Thursday, August 16, 2012

Almost Amish by Kathryn Cushman


AlmostAmishSM

Almost Amish

Book Description:  Julie Charlton is at the breaking point. She’s overwhelmed and burned out, and in today’s unrelenting society, her kids are, too. When her sister-in-law Susan, a Martha Stewart-in-training, lands the chance to participate in a reality TV series promoting simple living, and needs another family to join her, it seems like the perfect opportunity.
The location is an idyllic farm outside an Amish community in Tennessee. Julie, with her two children, joins Susan and her teenage daughter for a summer adventure. Susan needs to succeed in order to become self-sufficient after an ugly divorce, Julie needs to slow down long enough to remember what her priorities are and regain a sense of purpose and meaning. It becomes clear from the start that “living simple” is no simple matter. With the camera watching every move, Susan’s drive for perfection feels a lot like what they left behind, while Julie suddenly finds herself needing to stand up for slowing down. With each new challenge, their season of “going Amish” gets more and more complicated, as each woman learns unexpected lessons about herself and her family.
My Review:  In today's world it seems that most of us are enamored with the Amish lifestyle.  the Amish seem to have cornered the world on peaceful, easy living.  So, as I began to read Almost Amish by Kathryn Cushman I, too, thought about a nice slow life of peaceful, easy living  . . . backtrack!  Remember that little ditty about the cow who always wanted to eat the greener grass on the other side of the fence?  Well, it seems that the Amish way of living is sometimes well, more work and well....
Julie Charlton is a married woman with two teenagers and her sister-in-law Susan is a divorcee with one teenager.  Susan is wanting to climb the TV/recipe stage and is given the opportunity of a career lifetime.  She and her sister-in-law, Julie, with all their teenagers are going to live Almost Amish for the summer months in the humidity driven Tennessee and "do" a reality show called Almost Amish!
Now, Susan is a superb cook and house cleaner and Julie is more of swipe the dust and let's have a frozen meal entree.
Susan  and Julie are close sister-in-laws and have known each other for years so as they get along fairly well.  Their kids are cousins, so again, one happy family.
The challenges that are presented to the family are sometimes as simple as Julie making a Shoofly pie.  But not being a cook . . . the challenge comes in making the homemade pie crust.  And well, having to make a pie  on an old fashioned woodstove!  Then there's the wringer washing machine and line drying the clothes.  The sun makes them smell so good but the rain can make them wet for days!  Ah! Amish living!
Now, for the kids, there are no IPods, no computers, no TV/radio, no cell phones just the luxury of God's green earth and a lot of elbow grease to get the lonely little house sparkling clean.
I loved this read!  Each woman finds out what is truly important to her and how being Almost Amish is not what either one of them expected!
*This read was provided by Bethany House Publishers*
  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (July 1, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0764208268
  • ISBN-13: 978-0764208263


1 comment:

  1. This sounds like a fantastic book! I loved what you said about the grass being greener. I like the idea behind this book and it sounds like a path of self discovery. Thanks for sharing.
    ~Jess

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