The Flying Troutmans (a book review)

Recommended to me by my Media Savvy mentor*, I picked up The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews with very few expectations. I'd read the summary which involved a road trip taken by an aunt with her niece and nephew to find the kids' absentee father. A road trip? Missing parent? Canadian writer? Count me in.

This feels like the first adult book I've read. No I don't mean "adult" in a sex way. It's not extremely mature, I mean it is, but not like that. There is some "course language" but nothing overly shocking. Realistic.

Jeez, I'm doing a really good job at this so far. Sarcasm, as Stephenie Meyer would write. How about we get on with it?

I loved that book. Not Twilight, shut up--although... yeah, never mind. Troutmans. Maybe it was the story or maybe it was the characters or maybe it was the dialog or maybe it was the road trip and all the weird and hilarious events revolving around that but no, no, it was definitely all of that stuff plus more than I can explain.

Good books rock my world. Daily.

It didn't make me rethink reality or the complexness of people or love or loss. Never mind, of course it did all of those things (a little, anyway). It didn't shift my perspective on the whole world and things might still be the same. But maybe they won't ever be.

Maybe in the end, it wasn't just a slew of quirky** characters and offbeat dialog and simply priceless scenarios or brutally beautiful realness. Maybe it was nothing but figuring out what love is and what your responsibilities are to your family and how to deal with things***. But maybe it was more. Great metaphors, gorgeous writing, a lovely, conflicted narrator/protagonist that I felt very similar to. General hilarity.

Maybe it was everything. Gah, I love life.

I recommend this to anyone who likes books that are a bit unorthadox but full of lovely, real, fun, flawed, witty, humous dynamic characters and spontaneous road trips and (in my opinion, of course) fantastic writing. You think you have adjectives? *I* have adjectives.

Good night morning.

*that's not, like, code. She's the legit mentor of my Media Savvy course.
**and I mean quirky. You think you know what the word means until you read this book. Thebes = win.
***let me tell you, these things could not be more appropriate in my life right now.