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Review of Amish Snow

by Roger Rheinheimer

At the tender age of sixteen, Amish youngsters can choose to partake of the world’s pleasures during their infamous Rumspringa (literally, “running around”); fast cars, drugs and wild sex. About half of these naive, sheltered kids recklessly fling themselves into this church-sanctioned wildness, but almost ninety percent give it up and rejoin the comfort and security of the rigid Amish way of life.

The vast majority of Amish are hard-working, God-fearing, family-loving citizens. But within the closed Amish community there are abusers, virtually unknown to the outside world. In this Über-Religious, ‘husband-is-the-head-of-everything’ secretive sect, they usually go unchallenged and unpunished.

Fifteen-year-old Ezra Neuenschwander finally reaches his breaking point. He strikes back at his violent, alcoholic father, knocking him down to the ground, an unforgivable sin.

Ezra flees to Philadelphia on the midnight bus, totally unprepared for the chaotic streets of 1964 Philadelphia. Smart, young, now ex-Amish, he must learn fast or perish.

Amish Snow is the engaging tale of young Ezra Neuenschwander’s rocky journey from victim of an abusive Amish home life to successful businessman. Set in the heart of perilous Philadelphia in the 1960s, this universal story of one boy’s coming of age will keep you guessing as he must continue to reinvent himself. Filled with the unexpected, with intrigue, adventure and romance, Ezra’s courageous story will win you over as he feels his way in the “English” world.

It’s a tale of loss, of redemption, of the triumph of the human spirit, coming of age in a dangerous time. And in the face of evil that divides us, it clings firmly to the common bonds of human experience to show the truth that unites us.

My Thoughts about Amish Snow:

This is a very well-written and well-researched book.   I will admit to having a hard time getting into it but then really wanted to know what was going to happen to Ezra as the book progressed.    I was quite shocked by many things in the book as I did not realize how wild the Amish young people behave in their running around years.  I also was shocked that the former-Amish are the ones supplying the young people with the drugs and alcohol.   I was surprised that the Amish were treated with such disrespect and prejudice in the 1960's as well.     This book is a wonderful one for providing historical facts about the Amish.    Men will find all the details of vehicles driven by characters fascinating!  I read those parts aloud to my husband, as he had to explain what some of the terms meant to me!   

About the Author:

Roger spent the first eighteen years of his life in northern Indiana. His father was the only doctor for a small town of 1200, and had a hitching rail on a side street by his office for the Amish patients. His father bought an eighty acre farm, and Roger and his older brother worked it, raising cattle and growing crops.

While he was still in high school, Roger learned woodworking skills from Elmer Schlabach, his Amish mentor. They built houses in the old-fashioned tradition, from hand-mixing the concrete for the foundations to hand-nailing the shingles. The only phase they did not do was the electrical. To this day, Roger enjoys using his wood crafting skills, making acoustic guitars and furniture.

Roger earned an undergraduate degree in Behavioral Psychology from a small private college in the Shenandoah Valley, took a Creative Writing class, loved it, and published a short story called “My Brother.” He was a regular contributing writer to the college newspaper.

After nearly thirty years living in Austin, Texas, watching it grow into a large city, Roger and his wife Ginny moved to a small farm in the Pacific Northwest.

You can visit Roger at his website:   http://www.rogerrheinheimer.com

I received a free copy of Amish Snow from the author in exchange for my honest review.