From Amazon.ca:
A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews's third novel, is a very funny book about going AWOL in Mennonite country. Sixteen-year-old Nomi Nickel lives with her depressingly cheerful dad Ray on the edge of East Village--not the hip one in New York City where she would prefer to be but a small, backward Mennonite town in Manitoba ruled by a pious pastor whom Nomi calls The Mouth. Several years before, Nomi's rebellious older sister, Tash, left town on the back of her rocker boyfriend's motorcycle. Not long afterwards, her mother, Trudi, also disappeared for reasons never fully disclosed. As Nomi explains at the outset, "Half of our family, the better-looking half, is missing."
As Nomi drives endlessly about the countryside with her own Lou Reed-loving boyfriend and puts off finishing an assignment for her oddly attentive English teacher, she pieces together her childhood memories in an effort to understand why she and Ray have been deserted. Toews's portrayal of teenage angst, Mennonite-style, is hilarious. East Village, Nomi observes, "was created as a kind of no-frills bunker in which to live austerely, shun wrongdoers and kill some time, and joy, before the Rapture." Regarding the pleasures of the next world, she quips, "I guess we'll be able to float around asking people to punch us in the stomach as hard as they can and not experience any pain, which could be fun for one afternoon." Nomi's steady patter of repartee and reminiscences grows a bit tiresome after a while, especially as this is a novel in which very little happens until the last 50 pages. Toews can't seem to resist a good one-liner, even at the expense of plot. For a light summer read with laugh-out-loud potential, however, A Complicated Kindness is the ticket.


I enjoyed reading this book over the summer. There were a few times that it made me laugh out loud and there were a few times it made me wonder about society. Overall it is an interesting book, although sometimes the story jumps around so it is harder to pin down Nomi's mind set at all these different periods of her life.

Offered as a Bookring Oct. 5/05
Mailing order:
morsecode (USA)
batty14(USA)
JDT (USA)
buffra (USA)
LyzzyBee (UK)
lauraloo29 (Canada)
honey1982 (Canada)
geishabird (Canada)
abs (USA)
gothamgal (USA) -- book is here
Back to me...

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off to morsecode to start the bookray!
Please keep this book traveling - it wants to see the world!

This book arrived today. And it brought a little treat with it! Yeah!

A sad and profound book, at times laugh-out-loud funny.

Its on to its next reader tomorrow

Arrived today! It is third on my tbr pile. Thanks@!

RELEASE NOTES:

Finished this one up really fast! A very interesting read too. Thanks for sharing it!

I popped it in the mail to JDT a few days ago, so she should be receiving it shortly.

Pretty quick trip from NY to CA!

Looking forward to this bookray. The cover art alone is intriguing!

To be honest, I think I liked the cover art, title, and promise of this book more than the book itself.

Edgy and poignant in the contrast between the strict, close-minded church and the lives of several of its members.
A thoughtful, sometimes funny - and sometimes disturbing - coming-of age story.

Appreciated the chance to read it.

Sending off to buffra this week.

Caught it! Thank you.

Nomi Nickel is a young Mennonite girl who explores her growing up years with wit, wisdom, and an eye for detail. Her sister and mother have both left and, as she grows from a devout and serious little girl, Nomi chafes under the dictates of her church and her uncle -- The Mouth -- who is the leader of the town. "That's the thing about this town -- there's no room for in between. You're in or you're out. You're good or you're bad. Actually, very good or very bad. Or very good at being very bad without being detected." Despite her rebellion as she gets older, Nomi has great compassion and tenderness for her father Ray, as the two of them are lost together. She tries to understand why her sister had to leave, why her mother left, and why her father didn't. Eventually, she believes that she comes to the answer. "There are so many perfect ideas in this town. But love, like a mushroom high compared with the buzz from cheap weed, outlasts grief. It does. Love is everything. It is the greatest of these. And I think that we all use whatever is in our power, whatever is within our reach, to attempt to keep alive the love we've felt."

Nomi eventually writes her own answer, her own ending to the story. Or perhaps her ending is just a new beginning. It is an answer born of sacrifice and love, one that presents opportunities of being reunited and happy again. She tells her story and, as she has "learned, from living in this town, that stories are what matter, and that if we can believe them, really believe them, we have a chance at redemption." In her telling of the story, Nomi offers redemption to her rebellious sister, her spirited and optimistic mother, and her serious and devout father -- all of those she has loved.
***

I enjoyed this book. I loved the way Toews gave voice to Nomi and her ideas and observations -- she had a way of saying things that were quite funny, despite their inherent sadness. The mystery of what, precisely, happened to her family was never told, but I too was happy with the love and redemption voiced in Nomi's version. Her struggle against the strictures of her uncle's church was certainly understandable. Even more touching was her father's struggle to remain faithful to the church and to the women he loved. In the end, however, Nomi is gifted with the freedom she has needed -- a remarkable gift of love and a complicated kindness, indeed.

