Book: Does This Church Make Me Look Fat? by Rhoda Janzen

A Mennonite Finds Faith, Meets Mr. Right and Solves Her Lady Problems

Rhoda Janzen is the author of Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, which was NYTimes best seller. She teaches Creative Writing at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

This is a good book with a not so good title. In fact, I think it's an awful title. But getting past that, Rhoda's life continues in this interesting and humorous account. I definitely recommend it. I was surprised by the content but don't want to say much for fear of taking away the pleasure of reading it. 

She writes about some pretty important life events in spite of her jaunty prose. I'm still thinking on her religious choice, for instance. It just now struck me that there are similarities to Eat, Love and Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert, which book I didn't like as much as this one. She does meet a man and she does find a new church. 

The other big thing is not eating and it's bigger than food, although there IS this scene:

"When Mitch and I first got together, we had dinner with a nice Christian couple who referenced the Jonah story in casual conversation. The husband and wife were citing the story as a metaphor, telling us of a time when they had been reluctant to answer God's call in a matter of service to their church. Something in their tone lay submerged under the current of general conversation. It pressed up from the deep and into my mouth, 'Hey,' I said brightly, 'do you guys believe in the literality of the Jonah story?' An uneasy silence descended--you'd have thought I had asked how much their new couch cost, or what they thought about Obama. I instantly realized the severity of my faux pas. Apparently, in Christian circles, unlike academic circles, one did not discuss where literality leaves off and metaphor begins. The wife set down her fork and looked at her husband, who nodded faintly. 'We do believe that big fish swallowed Jonah whole,' she said to me gently. She chose her words with clipped care, as if she had just discovered that she was dining with a heretic who deserved a good stoning. "

Just read the whole book; you won't be disappointed.