Oct. 26, 2010
BOOK REVIEW: 'An Amish Christmas'
Family on the Run from Financial Ruin Discovers the Gift of Simple Life in Amish Country
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
One moral of Cynthia Keller's "An Amish Christmas" (Ballantine Books, a Random House imprint, 256 pages, $16.00) is that if you're going to have an automotive breakdown as winter approaches, it's best to have it in Lancaster County -- Amish country -- Pennsylvania.
That's a very superficial way to look at a very economically priced book fittingly enough about the Hobart family late of Charlotte, North Carolina, who lose all their worldly possessions except for James Hobart's prized vintage Ford Mustang. Meg suspects there's something amiss with her husband as the winter holidays approach. Fittingly, the story of the family's financial meltdown is revealed at Halloween. This fictional tale resonates in this era of housing bubbles and financial scandals -- and personal financial collapses.
With everything gone down the drain, including their house and the leased BMW with its navigation system, Meg and James and their three children, Lizzie, Will and Sam discover that there is no treat in Halloween, just a trick. James Hobart not only is out of work, he has been for months, angering Meg, who wonders what other lies remain to be discovered.
The house, the BMW and just about everything except for that cramped Mustang are lost and Meg plans -- using old-fashioned road maps -- a trip to her parents, who will take them in and give James a job in their hardware/sporting good store in upstate New York. Her parents had long held a grudge against James and Meg because of James's refusal to work in the store. With his law degree James Hobart believes the opportunities in Charlotte are preferable to a dead-end job in a declining town.
Until that Halloween Meg Hobart believes she has everything: a happy marriage to a handsome, successful husband, a beautiful 5,000 square foot home in a great part of Charlotte, and three wonderful children. But it all comes crashing down around her the day she learns that her husband, James, has been living a lie—and has brought the family to financial ruin. Penniless and homeless, the Hobarts pack up what little they still possess and leave behind their golden life for good. But it’s not the material things Meg finds herself mourning. Instead, she misses the certainty that she should remain married to James, who has betrayed her trust so thoughtlessly. Worse, she is suddenly very aware of just how spoiled her children have become. Meg wonders what her family has really sacrificed in their pursuit of the American dream.
When the Mustang kisses a telephone pool in Pennsylvania, the Hobarts find refuge with an Amish family, where they are temporarily lodged in a home with no computers, no cell phones, nothing the children consider fashionable or fun. With her uncooperative children confined to the Amish world of hard work and tradition, their futures entirely uncertain, Meg fears she can never make her family whole again.
The Hobarts discover the intricacies of Amish life, including the custom of Rumspringa -- the period of "running around" -- allowed Amish after they turn 16 and before they formally choose to be confirmed in the church. It's obvious that Keller did her research, rather than take a random collection of facts and put them in a book that paints an erroneous picture of Amish life.
She writes, in the publicity material that came with my review copy, that "My own concern about the environment made the Amish mode of living seem especially important to understand. Global warming, slow living -- all the buzz words of today are addressed in Amish life. While I was writing the book, I started hanging my laundry out to dry instead of using the dryer. It got me thinking about food sources, about cooking from scratch...and wanting to learn how to make our own preserves....It also made me rethink a slew of related issues, like the ways in which families find satisfaction in their lives and the influence of communities."
Keller combines a discussion of serious issues, like the run-amok mindless consuming of the Hobart family, with an often humorous look at the clash of cultures between the Hobarts and their new-found Amish friends. It's a gift, this look at the Hobarts, standing in for consumption crazy "English" (the Amish word that's the equivalent of the word "Gentiles" used by Mormons and Jews) and a people who've tried to preserve their culture.
About the Author
Cynthia Keller is lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.
Publisher's web site: www.ballantinebooks.com
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BOOK REVIEW: 'An Amish Christmas'
Family on the Run from Financial Ruin Discovers the Gift of Simple Life in Amish Country
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
One moral of Cynthia Keller's "An Amish Christmas" (Ballantine Books, a Random House imprint, 256 pages, $16.00) is that if you're going to have an automotive breakdown as winter approaches, it's best to have it in Lancaster County -- Amish country -- Pennsylvania.
That's a very superficial way to look at a very economically priced book fittingly enough about the Hobart family late of Charlotte, North Carolina, who lose all their worldly possessions except for James Hobart's prized vintage Ford Mustang. Meg suspects there's something amiss with her husband as the winter holidays approach. Fittingly, the story of the family's financial meltdown is revealed at Halloween. This fictional tale resonates in this era of housing bubbles and financial scandals -- and personal financial collapses.
With everything gone down the drain, including their house and the leased BMW with its navigation system, Meg and James and their three children, Lizzie, Will and Sam discover that there is no treat in Halloween, just a trick. James Hobart not only is out of work, he has been for months, angering Meg, who wonders what other lies remain to be discovered.
The house, the BMW and just about everything except for that cramped Mustang are lost and Meg plans -- using old-fashioned road maps -- a trip to her parents, who will take them in and give James a job in their hardware/sporting good store in upstate New York. Her parents had long held a grudge against James and Meg because of James's refusal to work in the store. With his law degree James Hobart believes the opportunities in Charlotte are preferable to a dead-end job in a declining town.
Until that Halloween Meg Hobart believes she has everything: a happy marriage to a handsome, successful husband, a beautiful 5,000 square foot home in a great part of Charlotte, and three wonderful children. But it all comes crashing down around her the day she learns that her husband, James, has been living a lie—and has brought the family to financial ruin. Penniless and homeless, the Hobarts pack up what little they still possess and leave behind their golden life for good. But it’s not the material things Meg finds herself mourning. Instead, she misses the certainty that she should remain married to James, who has betrayed her trust so thoughtlessly. Worse, she is suddenly very aware of just how spoiled her children have become. Meg wonders what her family has really sacrificed in their pursuit of the American dream.
When the Mustang kisses a telephone pool in Pennsylvania, the Hobarts find refuge with an Amish family, where they are temporarily lodged in a home with no computers, no cell phones, nothing the children consider fashionable or fun. With her uncooperative children confined to the Amish world of hard work and tradition, their futures entirely uncertain, Meg fears she can never make her family whole again.
The Hobarts discover the intricacies of Amish life, including the custom of Rumspringa -- the period of "running around" -- allowed Amish after they turn 16 and before they formally choose to be confirmed in the church. It's obvious that Keller did her research, rather than take a random collection of facts and put them in a book that paints an erroneous picture of Amish life.
She writes, in the publicity material that came with my review copy, that "My own concern about the environment made the Amish mode of living seem especially important to understand. Global warming, slow living -- all the buzz words of today are addressed in Amish life. While I was writing the book, I started hanging my laundry out to dry instead of using the dryer. It got me thinking about food sources, about cooking from scratch...and wanting to learn how to make our own preserves....It also made me rethink a slew of related issues, like the ways in which families find satisfaction in their lives and the influence of communities."
Keller combines a discussion of serious issues, like the run-amok mindless consuming of the Hobart family, with an often humorous look at the clash of cultures between the Hobarts and their new-found Amish friends. It's a gift, this look at the Hobarts, standing in for consumption crazy "English" (the Amish word that's the equivalent of the word "Gentiles" used by Mormons and Jews) and a people who've tried to preserve their culture.
About the Author
Cynthia Keller is lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.
Publisher's web site: www.ballantinebooks.com
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