Title: Growing Up Amish: A Memoir
Author: Ira Wagler
Released: June 28, 2011
Publisher: Tyndale House
Pages/Format: 288 (Trade Paperback)
Genre: Nonfiction, Christian Memoir
Source: Tyndale Blog Network
One fateful, starless night, seventeen-year-old Ira Wagler got up at 2:00 a.m., packed all his earthly belongings in a little black duffel bag, left a scribbled note under his pillow, and walked away from his home in the Old Order Amish settlement of Bloomfield, Iowa, into a world much wider and more foreign than he could ever have imagined.
Now, in this memoir, Ira paints a vivid portrait of Amish life–from his childhood on the family farm and his Rumspringa rite of passage at age sixteen to his ultimate decision to leave the Amish church for good at age twenty-six.
One Sentence Review: Growing Up Amish is an enlightening, introspective spiritual memoir that explores the mindset of the Amish faith and lifestyle.
In-Depth Review
Before reading this memoir, what little knowledge I had of the Amish came from a trilogy of novels by Beverly Lewis I read two years ago which bored me so much I vowed never to read Bonnet Fiction again. I am by no means one of the millions of people who have a perpetual fascination with all things Amish. Despite my disinterest in Amish culture, I was intrigued by the idea of a memoir by someone who decided to leave behind their Amish heritage for the wider pastures of modern world.
Growing Up Amish begins on a starless April night when Ira Wagler, a seventeen-year-old Amish kid, packs up his small black duffel bag and clandestinely crosses the borders of his Amish settlement into the great world beyond. After this prologue, Wagler rewinds and fills in the blanks of how he came to this point of exit, and continues on to tell of how he returned home and left multiple times before finally leaving for good at the age of twenty-six.
It’s no secret that I’m pretty disgusted by the over-romanticization of Amish culture by today’s Christians, and one of the things that I like best about this book is Wagler’s balanced presentation of the Amish way. He doesn’t shy away from exposing the extreme legalism the Amish live under, nor does he neglect to point out the good aspects of Amish life, like their commitment to family and faith.
Other than the facial hair thing, there is wide variation and a lot of inordinate fussing within Amish circles. Some groups use only hooks and eyes on their clothes; others use buttons and snaps. Some pull motor-powered machinery with their horses; others refuse to use motors at all, not even small gasoline engines. Some groups allow little phone shacks at the end of the drive; others have phones only at their schoolhouses. Still others have no phones anywhere and must bother their English neighbors in an emergency. {Growing Up Amish, page 8}
One other reason I love Growing Up Amish is because Wagler is so open about the spiritual doubt and fear that he struggled with throughout young adulthood. This is a very introspective memoir and Wagler spares no ink exploring the thought process he went through during his formative years which eventually prompted him to leave the Amish for good.
A major motivator for me to read this book was to find out more about what the Amish actually believe–what they preach in church and how they live that out in their daily lives. It seems that we hear a lot about their prairie-esque lifestyle sans motorized vehicles and electric lights, but little about their theology. On this Wagler delivers brilliantly, and at last I got to learn about the inner workings of the Amish faith (which prompted further disgust at the idealization of them in Christian literature).
Think about it. You are in a box–a comfortable box, but a pretty confining one. You wonder what’s outside. You peek out a bit now and then, and peer around. But deep down, you know that if you step outside that box, you are speeding directly down the highway to hell and could arrive at any instant. Boom, just like that.
That kind of pressure is a brutal thing, really, a severe mental strain. And it’s the reason that in most communities, when Amish kids run wild, they usually run hard and mean. Because once that line is crossed, there are no others. Nothing they can do, short of returning, can make any difference.
-Growing Up Amish, page 86
Wagler is a decent writer and I enjoyed his prose, though I think a little more word-cutting would have benefitted the flow of text.
Growing Up Amish is one of the most interesting memoirs I’ve read this year. It provides a glimpse inside the Amish psyche which is invaluable to understanding them.
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About Ira Wagler:
Ira Wagler was born in the small Old Order Amish community of Aylmer, Ontario. He is currently the general manager of Graber Supply, LLC, and Pole Building Company in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
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Kate – Thanks for that. I’m glad Wagler has since got a higher education. Lack education is what mainly disables the Amish from living in the outside World. On the whole, and put simply, they’re ill-equipped and can’t cope.
Interestingly, this is made clear in ‘Trouble in Amish Paradise’ when the main protagonists, two charming dissenting young men, have difficulty understanding the Bible – and therefore challenging their Elders! It’s on You Tube (about 60 minutes). They have a wonderfully open and honest approach to their Christianity; and can’t help questioning the ‘closed faith’ they’ve been brought up in.
