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Search - The Flying Troutmans

The Flying Troutmans
Author: Miriam Toews

Miriam Toews, winner of Canada's 2004 Governor General's Award for A Complicated Kindness, has just released her latest novel, The Flying Troutmans. It is the story of Hattie, a young woman who returns from Paris to Winnipeg to take care of her niece and nephew after her sister Min is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Reminiscent of the movie ... more »Little Miss Sunshine, the novel evolves into a road-trip tale, as Hattie decides to take the children on a quest to track down their long-lost father and finds herself playing guardian and in way over her head. Days after being dumped by her boyfriend Marc in Paris ("he was heading off to an ashram"), Hattie receives a call in the middle of the night from her niece, Thebes, asking for help. Toews begins Hattie's narration of the story in the opening sentence: "Yeah, so things have fallen apart." That sets the tone for the entire book, which could have also been called A Complicated Kindness, as that perfectly describes the compassion that Hattie shows Min and her children, despite the very complex relationship with her sister. Even the death of Min and Hattie's father, a drowning in Cancun while trying to save a struggling Min, is fraught with complex emotion and painful memories between the sisters. The kids, Thebes and Logan, are both extraordinary. Thebes, a sweet, yet preternaturally mature child at age 11-going-on-30, looks like a purple-haired, dirty street kid. Thebes's 15-year-old emo brother, Logan, uses his hoodie and headphones to block out the slings and arrows of the world. Not knowing what else to do, Hattie loads the kids, a cooler, and a pile of CDs into their van and, with little more than a rumor as their clue, they set out to find the children's father, Cherkis. In the end, the traveling matters more than the destination. On their ragtag journey down to North Dakota and beyond, the Troutmans stay at sketchy motels and meet helpful travelers, all as Hattie tries to ignore the threatening noises coming from under the hood of their van. Thebes, a constant talker, spends her time making huge novelty checks with art and craft supplies in the back, and won't wash, no matter how wild and matted her purple hair gets. Logan carves phrases like "Fear Yourself" into the dashboard, and repeatedly disappears in the middle of the night to play basketball; he's in love, he says, with New York Times columnist Deborah Solomon. Meanwhile, Min can't be reached at the hospital and Hattie is left to figure out how to parent the kids alone. The trip feels like an escape, but the emotional journey is urgently necessary, a chance for an accidental family to try and accept, understand, or at least find their way through overwhelming times. With interwoven memories and scenes from the past, we learn much more about them all: why Min got so depressed and sick, why Cherkis left them, why Hattie went to Paris, and what made Thebes and Logan who they are. -- review by Danielle Marshall

ISBN-13: 9780307397508
ISBN-10: 0307397505
Publication Date: 6/30/2009
Pages: 288
Rating:

Currently 3.7/5 Stars.

3.7 stars, based on 5 ratings

Publisher: Vintage Canada
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "The Flying Troutmans"

Genres:

Literature & Fiction >> Dramas & Plays

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