Crossing Over by Ruth Irene Garrett: A Bitter and Faulty Complaint On the Amish

Having been raised Mennonite and developed friendships with Mennonites and Amish of all sorts, I was interested in this book for a number of reasons. I had heard about it, and heard negative reviews, but thought I'd give the it a chance. I wish I hadn't.

Even accepting that Mrs. Garrett's father and possibly her particular church were abusive and spiritually manipulative, I found the book a bitter generalization about all Amish. And having myself escaped from a religious cult with my family, I did not appreciate her applying that term to the Amish church as a whole.

While I think that the abuse described by Mrs. Garret in the actions of her family and fellow church members is unacceptable for Christians, I also think that she herself behaved in ways unbecoming of a Christian, though much of the book talks about her relationship with God and her strong faith.

She blames her family's horror at her marriage to Ottie Garrett on their being Amish, but I don't know many people of any faith who would jump with joy at the thought of a naive, sheltered young girl marrying a worldly wise, thrice divorced man twice her age.

Otties behavior, which Ruth writes so approvingly of, was hardly conducive to good relations with the Amish-he was combative with them about their non-participation in the military, and made extra money sneaking pictures of the Amish for calendars that he published. The most loving, gentle, and liberal of Amish families would have been rightly appalled at such a match (as would any reasonable parents I know, Christian or not).

Mrs. Garrett's descriptions of her premarital sexual relationship as wonderful and good do not match with her claims of being a devout Christian either. While the book was meant as a defense of her leaving in the way she did and a degradation of the Amish, I could not reach that conclusion.