Anything but Simple

Title: Anything but Simple
Author: Lucinda J. Miller
Major Themes: Memoirs, Love, Faith, Family, Authors
Synopsis: A young Mennonite woman shares her experiences growing up in rural Wisconsin.

I’ve wanted to read Anything but Simple since the first time I heard a mention of it. I started following Lucinda (Miller) Kinsinger’s blog right around the time this book was released, and some of the reviews that followed its release only whetted my appetite more. Unfortunately, I was too stingy to actually buy myself a copy (and anyway, if I did buy every book I want, I’d be broke in no time), so I had to wait a few years until the chance came up to read it in exchange for a review. That wasn’t a hardship, let me tell you—I jumped at the chance! And what a wonderful read it turned out to be!

Lucinda starts the story by introducing us to her life and world. Growing up in a large family, she had many funny and formative things happen to her, and as she relates her young years and some of the stories of how her parents were raised, met, and got married, I felt like I was able to get a grasp on her world a little bit. I can relate to the large-family side of things fairly well, and coupled with a more traditional upbringing, some parts felt very familiar to me. Other parts—like the story of preparing for a wedding and all the young men having to take turns showering in the milkhouse—felt quite foreign. My mother, who read the book around the same time as me, found that section hilarious because she’d had to do the same thing as a girl.

After the introduction to her world, Lucinda goes on to relate her love of words, writing, and struggles as she longed to become a well-known published author. Around the same time, she had quite a few challenges in her faith to work through, and I loved seeing how she walked with those questions until she came to a satisfactory conclusion. Not everyone would agree with where she got to, but I loved the way she showed the process and brought us into her heart and story to show us why and who she is now.

There was so much to love in Anything but Simple. Lucinda’s method of baring her heart and soul so we can see and understand is astounding. It’s something that takes a lot of courage to do, and yet in doing so, she shows us that even if she might not look, think, or talk the same as all the rest of us, at our cores, we’re all the same—human beings looking for a deeper, more fulfilling connection with those around us and with God. This isn’t a treatise on why to become a Mennonite; this is just her journey, her life, laid out so we can appreciate and perhaps relate a bit more with those we come in contact with.

By the time I finished this book, I felt like Lucinda was one of my close friends, and I loved that. Even if we never meet on this earth, I value the contribution she’s made to my life by telling her story. I came away with a lot to mull over, and a greater appreciation for Christians around the world who are following the Lord with their whole hearts. Anything but Simple is a keeper!

I was given a review copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.

WARNING: A man tells how he beat his mother in ch. 1. In ch. 12, a man tells how he mutilated a live mouse as a boy. In ch. 20, there is a description of watching a steer being killed.

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