‘Amish: World’s Squarest Teenagers’ (Channel 4) is four programs about five young Amish who come to England on Rumspringa. Lea and Becky, the narrators, are most engaging. They stay with four different families: a black family in London, a rural artistic family in Kent, a wealthy family in Scotland, and, finally, a family who run a surfing school in Cornwall. Each family and it’s environment and culture present fascinating challenges for the five Amish. How they deal with their new experiences makes riveting viewing – notably their reflections and comparisons with Amish life and values. Will they all go back to their communities after the English odyssey? It’s not clear and there MUST be a follow up program! Becky struggles the most with English life and values. She comes from the strictest Old Order Amish, the Swartzentrubers. Can she sing and dance – just for fun? Can she drop her bonnet and dress up, and even wear a wedding dress? Can she make a work of art? Her hardest test is whether she can go swimming in Cornwall. She phones her mother to ask for advice. Endearingly, she finally swims – very modestly attired – and afterwords looks quite ecstatic. Wonderful. Becky became a celebrity with the British audience for her searingly honest responses to the challenges to her formerly cloistered life. And we are really left wondering what will she do next..?
Both programs are important correctives to the sensational documentaries, mainly American, that have been made about Amish youth. As Ira Wagler’s memoir must be too.
Kate – Thank you very much for your stimulating and balanced review of Ira Wagler’s memoir. You’ve revealed much about the way he writes by cleverly quoting him. We’re going to experience being Amish from the inside from someone who appears remarkably level-headed, has had the greatest challenge – that of rejecting his upbringing and Belonging – and can see the Sect from the outside. The Amish are endlessly fascinating and, it would seem, more challenged than they have ever been. Yet, it’s said that the Old Order Amish still have about an 85% retention rate of children born to them. How do they do it? I’d really like to find out if Wagler dwells on the issue of whether Rumspringa is a good thing or not. What does he now think of his limited education? Can he see the Amish making closer links with the outside World? Would that be a helpful? And are they capable of reform? OK – it’s us that need ‘reforming’…!
I write from England. So you may not know that the BBC have, over the last three years or so, shown two remarkable documentaries on the Amish: ‘Trouble in Paradise’, and the ‘Squarest Teenagers in the World’. Both fascinating insights on the Amish with young Amish as the main protagonists, speaking to camera, as we follow them in their daily lives. It’s totally engrossing viewing. And the programmes raised very important questions about the nature of the Amish faith. I strongly recommend them (Parts have been, and may still be, on You Tube). And there should be follow-ups to both programmes.
Thanks for your comments, Patrick! It’s interesting–you asked if Wagler comments on the issue of Rumspringa. He actually notes that Rumspringa, the time of running around and bending a lot of rules by young Amish people, is greatly frowned upon by the Ordnung. He also mentioned that after leaving the Amish he pursued higher education, eventually earning a law degree. His perspective on Amish life is so fascinating.
If I have time, I will definitely check out those BBC programs. I didn’t know people outside of the US were interested in the Amish.
Patrick, be advised that the Amish youth in “Trouble in Paradise” were being asked to (and paid to) do certain things that tend to make the Amish look more “quaint” than they actually are, such as walking up to parking meters and pretending they didn’t know what they were. I refrain from watching those reality shows on Amish or the “bonnet fiction” because like Ira, I know better. I grew up Amish, also. (I also have a memoir out called, “Why I Left the Amish.”) It isn’t worth my time to find out just how wrong they are with the details.
Kate, I appreciate your review of Ira’s book. You really “got it.” I think you will see more memoirs coming out from former Amish people, which is a good thing. It is about time we get to tell our stories, which normally run counter to bonnet fiction. Various Amish voices lend validity to our point of view, and disclose the kind of diversity among Plain People that I am still learning about, thirty years after leaving the Amish.
Thanks for the background info, Saloma. That doesn’t sound like the type of documentary I’d want to watch!
I’m looking forward to seeing more memoirs of ex-Amish in the future. It will be interesting to hear the different perspectives on why people left.
I’m really curious about this book. I love writers who are able to look analytically at faith and their choices growing up.
This is a book I will definitely pick up! So far, the majority of Amish fiction seems to brush over or accept the legalism from the Ordnung and community. It will be refreshing to read a book that doesn’t shy away from these subjects. After all, we know that the Amish are not perfect people and it is annoying reading books that always depict the antagonists returning to the Amish community after a shunning.
Agreed! I think you’ll like this one a lot.