Growing Up Amish: A Memoir by Ira Wagler
I enjoyed this portrayal of the struggles of an young Amish man as he repeatedly tries to leave the group he grew up in.
Ira does a fantastic job conveying his complex personal history. He writes with remarkable passion and depth of emotion. His memoir is accessible to anyone who has a passing knowledge of the life of the Amish. He’s a pretty good story teller–he tightly packs emotions into words that endear the reader. He’s pretty good at picking out details, stories, characters, and anecdotes that help to illustrate and adorn what he is saying.
Though I’ve never been Mennonite or Amish, I did grow up and spend a portion of my Christian life within another less radical Anabaptist group. And while I would certainly not pretend to have had a similar experiences, I can relate to some aspects of this memoir.
Ira has long, strange tale to tell, one which will help those who are parsing similar experiences or just want to understand the Amish and their discontents. I will never again be able to see the buggies that traverse the dusty county roads of New York state in the same light.
nat geo channel just started a series on the hutterites. they also have one called amish out of order about ex-amish. i haven’t seen a full episode of either but they have clips online. it’s interesting seeing other anabaptist groups.
I wonder if we would find similar experiences from anyone who has left (or tried to leave) a tightly bound community (eg military, sports, religious, etc). I recall (maybe) an interview with this guy a few years ago and it seemed like a very common, or at least very human and relatable struggle.
Nick, that’s probably true to some degree. The only qualification applicable to the Amish is that the basic experienced involved tend to get more exaggerated the more exclusive and isolated the group is.
One of the best Anabaptist-themed movies I saw during Easter week this year (there were two others), was “The Amish. American Experience.” I highly recommend it. At one moment I was nearly brought to tears as a lonely ex-Amish teenager was lovingly celebrated by a community of Christian believers.
It seems to be available at: http://video.pbs.org/video/2200745636/