A Complicated Kindness

A Complicated Kindness

First edition cover
Author Miriam Toews
Country Canada
Language English
Published 2004 (Alfred A. Knopf, Canada)
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 256 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN 0-676-97612-3 (first edition, hardcover), ISBN 0-571-22400-8 (first American edition, hardcover)
OCLC 53161860
Preceded by Swing Low: A Life
Followed by The Flying Troutmans

A Complicated Kindness is the third novel by Canadian author Miriam Toews. The novel won a number of awards including the Governor General's Award for English Fiction, the CBA Libris Fiction Award, and CBC's Canada Reads.

Plot

The novel is set in a small religious Mennonite town called East Village, generally considered to be a fictionalized version of Toews' hometown of Steinbach, Manitoba. The narrator is Nomi Nickel, a curious, defiant, sardonic 16-year-old who dreams of hanging out with Lou Reed in the 'real' East Village of New York City. She lives alone with her doleful father, Ray Nickel, who is a dutiful member of the town church. Nomi, on the other hand, is inquisitive by nature and her compulsive questioning brings her into conflict with the town's various authorities, most notably Hans Rosenfeldt, the sanctimonious church pastor.

As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Nomi's irreverent older sister Tash left town three years earlier with her boyfriend, Ian, and that Nomi's mother, Trudie, also left, though under more mysterious circumstances. Nomi is fiercely loyal to her father, and she comes to decide that she must stay in East Village for his sake.

Nomi senses that when she graduates from high school, all she'll be expected to do is work at the chicken processing plant and get married to a boy from the community and become "good." She develops a relationship with Travis, who in the end is not the person he appears to be. She visits her good friend Lydia in the hospital, where she gets into confrontations with hospital staff. At school, she is met with obfuscation and anger by Mr. Quiring and other teachers and administrators. When Nomi lashes out in action or outrage, she is ignored or negated. Nomi's tragedy is the slow realization that not only will she fail to bring her family together, but she will have to change her nature in order to find a place in the town she loves. In the end, her father Ray makes a heroic sacrifice so that she can be free.

Major characters

Awards

References

  1. Baillie, Andrea (December 7, 2004). "Strong year for Canadian fiction as Munro receives raves, Toews triumphs". Canadian Press Newswire.
  2. Stoffman, Judy (November 12, 2004). "Munro awarded second Giller; Receives $25,000 for collection of short stories Ceremony brings out Who's Who of publishing, politics". Toronto Star.
  3. 1 2 "Manitoba Rewards Complicated Kindness". The Globe and Mail. 25 April 2005.
  4. Wigod, Rebecca (29 June 2005). "Alice Munro 'author of the year': Miriam Toews and B.C.'s Ronald Wright have won awards from the Canadian Booksellers Association". The Vancouver Sun.
  5. "Canadian Library Association Announces 2005 Young Adult Canadian Book Award & Honour Books". 17 May 2005.
  6. "IMPAC Longlist 2006". International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
  7. "And The Winner Is A Complicated Kindness". cbc.ca. 22 April 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2013.

Further reading

External links

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