalled at my criticism of the book, but I was and still am appalled by the white-lady-among-the-natives tone the author took. At the end of the book, she says she experienced no life-changing amazing insights from her time with the Amish. The very fact she could make the judgments she made illustrates that fact louder than any explicit announcement.

I give it two stars solely in acknowledgment of her ability to write a competent English sentence, which is no mean feat in this day and age. show less

Reading this slim little volume was like sitting down in your favourite armchair with a hot cup of tea at the end of a long day: soothing, comforting and deliciously peaceful. Built around Bender's fascination with Amish quilts, this is the story of how her interest became a full-fledged quest for a better and calmer life. Bender went to stay with two different Amish families over the course of a few years, and tried to use her experiences in their communities to pinpoint what was missing from her life and reframe it in a way that balanced Amish values with modern American living. Unexpectedly relatable, interesting and quite lovely.

The author went to live with an Amish family, and then she did it again. She had a romanticized idea of What The Amish Are Like and kept trying to cram them into her box. It tells us more about her (I have to resurrect an obsolete word from the mid-20th century) neuroses than about the actual Amish. Still, it was a good try.

Not so much a woman's journey to the Amish, as a woman's journey through the Amish. The author is able to obtain a privilege few of us will ever experience: staying with an Amish family (or rather, several) for weeks of her life. The look at the Amish that follows is fascinating, though I found myself fading out a bit toward the end, as there are a few chapters where her flow is not as smooth as it is through the rest of the book. She finds her footing again before the end however, and overall I recommend this book for at least a lovely and comfortable read, if not as a necessity for your private collection.

I enjoyed the insights in this book. I enjoyed the simple style. While I find the direction some of Bender's conclusions take to be a little confusing, I appreciated the overall idea.

This isn't a how-to book about how to live simply, nor is it a book about the Amish, really. It's about one woman's dissatisfaction with her harried life and the path she travels to live more deliberately. She doesn't become Amish (sorry for the spoiler), but from them she learns some important lessons about the value of process and product, and about how living deliberately isn't about acting in a certain way but about keeping one's values in mind when making decisions. She takes these lessons into her life and, rather than changing her life entirely, she show more just incorporates the lessons and gives them her own spin. She learns to choose the life she lives rather than just living it by default, and that seems to be the biggest difference by the end of the book.

I enjoyed watching Bender's growth from stereotype to an appreciation of the nuance in Amish society. She started out thinking of the Amish as all the same, part of a hive and indistinct as individuals, but she gradually learned to see them as individuals with similar struggles to ours. She gave an inkling of the differences between Amish sects, and I found it interesting to see that different communities have different rules while still remaining "Amish."

I especially liked Bender's portraits of the Amish women and how they pushed the limits of the roles allowed them in their community in small and large ways while still keeping sight of the importance of family and community. I loved the Amish midwives. Bender talks about the calm and strength she senses when she's in the presence of one of the Amish midwives; this is just how I feel when I hang out with homebirth midwives, especially those who've been doing it for thirty years or more.

I closed this book with a vague desire to quilt and to make my own clay dishes, but I think I'll table those ideas in the interest of simplicity for right now. show less

Charmingly illustrated and refreshingly spare, Plain and Simple speaks to the seeker in each of us. "I had an obsession with the Amish. Plan and simple. Objectively it made no sense. I, who worked hard at being special, fell in love with a people who valued being ordinary." So begins Sue Bender's story, the captivating and inspiring true story of a harried urban Californian moved by the beauty of a display of quilts to seek out and live with the Amish. Discovering lives shaped by unfamiliar yet comforting ideas about time, work, and community, Bender is gently coaxed to consider, "Is there another way to lead a good life?" Goodreads and "This isn't a how-to book about how to live simply, nor is it a book about the Amish, really. It's show more about one woman's dissatisfaction with her harried life and the path she travels to live more deliberately." Charity on Goodreads. show less