The Constructed Mennonite is an unusually written book recalling the past history of Werner’s father, John Werner, a German-speaking Russian Mennonite, whose life is traced during World War II and in Russia, Poland, as an American POW in Germany, and finally, Canada. The author, Hans Werner, uses past oral histories of his father to piece together what life was like for his family. I listened to the audio version of the book. Though the manner in which Hans Werner tells this story is somewhat dry and not literary in any sense of the word, my attention was still held by the events which were told over a span of many years. The reading has an academic feel, filled with facts as determined by Hans. The father, John, appears to be a mystery to Hans but Hans is determined and struggles to tell as much as he can of his father’s life, as if trying to convey to us readers of his admiration and respect for his family’s past. An interesting take on biographical history.

This is an interesting biography because it is as much about the process of memory and memoir as it is about the life of the subject. John Werner was born in Russia, naturalized as a German citizen, somehow fought for both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht in World War Two, survived being shot down in a plane off the coast of Italy, was captured as a POW by the US Army, and after the war emigrated to Canada and lived his life in a Canadian Mennonite community. An amazing life, but all of the changes and army records allow the author to examine how John changed or shaded his life story depending on the context. It is this examination of memory and how our life stories function to shape and make sense of our lives that made this more than a story of someone who lived trough more than his share of interesting times..