Miriam Toews is the author of A Complicated Kindness, winner of the Governor General's Award and finalist for the Giller Prize, A Boy of Good Breeding, and Swing Low: A Life. She has written for "This American Life," and The New York Times Magazine. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
"Brilliant . . . there is beauty and compassion in [Toews']
portrayal of Nomi's struggle."
—New York Times Book Review
"Brilliant."
—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
"There is a Plautdietsch term, schputting, for irreverence directed
at serious or sacred things. In conversation, as in art, Toews is a
schputter; she likes to puncture anything that has a whiff of
pretension or self–importance about it . . . [A Complicated
Kindness] is a master class in schputting."
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker
"Offering incisive reflections on life, death and Lou Reed, the
black–sheep Nomi is clearly wise beyond her years, and her voice is
unique. The road to anywhere else may be rough for her, but her
angst–ridden journey is unforgettable."
—People Magazine
"A darkly funny and provocative novel."
—O, the Oprah Magazine
"A scathing, bittersweet and twistedly funny novel."
—Seattle Times
"[A Complicated Kindness] offers a primer on Mennonite ways through
her enormously appealing 16–year–old protagonist, Nomi . . . As a
stand–in for the author, Nomi has an acidic wit and a keen eye for
calling out hypocrisy . . . If Nomi portrays the rest of her family
with more compassion than an angry teenager might, then A
Complicated Kindness is a prototypical Miriam Toews novel. So much
of Toews’ work features her actual family in various forms: We meet
versions of her mother, father, and older sister over and over
again in her novels, and she’s forgiving and admiring of all three
even as they suffer under the weight of their religion."
—Maris Kreizman, BuzzFeed
"Why the compulsion to laugh so often and so heartily when reading
A Complicated Kindness? That's the book's mystery and its miracle.
Has any of our novelists ever married, so brilliantly, the
funny—and I mean posture–damaging, shoulder–heaving,
threaten–the–grip–of–gravity–on–recently–ingested–food brand of
funny—and the desperately sad —that would be the three–ply–tissue,
insufficient–to–the–day, who–knew–I–had–this–much–snot–in–me brand
of sad? I don't think so."
—The Globe and Mail
"There have been a lot of Holden Caulfield knockoffs since 1951,
but few authors have been as successful as J.D. Salinger in
channeling adolescent angst in a way that's as charming as it is
profound. Miriam Toews hits that elusive mark with her new novel.
In fact, A Complicated Kindness just may be a future classic in its
own right."
—Philadelphia Inquirer
"Miriam Toews, the award winning Canadian author, embodies Nomi's
voice with such an authentic and manic charm that it's hard not to
fall in love with her . . . A Complicated Kindness captures the
struggles of a family and its individuals in a fresh, wondrous
style. Despite this complexity of family tensions, much of A
Complicated Kindness is pleasantly plotless. The looseness of
Nomi's worldview, the sometimes blurry nonfocus of it, the
unexpected sideways humor, make this book the beautiful and bitter
little masterpiece it is."
—The Believer
"Who says novels aren't political? A Complicated Kindness by
Canadian Miriam Toews, is the story of a wise, funny, unhappy
teenager whose family is destroyed by fundamentalist
Christianity."
—New York Post
"Truly wonderful . . . A Complicated Kindness is . . . one of the
year's exuberant reads. Toews recreates the stultifying world of an
exasperated Mennonite teenager in a small town where nothing
happens with mesmerizing authenticity . . . Toews seduces the
reader with her tenderness, astute observation and piquant humour.
But then she turns the laughs she's engendered in the reader like a
knife."
—Toronto Star
"Bold, tender and intelligent, this is a clear–eyed exploration of
belief and belonging, and the irresistible urge to escape
both."
—Publishers Weekly
"Although Nomi's story is depressing, her wry observations reflect
normal adolescent angst leavened with a distinctly parochial
irreverence. Teens with real issues as well as those who would
benefit by realizing that they don't have it so bad will find
sadness and hope in Nomi's thoughtful musings and root for her
survival. The story is a metaphor for those torn between a present
lack of fulfillment and the fear of moving toward the unfamiliar–in
other words, growing up."
—School Library Journal
"Toews captures the spurts and lurches of adolescent growth in a
tale as crude and fresh as its subject matter."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A Complicated Kindness is just that: funny and strange,
spellbinding and heartbreaking, this novel is a complicated
kindness from a terrifically talented writer."
—Gail Anderson–Dargatz, author of The Spawning Grounds
"It is a complicated kindness indeed that gives us this book.
Miriam Toews has written a novel shot through with aching sadness,
the spectre of loss, and unexpected humor. You want to reach inside
and save 16–year–old Nomi Nickel, send her the money for a plane
ticket to New York, get her a cab to CBGB's on the Bowery and
somehow introduce her to Lou Reed. It might seem an odd metaphor to
use about someone who has authored such a vivid, anguished
indictment of religious fundamentalism, but Miriam Toews writes
like an angel."
—David Rakoff, author of Fraud
"The narrator of this novel, Nomi Nickel, is wonderful. She scrapes
away the appearances in her small town and offers what she finds in
a voice that is wry, vulnerable, sacrilegious and, best of all,
devastatingly funny. This is Miriam Toews at her best."
—David Bergen, author of The Case of Lena S.
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