The Blue Mountains of China (New Canadian Library ; No. 108) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Rudy Wiebe (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: New Canadian Library (January 1, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0771092083
• ISBN-13: 978-0771092084
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,451,409 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The title.., May 17, 2006

By	Professor Joseph L. McCauley "Joseph L. McCauley" (Austria+Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blue Mountains of China (New Canadian Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

.. seems to have nothing to do with the text. But the author is Rudy Wiebe, not Eva Marie Kröller!!!

You have to know Mennonite history to understand the book at all, especially since RW seems to have been bound and determined to become the James Joyce of Mennonite authors. Most of the book is written as introspection, so I can't help you with the meanings of the many sentence fragments, but I can at least do what RW should have done, namely, provide a little dictionary' of a few Mennonite (Plat-) dialect terms. Here are some naive guesses:

groutestov/Grossestua-living room
sommastov-summer (or back-) room
Chortitza (where they had originally settled in the Ukraine)
actstov-(from Mecklenberger-Vorp0momern Platt) a back room that can only be entered through another room, akt meaning "aft".

The 'Russian' Mennonites originated in Switzerland in Reformation times, as did all Mennonites of that age, then and picked up their language (Platdeutsch) in north Germany. From Prussia they were invited to 'Russia' by Katerina der Grosse. They're pacifist, refuse any but their own (German Bible-) schools, and prefer no citizenship. Ca. 1875 Canada looked more friendly so there was a mass migration but 'Russia' was not emptied of Mennonites (the book begins with the time after the communist revolution in the Ukraine). After WWI their German schools were outlawed in Canada (they go 6 yrs. to learn Hochdeutsch in order to read Luther's Bible) so they migrated to the State of Chihuahua in N. Mexico (and farther into Central and South America) where, in 1991, they still formed a colony some 50000 strong N, of Cuahtemoc (they make Mexico's cheese, e.g.). At that time they had no citizenship, by choice, and did not have to serve in the Mexican army. In Cuahtemoc and in their "Dorfs" north of Cuahtemoc we heard the language spoken (my German wife barely understood parts of the prettily sung old Plat dialect) and were able to speak with them using Hochdeutsch. The language of the Amish and Mennonites who settled Pennsylvania after 1693 ("Pennsylvania Dutch" is an "English" mispronunciation of 'Pennsylvania Deitsch') is a southwest German dialect, related Schwäbisch-Badenrisch, Swiss German and Alsatian. That was an entirely different Mennonite migration. Mennonites and Amish in Pa., Ohio, Ky. and Tenn. would not be able to converse (except via Hochdeutsch) with those in the Dakotas, Canada, and Mexico.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Canadian novel, December 1, 2002

By	Kenneth Scheffler (Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Blue Mountains of China (New Canadian Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

A very moving and powerful novel that tells the story of the Mennonites who fled the Soviet Union to escape religious persecution. Although not as highly acclaimed as some of his other works, The Blue Mountains of China is perhaps one of the great Canadian novels.