A Complicated Kindness

I'm reading a really, really wonderful book: A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews.

It is beautifully written. Told from the point of view of a teen (although the book was marketed as adult fiction, I can see where it could easily cross over to young adult), it is both humorous and poignant.

From the fly:

"We're Mennonites. As far as I know, we are the most embarrassing sub-sect of people to belong to if you're a teenager. Five hundred years ago in Europe a man called Menno Simons set off to do his own peculiar religious thing...Imagine the least well-adjusted kid in your school starting a breakaway clique of people whose manifesto includes a ban on the media, dancing, smoking, temperate climates, movies, drinking, rock'n'roll, having sex for fun, swimming, make-up, jewellery, playing pool, going to cities or staying up past nine o'clock. That was Menno all over. Thanks a lot, Menno."

In A Complicated Kindness, Nomi Nickel is stuck in a small Russian Mennonite town in Manitoba with her father. She's trying to make sense of the fact that her mother and sister have disappeared. She's trying to make sense of her life in general. She would love to escape Manitoba and live in New York City with Lou Reed. Apparently, she figures out what happened to her mother and sister, but I haven't gotten that far in the book. So, fear not, there's no spoiler!

A Complicated Kindness won the Governor General's Award and was nominated for the Giller Prize.

A little trivia about the author: She lives in Manitoba and is of Mennonite descent. She debuted in a Mexican film this year, Luz silenciosa. It screened at Cannes.

Nothing beats a good book. Except, perhaps, a good book, a hot cup of tea and a runny butter tart!

P.S. I read Miriam Toews' other two novels: Summer of My Amazing Luck and A Boy of Good Breeding. They were both
excellent.

P.P.S. I can't wait to get to my hair appointment tomorrow so I can continue reading.