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| Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 42 reviews)
Sales Rank: 76406
Category: Book
Author: Sue Bender
Publisher: HarperOne
Studio: HarperOne
Manufacturer: HarperOne
Label: HarperOne
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 6 x 0.4
ISBN: 0062501860
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.687
EAN: 9780062501868
ASIN: 0062501860
Publication Date: October 25, 1991
Release Date: October 25, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"I had an obsession with the Amish. Plan and simple. Objectively it made no sense. I, who worked hard at being special, fell in love with a people who valued being ordinary." So begins Sue Bender's story, the captivating and inspiring true story of a harried urban Californian moved by the beauty of a display of quilts to seek out and live with the Amish. Discovering lives shaped by unfamiliar yet comforting ideas about time, work, and community, Bender is gently coaxed to consider, "Is there another way to lead a good life?" Her journey begins in a New York men's clothing store. There she is spellbound by the vibrant colors and stunning geometric simplicity of the Amish quilts "spoke directly to me," writes Bender. Somehow, "they went straight to my heart." Heeding a persistent inner voice, Bender searches for Amish families willing to allow her to visit and share in there daily lives. Plain and Simple vividly recounts sojourns with two Amish families, visits during which Bender enters a world without television, telephone, electric light, or refrigerators; a world where clutter and hurry are replaced with inner quiet and calm ritual; a world where a sunny kitchen "glows" and "no distinction was made between the sacred and the everyday." In nine interrelated chapters--as simple and elegant as a classic nine-patch Amish quilt--Bender shares the quiet power she found reflected in lives of joyful simplicity, humanity, and clarity. The fast-paced, opinionated, often frazzled Bender returns home and reworks her "crazy-quilt" life, integrating the soul-soothing qualities she has observed in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns in the Amish, and celebrating the patterns formed by the distinctive "patches" of her own life. Charmingly illustrated and refreshingly spare, Plain and Simple speaks to the seeker in each of us.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 read the title December 18, 2008
well, folks, 'plain and simple', the title says the book is A WOMAN'S JOURNEY, not a deep portrait of Amish and their lifestyle. It's an introspective book that begins in 1967, although the actual 'journey' doesn't come about until 1982. Women shape society, and society shapes women. If all women were as modest as the Amish, we would never have achieved the right to vote. It takes all kinds to make a world.
In terms of pages, the book is less than a half inch thick, so the journey is a 'light read'. Amish history can be found on the internet with ease.
It's always amusing to me when people grab a book in haste, find it's not their cuppa tea, and then blame the author entirely for wasting their money. For that mindset, I recommend the public library.
This is a mid-life soul-searching little book about One Woman's experience at One point in time. The author makes the point that American society is neither plain nor simple for most of us, and reveals how trying to strike a balance between serenity and ambitious pursuits is never easy. Most of us can't even write a Christmas newsletter that anyone else wants to read, but we're sure qualified to pass harsh judgement on another person's honest little journal.
Personally, I found this a nice little book for a winter's night.
 Arrived promptly and in excellent condition. Thanks. December 12, 2008
We discussed this book at my book club. Maybe there could have been a bit less about the author, more about the Amish. We have a fairly large Amish population in our area, and everyone is interested in their lifestyle. We see their horses and buggies at the grocery, and I know they buy lots of deer tags to supplement their meat supply. Fascinating people in this fast-paced age.
Absorbing read November 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I received this wonderful book as a surprise gift. Knowing very, very little about the Amish and certainly never having read about them before, I was fascinated by the glimpses of their lives offered by the author.
I believe that the title is incorrect or at least, misleading. From the first pages of the book, I was under the impression that the book was about quilts and the journey with the quilt not a book about the Amish or women in general.
I am surprised that so many reviewers were annoyed by Ms Bender. Even though I did not always like what she wrote, I appreciate her frank and honest comments, which at times read like a private diary.
Is it necessary to love the personality of an author, or more to the point, may we simply enjoy writing for writing's sake and overlook the personality of the author?
 Tedious Book-Tedious Author July 18, 2007
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
After Sue Bender forcefully insinuates herself into an Amish home, she proceeds to criticize and judge the family. She comments on their "bad choices" - chief among them in my view is their decision to let her into their home. She is rude, condescending, preachy and shrill. She eats the family's food and then criticizes both the food and the woman who prepares it for her. She demands fabric for a "craft project" and then kvetches when her host doesn't respond. She proceeds to purchase 1/8 of a yard from 25 bolts of fabric from a polite storekeeper. I looked up halfway into this book and told my husband "God, I hate this woman". I hated this book too. The book mostly focuses on the author, not the Amish community that she invades. We learn that the author is self-absorbed and shallow with a healthy sense of entitlement. The author's fixation on the Amish "faceless" dolls is telling - they represent her void of self-awareness. More disturbing than the book is the biography listing the author as a "therapist".
We could all use a little plain and simple in our lives. June 7, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought this book because it was mentioned in another book I was reading. I have always had an interest in the Amish from an anthropological point of view and this was not a disappointment at all. Sue Bender runs across antique Amish quilts and is fascinated by their unique simple designs and bold colors. For years she has her contacts on the look out for more examples of this beautiful "art" that is so functional. Then she discovers the "faceless" dolls that Amish mothers make for their daughters. The dolls have no facial features because the Amish proscribe to the "no graven image" commandment very strictly. She was delighted with the doll sent to her by an Amish woman with whom she started a correspondence. She then decided she wanted to live among the Amish for a time. She was told they would not take her in; however, a small ad in an Amish paper elicited a response from a family willing to have her live with them for a time. So her journey began. Her impressions did not always fit with her romantic illusions of the "simple" life and she learned much. After several weeks, she goes home to digest what she has learned. Then, she decides to go back and try the experiment again with a different (very different) family. She learns even more. All stereotypes are mostly shattered as she lives with a midwife, her large family and her chiropractor sister and she leaves much richer (emotionally) than when she arrived.
I enjoyed this volume very much. It had an excellent layout and is a fast read. The impressions are honest and introspective and Ms. Bender is kind enough to wrap the most important lessons learned into a nine-patch quilt for us at the end. There are many fine ideas we can take with us at the conclusion of the story not the least of which is how much we have in common with the Amish as opposed to how different we are. It's a book I will return to again and again for insight.
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