Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life (Paperback)

~ (Author), Rick Farrant (Author) "I had barely made it inside the door of the old, two-story white farmhouse when my mother fell into me, put her head on my..." (more)
Key Phrases: Old Order Amish, Horse Cave, Ottie Garrett (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Garrett lifts the veil from one of the most private, most fascinating Christian sects, the Amish. The fifth of seven children, she grew up in Kalona, Iowa, as a member of the strict Old Order Amish, who owned no motor vehicles and went without electricity and telephones. Unthinkably for an Old Order Amish young woman, she fell in love with an outsider 15 years her senior. Worse, he was divorced, and wedding him was equivalent to adultery in the eyes of the Amish. But leaving the order was her most serious offense, and for it she suffered the severe consequence of being shunned by her home community. Garrett is exceedingly honest, unafraid to criticize what she considers rigid and hypocritical in Amish behavior. Her subsequent life among "the English," as the low German-speaking Amish call outsiders, makes a wonderful tale of self-discovery, as her relationship with her husband slowly blossoms. Moving and life-affirming, the book ends on a hopeful note as her family comes to grudgingly accept her difficult, life-altering decision. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A beautiful story of a young lady's struggle to be free." (Joseph Girzone, author of the best-selling Joshua series )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (January 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006052992X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060529925
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,065 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heart Full of Grace, September 2, 2003

By	Kathy Wiley (Mt. Pleasant, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews

Coming from Amish and Mennonite family background myself, and growing up interacting with cousins in Kalona, it was very interesting to read Irene's story. I have always known that there were inconsistencies within the Amish culture, however, I was surprised at the severity of her father's treatment of his family. I was impressed with her courage to leave, yet also with her ability to maintain a desire to stay in contact with her family. It is obvious that she has an understanding of the concept of unconditional love even though this was not consistently modeled for her.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Irene and Ottie and was impressed with their honesty, love and unconditional positive regard they held for one another. Their book, "My Amish Heritage" is evidence of the hope that Irene holds in staying connected with her early life even as she moves on, evolving into a beautiful modern-day woman. Her heart is full of grace.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A dreary tale, December 17, 2006

By	T. Kelly (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a sad and strange tale of a woman who leaves an oppressive Amish family and community for a morbidly obese, thrice divorced, unemployable man who is 25 years her senior. I was especially disturbed when upon escaping in his van, this knight in shining armor hands her an electric razor and tells her she must shave her legs if she's going to be his wife! The author is young, and still very naive about the world. I'd be interested in reading a followup story ten years down the road when, hopefully, she'll have developed keener analytical skills.

93 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Crossing Over: One Woman's Sensationalistic Exploitation of Her Amish Heritage, June 4, 2006

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

It's difficult to not come to the conclusion after reading this book that the author is a confused, naive and, unfortunately, also very insincere. She claims that this book was written merely to inform others about her life and to help others in the same predicament. Moreover, she claims to love both her father and mother, and to cherish her Amish heritage. Yet what we really find in this book is quite the opposite.

The author clearly has serious issues with her father, and goes to great lengths to paint the unflattering picture of man who is supposedly uncompromising in his convictions, physically and mentally abusive, and a hypocrite to boot. This seems to extend to her brothers as well, but she is decidedly less specific in this respect.

On the other hand, her mother and sister are portrayed as faultlessly good and caring people, victims in every respect of a rigid and oppressive society.

From an early age, as a tomboy, she claims that she didn't want to conform to the expectations that the Amish have for women; first she rebelled by trying to be better than the boys, but eventually he disillusionment grew to the point where she had to get away.

But how?

Well, that's where good old--twice her age old--Ottie Garrett comes into the picture. For some reason, this rotund man had managed to get close enough to the Amish where he was trusted to the extent that he could essentially make a living from exploiting them. Whether it was through the publishing of books about the Amish or by ferrying the Amish around in his van, he really seems to have had a knack for making money off of these passive and peaceful people.

Yet Ottie seems to have a profound disdain for these very same Amish, and whenever he was driving some of them somewhere he would use the opportunity to berate them on religious matters and pointedly criticize them for their firm belief in non-violence. Why they tolerated him is beyond me, but they did, and eventually the time came when he and the author crossed paths.

The whole nature of their love affair is a little strange to me. She tries to make it sound as though it was a match-made-in-heaven, but it seems to me that the underlying motives were decidedly more pragmatic. She wanted out of the Amish culture, and he was one of the only outsiders she had contact with; he, aging, obese and three-times divorced, wanted something decidedly more naive and virginal for his fourth time around.

Well, one thing leads to another and she eventually makes her getaway with him, and they embark upon their life together far from her family, yet seemingly never all that far from the Amish. While both seem to have serious issue with the "plain folk," neither seems to be capable of deriving their income in a manner that isn't in some way exploitive of the Amish.

Which leads one to question the real intention of this book and the varacity of the things that she writes.

One thing that struck was the feeble attempt that the author makes in Biblically justifying her actions or criticisms of the Amish. In particular was her use of a verse that she claims refutes the Amish belief in non-violence; yet taken in context, this verse, although containing the words "blood" and "sword," does nothing of the sort.

In the end, this book left me with a profoundly negative impression of the author and her husband and I can't help but feel no sympathy for them.