Review: I AM HUTTERITE by Mary-Ann Kirkby.

A Review of I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage By Mary-Ann Kirkby Hardback: Thomas Nelson, 2010. Buy now: [ ChristianBook.com ] Reviewed by Chris Smith.

Mary-Ann Kirkby’s memoir, I Am Hutterite, although originally published in Canada, is now being published in the US by Thomas Nelson.  I am Hutterite is the poignant story of Kirkby’s birth and childhood in a Hutterite community of Manitoba, and on a deeper level, a narrative about belonging to a people and how our identities are formed by that belonging, even if (or when) we become disconnected from that community.  In this way it is reminiscent of Rhoda Janzen’s recent bestseller Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, although it lacks the frivolity of Janzen’s self-effacing wit. Although I have been vaguely familiar with the Hutterites for many years and intrigued by their communal life together, nowhere have I encountered a first person account of life in one of their communities of a similar caliber to the one that Kirkby offers here.  In her account of the circumstances surrounding her family’s exit from their Hutterite community, she highlights the temptations to power and all kinds of sin that can sidetrack a community if left unchecked.  She is clear however that her experience of the community runs much deeper than the offenses that drove her family away.  I am Hutterite is a delightful, engaging read, especially in its fond depictions of Hutterite life, particularly Kirkby’s recollections of the simple joys of being a Hutterite child.