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The Flying Troutmans
 
 

The Flying Troutmans (Paperback)

by Miriam Toews (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 22.00
Price: CDN$ 16.06 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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Product Details


Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

A road novel helped along by a lovably nutty cast, Toews's latest (after A Complicated Kindness) follows a ragtag crew as they crisscross America. Hattie, recently dumped in Paris by her moody, adjective-hating boyfriend, returns home to Canada after receiving an emergency phone call from her niece. Turns out, Hattie's sister, Min, is back in the psych ward, and her kids, 11-year-old Thebes and 15-year-old Logan, are fending for themselves. Thus the quirky trio—purple-haired, wise-beyond-her-years Thebes, recently expelled brother Logan and overwhelmed Hattie—embark on a road trip to the States to find the kids' long-missing father. What follows is a Little Miss Sunshine–like quest in which the characters learn about themselves and each other as they weather car repairs, sleazy motel rooms and encounters with bizarre people. Toews's gift for writing precocious children and the story's antic momentum redeem the familiar set-up, and if the ending feels a bit rushed, it's largely because it's tough to let Toews's characters go. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


Review

“Toews’s writing is a unique collision of sadness and humour. . . . The Flying Troutmans is a dark story but it is also a never-ending series of hilarious adventures.”
Ottawa Citizen

“Engaging, humorous, grim, and redemptive, this is essential reading.”
Library Journal

“It’s darkly funny, bursting at the seams with quirky characters and off-kilter pop culture references that rival Douglas Coupland’s for their incisive wit.”
The Vancouver Sun

“Toews may have invented a new genre, the romantic-depressive comedy, at which she excels.”
Toronto Star

“Toews has a terrific ability to capture the mix of irony and innocence in a smart child’s mind. . . . She balances heartbreak with laugh-out-loud wit.”
Edmonton Journal

“Toews writes . . . in a high-energy original voice filled with love, fear, humour and originality. Miriam Toews is an extraordinarily gifted writer, one who writes with unsentimental compassion for her people and an honest understanding of their past, the tectonic shifts of their present and variables of their future.”
The Globe and Mail


From the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Not a Book I Enjoyed, Nov 29 2008
By MacFly (Regina, Saskatchewan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Flying Troutmans (Hardcover)
A couple of years ago, I tried to read A Complicated Kindness by Mariam Towes. I didn't enjoy it and it is one of a very few books that I did not finish. Many people who enjoy similar books to me loved A Complicated Kindness and I always wondered if I gave up on it too easily. Flash forward to today and I thought I would try again with her next novel, The Flying Troutmans. I'm sad to say that although I finished this book, I did not enjoy it. I did not find the characters likable, I wasn't a fan of the writing style and I didn't enjoy the story. There will be many who will love this book but I, a die-hard fan of Canadian authors, did not.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Only read it if you have to, Aug 29 2009
The premise of the book is good. The way it's written isn't so good. I found several of the events and some of the characters unrealistic. For example, there's a scene where 15-year-old Logan and 11-year-old Thebes go into a grocery store in Colorado or Utah (not sure)and come out with food, wine, and fireworks. Not likely since the drinking age in both states is 21 and fireworks are not sold to minors either. In that same parking lot, a couple are looking at the Troutman's Manitoba license plate wondering where it's from and think it's "something like Anaconda" Come on..Manitoba - Anaconda??? Sad attempt at humour I'd say.

To me, the character of Thebes is poorly developed. She's an 11-year-old who behaves in one minute like she's 6 and the next like she's 18. No consistency, but perhaps that's supposed to be indicative of the life she's lead. Logan, on the other hand, is a realistic and believable character.

Perhaps the most annoying thing to me about this book is that it doesn't use quotations when people speak, and instead says "he said" or "she said" in nearly every line. Here's an example... They want me to eat, she said. Oh, I said. You should go? I guess so, she said. Or like forty lashes I said. Worse, she said, I'd have to share. Oh, like in Group? Yep, she said. You fail breakfast, I said. I know, said Min.
and it goes on and on and on like this.

So if you want a book that's promoted as being well written and humourous, don't choose this book since it is neither.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Understatement, Nov 30 2008
By Graham Butler (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Flying Troutmans (Hardcover)
Toews just has a knack for writing kid characters that are hard to not relate to. She has them down to the melodramatic poetry they scribble into notebooks and it's simply incredible just how much growing up she can stuff into them without losing that sense of childhood.

She's a master of tragic, dark comedy and I'm so happy that she moved away from her Mennonite subject matter to tackle something new.
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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Where do I begin?

This book is, in its own way, a stellar accomplishment. At the same time, not everyone will like it, not everyone will 'get' it. But man...what a ride. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Schmadrian

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book
All of Miriam Toews books are a treat. She has an amazing knack for developing a protagonist that has an amazing sense of humour and unique sense of self while also struggling... Read more
Published 1 month ago by E. Volpe

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a typical novel
It took me a while to finish Mariam Toews' last book "A Complicated Kindness", yet it is a book beautifully written with humors of unspoken sadness. Read more
Published 3 months ago by BetsYi

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
The Flying Troutmans was a huge disappointment. I absolutely loved A Complicated Kindness, and was looking forward to The Flying Troutmans, expecting to find more of the same rich... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Donna Campbell

4.0 out of 5 stars Flying Troutmans' Book Club selection
Our club selected this book. The rich character development and poignancy of the story appealed to all of us. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Retired reader

4.0 out of 5 stars Another great Toews
If you've read her other books and enjoyed them, you won't be disappointed with this book.
Published 13 months ago by marylou

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