Growing Up Plain [Hardcover]

Shirley Kurtz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1994

What is it like to be a young woman who dresses "plain?" How does it feel to be so identifiably different? What allowed Shirley Kurtz to find warmth and humor in her Mennonite upbringing? In this witty and lightly confessional memory, Kurtz unearths the painful and hilarious details of marching through adolescence. Not only was she worried about whether glances from particular boys were gestures of love, but she was burdened by how to make her required capes look interesting, trying not to be jealous of her friend, Gloria, who could wear skirts and blouses, and pretending to be beautiful Renee in the Sears Catalog. While there is every adolescent's uncertainty in these pages, there is also the wonder of being loved. ("You have to understand this: my mother was doing her best. My mother wanted me to be happy.")

Editorial Reviews

Review

What is it like to be a young woman who dresses "plain"? How does it feel to be so identifiably different? What allowed Shirley Kurtz to find warmth and humor in her Mennonite upbringing? Growing Up Plain is a witty and lightly confessional memory wherein Shirley Kurtz unearths the painful and hilarious details of marching through adolescence. Not only was she worried about whether glances from particular boys were gestures of love, but she was burdened by how to make her required capes look interesting, trying not to be jealous of her friend Gloria who could wear skirts and blouses, and pretending to be beautiful Rene in the Sears Catalog. While there is every adolescent's uncertainty in these pages, there is also the wonder of being loved. Growing Up Plain is a unique insight into Mennonite religious life as experienced by their youth. -- Midwest Book Review

From the Back Cover

What is it like to be a young woman who dresses "plain?" How does it feel to be so identifiably different? Kurtz carried the typical adolescent concern about whether glances from particular boys were gestures of love. But she was also burdened by how to make her "capes" look interesting and by trying not to be jealous of her friend, Gloria, who could wear skirts and blouses. What mark did this Mennonite upbringing leave on her? "I think being plain when we were young must not have been completely devastating. Maybe if you don't have any troubles at all, you don't ever quite grow up."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 63 pages
• Publisher: Good Books (December 31, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561481033
• ISBN-13: 978-1561481033
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,637,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shirley Kurtz lives with her husband in backwoods West Virginia, where the countryside quiet tends to settle down onerously around her ears and clobber her to mush, the same as it does for Anna in Sticking Points, Kurtz's novel, when she's toiling on a paragraph. Bit by bit she goes to pot--slumps in her seat and turns numb. Brain circuitry stuck on a single solitary word, she's left with nubbing her pencil eraser in circles against her paper, huffing at the shredded black tails, and pondering fruitlessly.

So any interruption is a mercy--the shrill of the telephone, or the stove timer's ding (say, a pie in the oven), or the thwump of the washer quitting its final spin cycle, out in the mudroom. The noise hauls her upwards.

Something to get the blood running, that's the crux. Outside at the backyard lines, plopping her wash basket and clothespins bucket in the grass, she'll sense her brain prickling. Merely that act, the stooping motion and the sudden downswing of her head, causes a rush--the red corpuscles start galloping--and as she raises the first pieces of laundry to the crisping sun, the sole stickler word in her brain dislodges. And back in the house, wheeled up close to the desk again, she'll give her paper a good shake and bend once more to her task. The fixating alleviates, for a spell.

But surely any writer, says Kurtz, gets snagged like this. What's more, the solitary pursuit of apt words dare not be left to dawdlers less intent--the uselessly sedentary--or to those deafened by banality's din.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Why so skimpy?, April 7, 2006

By 

Shannon Owens (Gordon, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Growing Up Plain (Hardcover)

I was hoping to learn more about the Mennonite way of life & certainly the author's family. Filled mostly with random thoughts & not informative or even very much fun to read. How does one get a book like this PUBLISHED??