Arrived today - thankyou!

I am reading one ring with Matth3w that I can read in tandem with this, but have one other ring I should read before this - I'll try not to hold it up too much though and should get it finished and sent well before the month deadline!

Thanks for adding me to the ring - looks very interesting

An interesting book. I found it quite trippy and spacey, disconnected and confusing, much as the teenagers' lives are in the book. Or maybe it's because I read it while sickening for and getting a cold-with-a-temperature! Anyway, it's a good small-town coming-of-age book, set apart by the well-observed and wryly done Mennonite background (I particularly liked the descriptions of the other groups - those ones wear polka dots and have beards and kerchiefs, etc). I didn't find the ending as shocking as I think the reviewer who wrote the blurbs on the book did, but then I have read a few in this genre. Glad I got to read it at last.

I have lauraloo29's details already and have checked she still wants it, so it will be off to her within the next few days.

RELEASE NOTES:

Posting to lauraloo29 today (thanks to matth3w!)

Note: Matt sent it surface mail cos that's how I normally send my overseas books - not the bookrings though! Sorry! Be prepared for it to take 2 months to get there. Matt says sorry too.

Arrived safe and sound today.

It feels like the post office has been hoarding my packages. I came away from my mailbox with a total of 6 packages! :)

I'm currently struggling with a ring and have a couple of promised TBRs I need to read as well. I won't hold this book up though. Thank you!

Update - April 5th - Began reading today.

I struggled with this book. Possibly because of the disjointedness. I wanted to finish reading it though. I found most of the book profoundly sad. And the ending even more so.

I did enjoy the descriptions and at many times I would almost laugh out loud. At times the town could have been any small Canadian town. (I actually HAVE won the bike decorating prize for the July 1 parade.)

Interesting that church's wish to pull away from the world doesn't really work. I really just wanted to hug Nomi.

I'll put this into the mail on Monday. Thank you for sharing!

Yey! It has arrived. Will get to it right after I finish my current read (Last Chance Saloon). Thanks for sharing.

The book is packaged up and ready to go. I will go to the post office immediately following supper.

I agree with lauraloo. This book was very disjointed. I wasn't sure if I was coming or going or if I should be laughing or crying. I think this would make an excellent ISP novel. I would need to read it a few more times. Going to try to discuss this with a few people and see what their take on it was and see if I am missing something (because I think I am). Just finished it, so I'm still thinking. Anyways, thanks for sharing.

Arrived today, thank you! I am reading one other ring book right now but this one will be next. I've wanted to read this since it won the Governor General's award a few years ago.

I really enjoyed this book. I found that Nomi reminded me a lot of Holden Caulfield: there's a similar mix of self-destructiveness, black humour and deeply touching vulnerability in both characters. (And of course, they're both angry teenagers.) I thought Toews painted a vivid and disturbing picture of an stifling community and the ways its various members (inmates?) struggled to free themselves from its constraints. Very moving, and very funny - a tricky combo to pull off, but it works. Excellent read, thanks for sharing.

Mailed off to abs today...enjoy!

I just received this in the mail today. I'm pretty excited to read this book as I have been waiting to read it since I heard about it over a year ago.
Thanks Breeze144 for the bookring!

I just finished this book. I still feel like I'm inhabiting Nomi's world. Having roots in the Anabaptist tradition, I know a bit about the kind of Mennonite town that East Village seems to be. I loved how Toews developed the characters with all their own complexities and idiosyncracies, not allowing any of them to be flat. Even the Mouth had characteristics that made you hate him and love him all at the same time.
After reading the book, I want to go out and find the Nomis out there to listen to them and love them. I will be sending this off as soon as I get gothamgal's address.

I cannot wait to read this.

This book was pretty good. I liked the characters and once it was over, I wanted to read more. I'll package this and hope to send it next week.

This book arrived back at home today! Hooray!

Thank you to everyone for making this a success!!!!

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off to Purple-Pixie today as part of the Relayer's VBB!

This looks so good, thanks Bree!

I really felt for Nomi and her struggle against the constraints of the strict community this book is set in. There seemed to be no way of either living within the society or rebelling safely against it's rules. Very sad, but funny in parts too.

Thanks so much, received in the post today, very speedy delivery!

