The Flying Troutmans

Miriam Toews
2008

Hattie comes back from Paris to take care of her mentally ill sister. She checks her sister into a hospital and then collects up her sister's kids and goes on a road trip to find their absent father. They take a shit areostar van through the states and get into all sorts of shenanigans. That's the plot in a nut case, typical road trip plot, we all get it.

What I really like is the way Toews develops her characters. Hattie is clearly the straight man who has a bunch of bad and weird things happen to her. Her niece Thebes is a crazy little girl with loads of emotions and blue hair. She's lots of fun and she does a bunch of really neat and unpredictable things. Hattie's nephew Logan is the sullen teen with loads of angst and poetry. The sister Min is just crazy (ok I know she's more than that but it just wasn't worth describing).

The thing that bothers me about the kids is that they are super well spoken and aware of worldly things. Not saying kids aren't that aware, but come on. Especially young Thebes, she has so much self awareness, besides being completely creatively wacked she's way older than she should be.

Although it does follow the typical road trip plot, Toews spices things up with weird flashbacks into Min and Hattie's childhood. Usually they come when Hattie is telling the kids about why their Mom is so crazy. I think the most admirable thing about this book is how it takes on mental illness. We don't ever spend anytime with the person who is ill but we see it reflected in the rest of the characters. We see the way it makes the kids feel helpless and frustrated as there is nothing they can do for their mother, and we see how Hattie has run away and come back so many times. Toews gives the full and complex picture of mental illness.

But yeah, I know what you're probably thinking. Miriam Toews, didn't she write "A Simple Meanness"? No dumby it's called "A Complicated Kindness" (I may have made that mistake before), is this book as good as her other awesome one? The answer of course is no. Is it a good book if you like really internalized plots, zany road trips, and mental illness? Yes, yes it is. So all in all I'll give it a 3.5 lightning bolts, a really good 3.5, almost a four, but for some reason not a four.

Reviewed by Meg!