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The Flying Troutmans

By Miriam Toews

(7)

| Hardcover | 9780307397492

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The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews

Hattie, a young Canadian living in Paris, is summoned home to take care of her sister, Min, who has suffered the latest in a series of psychotic breakdowns. Hattie must now act as guardian to her 11-year-old niece, Thebes (an unwashed, hyperactive ch ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

Out in the Big Empty Spaces

Somehow, despite high gas prices, creeping traffic and exasperating construction delays, the road that presumably goes on forever has remained a reliable source of freedom dreams, pop songs and plot-lite fiction. In Miriam Toews’s fourth novel, “The ... (read full critics)

nytimes published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

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1 Review

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The F-----g Troutmans

Yeah, so things have fallen apart.
So starts the new novel by Canadian author Miriam Toews (A Complicated Kindness, 2004) which tells the story of the Troutmans and their trip to find a way to keep the family together.
Min is Thebie and Logan's mother and she's been suferring for a long ti ... (continue)

Yeah, so things have fallen apart.
So starts the new novel by Canadian author Miriam Toews (A Complicated Kindness, 2004) which tells the story of the Troutmans and their trip to find a way to keep the family together.
Min is Thebie and Logan's mother and she's been suferring for a long time of depression; Hattie is her sister: she is in Paris, dumped by her Buddah-follower fiancé, and she gets a call by her niece about her sister's relapse.
Hattie flies back to Manitoba, takes Min to the psychiatric ward and embarks herself, Thebie and Logan on a trip through the United States to find their long-lost father.
In this bright, fresh but at times tough and implacable novel, Toews shows her best humor (A Boy Of Good Breeding; Summer Of My Amazing Luck) but mostly her genuine and unique skills a 2008 novelist should have: psychological depth, ductility and a series of well-built characters.
Post scriptum.
I'm Thebie Troutman, yo!
It's very rare to find a character like Thebie Troutman. Not talking about a simple eleven year old girl, but about a girl like Thebie, whose strenght, oddity, brightness and emotional depth is nowhere to be found in these year's literature (except, maybe, Briony Tallis in Atonement, whose features are different than Thebie's but just as strong).
Good job, Miriam! Yo!

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billy_ellis said on Aug 16, 2008 | Add your feedback