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending onto dixxy-D, 2nd Anniversary Bookcrossing RABCK, enjoy:0)

thankyou jillbe for sending this and : Happy BC 2nd Anniversary! and here's to many more!!

It looks really interesting, so I'll put it near the top of my 'to be read' pile!

Interesting style and a sad absorbing book. A few of the previous readers said they found it funny - I don't think I did find it very funny, which might be a comment on my sense of humour, which is usually off kilter with other folk! However, it might also be that I just felt too connected to the girl who starts out wanting to belong and is frightened that her sister is going to hell, and who wants to do the right thing, who is 'ordinary' as she describes herself at one point, but whose life is so sad.

Dont read the next bit if you havn't read the book. I am not giving it all away, but you might prefer to know less when you start reading!

I think the author is aiming for a sense of hope at the end, and she sort of achieves it. I wanted more information about what happens next of course and I did sort of feel it was a bit of a contrivance to not answer most of your questions properly. I sort of got that the author is trying to make you 'feel' the isolation of this world. Anything outside this community doesn't exist anymore but for me that became too 'fictional'. The narrator in telling her story points out that she doesn't like reading fantasy or SF fiction, because there is enough fantasy in her everday world. She fantasises about 'real life', and as part of her 'growing up' she tries to create something real.

I think I would have liked just a touch more real life beyond this world, but I sort of understand why the author didnt provide this except in a painful teenage angst kind of way through the narrator's actions against the community constraints.

RELEASE NOTES:

Taking this along to the local BC meet hoping it will find a new reader. It has travelled a lot and it would be good to see it go to a new reader and not disappear.

Releasing as part of the 2008 Ultimate Read and Release Challenge

A month later! I was ill for the last BC meet, so taking it along this month instead.

Picked this up at the York meetup last night. Looks right up my street - I like 'coming of age' stories - they appeal to my inner adolescent! And I'm quite intrigued by minority religious sects too, so this one ticks all the boxes...

Picked it up with the intention of passing it on to Nu-Knees after I've finised with it. She has an unhealthy obsession with all things Canadian.

I'm afraid I was a little disappointed by this. I never really felt that I got to know the characters as well as I wanted to. It was kind of funny and kind of sad, but I didn't really get as swept up in it as much as I'd have liked. Will pass this onto Nu-Knees next.

Thank you, tree-hugger! I love getting books which have already got a long BookCrossing history and I love reading books set in Canada, so this one looks very attractive on a couple of counts.

Thank you, buffra, for putting this forward on the 'A Different Kind of Thread for Book Talk' Thread. I'd forgotten Tree-hugger had given it to me until I saw your post, thought 'That sounds interesting!' and realised I had a copy hidden in TBR - and not just any old copy but the actual copy that had previously passed through your hands. Oops! My apologies to you all for delaying it in Knaresborough but I started reading it yesterday and will get it on its way again asap. I'm loving it so far :-)

At this stage, with so many readers before me, I probably can't say anything that hasn't already been said - but that won't stop me adding my two penn'orth here!

I found this a real page-turner, felt great sympathy for the narrator, and enjoyed her rambling teenage way of expressing herself. There's certainly plenty to think about and it would probably be an interesting choice for a reading group. Closed religious communities which are totally convinced that they're right and the rest of the world is wrong fascinate me.

There were many memorable passages but one paragraph in particular is haunting me (p117): "I would ask Mr Quiring if he remembers all that but I don't really want to have conversations about the past with anybody but myself. It prevents discrepancies from creeping in." Exactly!

With such a long line of Journal Entries, I don't want to be the one to lose track of this, but I am planning to offer it as a loan to a non-BookCrossing friend (JR).

Later: JR took it home with her. I hope she'll comment when she returns it!

This is now back with me and Available. No comment from JR except that she enjoyed it and found it interesting!

I passed this to bookwormkt when we met for coffee this morning. It was really good to put a face to a Screen Name. I very much enjoyed our chat and hope we can do it again some time :-)

Nu-Knees passed this book on to me when we met up a few days ago. I really enjoyed our meeting. I plan to read this book at home before I go away on holiday. Thank you for sharing it with me.

I enjoyed reading this book, though it was a struggle at times. Although I am a Christian and part of a local church, I have never lived in a community such as a Mennonite one. Having read this book, I don't plan to any time soon!! I could understand why Nomi and her family reacted certain ways and many of the characters were well written.
This book has been journalled so often, I would like to pass it on to another bookcrosser, so please PM me if you would like to read it.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posted kbmarsh for my permanent job RABCK. Enjoy!

Thanks for this! Will pass on once I have read it :-)

I haven't read it yet

CAUGHT IN HOVE EAST SUSSEX UK