REVIEW: I AM HUTTERITE

I AM HUTTERITE

By Mary Ann Kirkby

Rating 8 out of 10

As a descendant of the the first group of Hutterites coming from Russia to Dakota Territory in the 1870s I try to read anything I can regarding this little-known religious sect. I was thrilled to see this book by Mary Ann Kirkby and even more to see many of the surnames in my own family tree mentioned, particularly that of my paternal grandmother (Wipf). These people of German lineage who immigrated first to south Russia to colonize land under Catherine the Great, eventually came to the American plains in the 1870s. Many of these people are part of the "Germans from Russia" who populated the prairies of the Great Plains during this time.

The author, then Ann-Marie Dornn, chronicles her life in a Hutterite Colony in Manitoba in the 1960s and 70s, as well as her mother's experiences a decade or so earlier. Life in a colony is very different from life as most of us know it. Living communally in a Hutterite Colony means that men and women are separated during meals and worship. The residents all eat in a large hall, the meal being cooked by the middle-aged women. The children knew very little of the outside world, only what they have seen in rare trips to the nearby town or from a schoolteacher who comes from the outside to teach the children. Although life in a secluded colony seems odd to many, the families never went hungry, and the children certainly had little worries.

The first 2/3 of I AM HUTTERITE deals with life in the colony, the author's family specifically. But this isn't just a list of facts, Kirkby manages to tell a good story along the way. The last 1/3 of the book deals with the Dornn family's struggles after they leave the colony to live on their own. The children are forced to go to public school where their old-fashioned clothes, hair, and even lunch set them apart from the other students.

Kirkby is a marvelous writer. I probably enjoyed the book more than someone not directly related to the Hutterites will, but a good story is a good story and this book should appeal to anyone wanted to read a well-written, compelling memoir. It is hoped that readers will be compelled to read more about the Hutterites including MY HUTTERITE LIFE by Lisa Stahl and HUTTERITE SOCIETY by John Hostetler. It is hoped more of my former Hutterite cousins, now scattered across the USA, will find this book and learn more about their heritage. This book is very highly recommended.