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The Flying Troutmans

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The Flying Troutmans

Written by: Miriam Toews
Narrated by: Amy Rutherford
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In this completely captivating book, Miriam Toews has created some of the most engaging characters in Canadian literature: Hattie, Logan and Thebes are bewildered, hopeful, angry, and most of all, absolutely alive. Full of richly skewed, richly funny detail, The Flying Troutmans is a uniquely affecting novel.

Days after being dumped by her boyfriend Marc in Paris – "he was heading off to an ashram and said we could communicate telepathically" – Hattie hears her sister Min has been checked into a psychiatric hospital, and finds herself flying back to Winnipeg to take care of Thebes and Logan, her niece and nephew. Not knowing what else to do, she loads the kids, a cooler, and a pile of CDs into their van and they set out on a road trip in search of the children's long-lost father, Cherkis.

In part because no one has any good idea where Cherkis is, the traveling matters more than the destination. On their wayward, eventful journey down to North Dakota and beyond, the Troutmans stay at scary motels, meet helpful hippies, and try to ignore the threatening noises coming from under the hood of their van. Eleven-year-old Thebes spends her time making huge novelty cheques with arts and crafts supplies in the back, and won't wash, no matter how wild and matted her purple hair gets; she forgot to pack any clothes. Four years older, Logan carves phrases like "Fear Yourself" into the dashboard, and repeatedly disappears in the middle of the night to play basketball; he's in love, he says, with New York Times columnist Deborah Solomon. Meanwhile, Min can't be reached at the hospital, and, more than once, Hattie calls Marc in tears.

But though it might seem like an escape from crisis into chaos, this journey is also desperately necessary, a chance for an accidental family to accept, understand or at least find their way through overwhelming times. From interwoven memories and scenes from the past, we learn much more about them: how Min got so sick, why Cherkis left home, why Hattie went to Paris, and what made Thebes and Logan who they are today. Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Funny

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Author did a great job of making a dark situation humorous Was disappointed in the ending but partly because I was enjoying the book so much and wanted more

Disappointed in the ending but enjoyed the book

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Moving story of love, grief, and resilience. Great narrator! Worth every moment of listening! Toews did it again

fantastic!

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I enjoyed every sentence of this book. The witty writing makes all the characters and places and usual and ordinary situations come alive in a vibrant and raw way without any unnecessary detail. Already look forward to discovering other books of this writer and I would totally listen to this book again. Excellent job by the voice artist too.

Awesome characters, brilliant humour

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Story was good and narrator was really good..not over dramatic but enough punch! Looking forward to a follow up book!

Really liked it

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What a great quick read. Fabulous characters! Toews does an incredible job of speaking in an adolescent voice. And the narration is spot on. Loved every minute of it.

Cute, quirky and very funny!

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