My favourite author, Miriam Toews! She’s my author crush. She writes the novels I wish I could write. The Flying Troutmans is her fifth novel, she has written one non-fiction book and three other fiction novels – one of which, A Complicated Kindness, won the Governor General’s award in 2004, won CBC’s Canada Reads competition and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize.
I just really connect with her writing style; it’s reality mixed with sarcasm and dark humour, what more could I ask for? Her books are all character-driven, my favourite, and are written with such clarity and assurance that they develop into real people; I feel I know them. Most of her characters have reached a low point in their lives: teen motherhood, depressed Mennonites, mayor of the smallest and most insignificant town in Canada, but always manage to find the humour in life, the humour in their own situations. This particular book is not my favourite of hers, but it still maintained my interest and her position as my favourite author. And Bonus: It’s also signed! She came to a local bookstore and I actually spoke to her! Probably one of my top 20 moments.
This novel is about Hattie, the main character, and her dysfunctional family/life. She has recently returned to Canada from Paris after she receives an SOS call from her 12-year-old niece, Thebes. Her sister has fallen into yet another bout of manic depression and neither Thebes nor her brother, Logan, can handle it on their own anymore. She commits her sister into the hospital and becomes overwhelmed by the assumed guardianship of her niece and nephew. She decides to embark on a road trip to find their missing father, jumping off the few clues she has of his location.
This becomes the typical road trip novel, where characters learn about themselves and each other, but, once again, her characters are unforgettable. Thebes spends her time in the back of the van making large novelty cheques for people she meets along the way, Logan carves poetry into the dashboard and Hattie spends the drive trying to come to terms with the fact that her ex-boyfriend preferred to speak to her telepathically. It’s little details like this that differentiate her novels and make them memorable.
The Flying Troutmans was a really easy and enjoyable read, as all of her novels have been. However, my favourite novel by Toews is Summer of my Amazing Luck, her first novel. See here for a description.
Also, all of her books have been designed to match, so not only are they excellent reads but they look beautiful together on my book shelf! It’s like they were made for me.
Living Literary 
I’m commenting! Aren’t you proud?
Her books sound very appealing, I like the idea of dark humour and them being character driven. My only issue with character driven books is that if I don’t like the character, I will not be able to read the book. That actually happens with film and television for me too. Anyway, great post and I will buy one of her books! Suggestion of which one I should read first? Your favourite?
Summer of my amazing luck, it won nominated for an for humour! And the characters are lovable and relatable.
Yay! Since I loved A Complicated Kindness and My Summer of Amazing Luck, I really need to read this one!
It’s a good thing I gave you back My Summer of Amazing Luck, or this picture wouldn’t be complete! Especially since I almost couldn’t find it, stupid moving!
I won’t try and be a downer, but you know how I feel about Miriam. I really did try and read her books. Okay, I tried to read one. What one is your favorite?
Definitely “Summer of my Amazing Luck” because I found it was more humourous than her other novels, but “A boy of Good Breeding” is a completely original idea. It’s set in the smallest town in Canada, and the mayor works very hard to keep it that way because the Prime Minister is going visit the smallest town in Canada, and he thinks the PM is his father. The lengths he goes is to keep his town the smallest is hilarious and very sad. He celebrates death, cries at births and continually shifts the border of the city to include or exclude houses depending on the population. It’s also very enjoyable.
| LOVED this book. I am also a die-hard Toews reader and actually this book was tied for first place in my Toews collection. Ironically, her most successful book “Complicated Kindness” was my least favourite. I love this author’s attention to detail and the halarious character traits she comes up with. Also, she throws in these fantastic metaphors that make you want to cry and laugh at the same time until you pee your pants (well, maybe not). My only complaint with this book was that she reused the idea of a “road trip with kids to find dad” from her previous book “Summer of my Amazing Luck” which wasn’t nearly as popular or published and so I think she thought no one would notice. I did.
I can’t believe you like this book! I hate the cover. It is striped and hurts my eyes. I also stole it from your bookshelf once and read 3 pages and was not impressed. There were chickens in it or something.
BUt thats okay I will not judge you on your book taste, we can still be friends. And also please don’t judge me on the number of self-help books I have, including “he’s just not that into you”, which is also a bright striped cover, but much more useful so I overlook it.
I LOVED this book! The FLying Troutmans is my first Miriam Toews book (I know… how did it take me this long?) and I can’t wait to read more. I’m going to take your suggestion and read My Summer of Amazing Luck next.
You like sarcasm?? I would have never guessed it! 😉
This description makes me want to read this book SO BAD! Can I borrow it over the summer? Like I said in my last post, I can’t get enough of people learning about themselves through others. I guess because people think that self discovery is only about inner exploration…but its so not true! (At least I don’t think so!)
Do you realize that if our sisters ever go crazy, we could be Hattie one day??
Do you realize that if I ever went crazy (which seems more likely) you could also be Hattie one day???