Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish (original 1989; edition 1991)

by Sue Bender (Author)

Series: Plain and Simple (1)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
838	17	26,361	(3.45)	12
Family & Relationships. Christian Nonfiction. Religion & Spirituality. Nonfiction. HTML:"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?" Her journey begins in a New York men's clothing store. There she is spellbound by the vibrant colors and stunning geometric simplicity of the Amish quilts "spoke directly to me," writes Bender. Somehow, "they went straight to my heart." Heeding a persistent inner voice, Bender searches for Amish families willing to allow her to visit and share in there daily lives. Plain and Simple vividly recounts sojourns with two Amish families, visits during which Bender enters a world without television, telephone, electric light, or refrigerators; a world where clutter and hurry are replaced with inner quiet and calm ritual; a world where a sunny kitchen "glows" and "no distinction was made between the sacred and the everyday." In nine interrelated chapters�??as simple and elegant as a classic nine-patch Amish quilt�??Bender shares the quiet power she found reflected in lives of joyful simplicity, humanity, and clarity. The fast-paced, opinionated, often frazzled Bender returns home and reworks her "crazy-quilt" life, integrating the soul-soothing qualities she has observed in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns formed by the distinctive "patches" of her own life. Charmingly illustrated and refreshingly spare, Plain and Simple speaks to the seeker in each of us… (more)

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Member:	KimSalyers
Title:	Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish
Authors:	Sue Bender (Author)
Info:	HarperOne (1991), Edition: Reprint, 176 pages
Collections:	Your library, Wishlist, Currently reading, To read, Read but unowned
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Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish by Sue Bender (1989)

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Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)

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. (

)

muumi | Feb 14, 2024 |

Based on the description, I had thought this book was about a woman who literally became Amish, but actually the author just stays for a couple of several-weeks-long visits and talks about what she learned from them.

The writing itself is very simple and calm, making this an easy read, but the book wasn't exceptional in any way.

"A tyranny of lists engulfed me. The lists created the illusion that my life was full." p 6

"The women moved through the day unhurried. There was no rushing to finish so they could get on to the 'important things.' For them, it was all important." p 48

(

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RachelRachelRachel | Nov 21, 2023 |

Good insight into Amish society. Well written. (

)

Hoyacane | Sep 18, 2022 |

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 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. (

)

wildh2o | Jul 10, 2021 |

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 about one woman's dissatisfaction with her harried life and the path she travels to live more deliberately." Charity on Goodreads. (

)

QRM | Jul 24, 2020 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Sue Bender	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Bender, Richard	Illustrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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500 Great Books by Women (Ways of Knowing)

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Canonical title

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Original publication date

1989

People/Characters

Sue Bender

Important places

Berkeley, California, USA

Brimfield, Iowa, USA

California, USA

Iowa, USA

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA

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Epigraph

Dedication

To Richard, Michael, and David--whom I love.

First words

[Prologue] I had an obsession with the Amish. Plain and simple.

Can an object go straight to your heart?

[Epilogue] The next spring I went back East to the house on Red Dirt Road in Long Island that my husband had designed twenty-five years before.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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▾Book descriptions

Family & Relationships. Christian Nonfiction. Religion & Spirituality. Nonfiction. HTML:"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?"

Her journey begins in a New York men's clothing store. There she is spellbound by the vibrant colors and stunning geometric simplicity of the Amish quilts "spoke directly to me," writes Bender. Somehow, "they went straight to my heart."

Heeding a persistent inner voice, Bender searches for Amish families willing to allow her to visit and share in there daily lives. Plain and Simple vividly recounts sojourns with two Amish families, visits during which Bender enters a world without television, telephone, electric light, or refrigerators; a world where clutter and hurry are replaced with inner quiet and calm ritual; a world where a sunny kitchen "glows" and "no distinction was made between the sacred and the everyday."

In nine interrelated chapters�??as simple and elegant as a classic nine-patch Amish quilt�??Bender shares the quiet power she found reflected in lives of joyful simplicity, humanity, and clarity. The fast-paced, opinionated, often frazzled Bender returns home and reworks her "crazy-quilt" life, integrating the soul-soothing qualities she has observed in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns formed by the distinctive "patches" of her own life.

Charmingly illustrated and refreshingly spare, Plain and Simple speaks to the seeker in each of us

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