Review by langenbrat -- The Vision of Jenny Merkus

[langenbrat]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Vision of Jenny Merkus" by Hadassa Mor.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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I rate the book The Vision of Jenny Merkus by Hadassa Mor two out of four stars. While I loved the idea of bringing her life to light and enlightening people about her, I felt the book fell flat and read more like a high school essay about a historical figure.

Jenny was born to the Dutch governor of Java and, in the beginning, lived a life of luxury. However, that changed when her father died when she was five years old and her family returned to the Netherlands. Jenny is sent away to live with a penniless uncle who instills in her a deep, if somewhat progressive for the time, faith.

When Jenny ages into her inheritance she seems to become liberated, living with another woman in a semi-lesbian relationship and developing a belief in a form of feminism akin to misandry. She finds the thought of having children utterly repulsive and cannot bear the touch of a man.

Jenny then travels to Paris, where she is touched by the plight of the poor and needy. She takes a portion of her inheritance and builds ten hospitals in and around Paris for the less fortunate. Jenny travels around France's holy sites, where she hears a voice telling her to build a house in Jerusalem. The takes this quite to heart and sets out for Jerusalem and makes arrangements to begin building a massive house for the Second Coming of Jesus. However, she soon travels again and finds herself wholeheartedly supporting and even fighting alongside the Christian Serbs against their Turkish rulers.

I gave the book two stars because of the subject—I'd never heard of Jenny Merkus before picking up this book. Additionally, it's obvious the author, Hadassa Mor, has done an extensive amount of research into not just the time period of Jenny Merkus but also the socio-economic factors and each country's history. However, I ran into several issues while reading this book that were fairly off-putting. The first was the poor editing, spelling, and grammar. A second, larger issue for me, is that it's clear Mor idolizes Jenny, because she can do no wrong in the book. She is never described as being afraid, nervous, or any other quality that is less than saintly. Even in the context of her private relationships with women, Mor insists that she gave pleasure but never received it because she was above the wants of the flesh. I found it difficult to tell if the author was making up Jenny's conversations or if they were based in any historical context.

All in all, I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in history for a quick read, but only to pique their interest in the subject, because I am uncertain how much of what I read was fact and how much was fiction. I'm not sure I would recommend it to a conservative Christian, as there are some very progressive and potentially offensive views in the book (for example, it's just assumed that everyone believes Mary Magdalene was Jesus's lover).

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The Vision of Jenny Merkus
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