So I recently read a complicated kindness by Miriam Toews. D has read it but I have not spoken with him about it yet. I have only met one other person who has read it and he enjoyed it. I have met a lot of people who absolutely think it’s an awful book – somehow inherently evil – but not one of them has actually read it so I am left somewhat puzzled.

 

It is well written and unique in its style (if not the approach). The story revolves around the life of a teenage mennonite girl and disolution of her family. Woven throughout the narrative is an intense critique of the mennonite culture and the community the girl grows up in (East Village). She has no kind words for the church either.

 

Of course one has to remember when reading that this is a work of fiction (even if it is a thinly veiled attack on various aspects of the author’s past). The perspective is also from a 17-year-old girl’s persepctive.

 

It’s an incredible read and has already turned up in literature classes at university. I’d be interested in talking with others who have read the book.

 

Remember – you don’t have to agree with a book to enjoy it or to learn from it.