Menno Moto - Cameron Dueck

⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

I had no idea how fascinating I would find this book about my own culture, or how cool it would be to see words and references to things I grew up with in a book. The author is from Manitoba but has largely stepped away from his Mennonite roots as a journalist living in Hong Kong. The book is about his months-long trip he took from Manitoba to Argentina by motorcycle, visiting different Mennonite colonies along the way. In each one he learns about why Mennonites decided to move there and meets different people to talk about their lives and discover interesting stories.

I found this book deeply interesting. It gave me a much better understanding of the migrations of Mennonites, and gave me the opportunity to rediscover my Mennonite identity along with the author. I don't think about the fact that I'm a Mennonite all that often, but reading this book it was interesting to note how parts of Mennonite culture are very present in my parents' lives as well as my own. The stories made me occasionally proud and occasionally ashamed, as they did for the author as well, but as he notes, nobody likes everything about their culture.

Dueck is a journalist, and from what I could tell he did a great job researching the book. There was lots of background information, but never so much that it made the book dry. Since it's a memoir he does talk about his own feelings when visiting each colony, but he still leaves room for the reader to form their own opinions. I'm not sure how much non-Mennonites would like the book, but I think most of my fellow Mennonites would love it.