I really liked Nomi.

What I admired about her was the fact that she simply didn't care about every single bad thing that occurred in her life.

This attitude of hers is truly quite inspiring.

It makes me think that perhaps I should also adopt the same mindset.

If someone wants to burn something, let them burn.

If someone wants to get excommunicated, then so be it.

We should not let the negative events and actions of others overly concern us or hold us back.

Just like Nomi, we should learn to be more resilient and not let the bad things in life bring us down.

By doing so, we can focus on the things that truly matter and live our lives to the fullest.

4 ½ ⭐️

Thank you Jodi for recommending this truly amazing book. Miriam Toews has courageously laid her soul bare and told a story that is filled with heartbreaking sadness, yet also has so many flashes of wit and humour. The last few chapters were truly masterful. There are very few authors who can have you chuckling one minute and then tearful the next.

I was previously unfamiliar with the Mennonites, but they seem to have a very similar belief system and community to the Brethren who have a strong presence in Western Australia. The lack of care for the mental health and wellbeing of their children, and indeed anyone who doesn't conform, is truly grim and desolate. Their priorities are completely with the very strict and literal creed of the church, and any dissent is not tolerated.

The quotes from the book are powerful. For example, "I thought about Menno Simons and what kind of childhood he must have had to want to lead people into a barren place to wait out the Rapture and block out the world and make them really believe that looking straight through a person like she wasn't there, a person they'd loved like crazy all their lives, was the right thing to do." And also, "...the only difference between you and me is that you reached out and used the church - there it was as it always has been, what a tradition - and I stayed at home, in bed, and closed my eyes."

The writing, though at times harrowing, is just beautiful. Miriam Toews has such a gift. Nomi is a wonderful character. Coming of age is already hard enough, but she is battling so many losses and struggles to be herself against all odds. I feel that this book will stay with me and that I'll think about it for a long time. It is highly recommended.

LOVE THIS NOVEL SO HARD!

This was my third time reading A Complicated Kindness and I think it gets better each time. The way Toews captures the voice of 16-year-old Nomi is truly incredible.

Sure, she's wise and precocious, but she's also still a kid, and Toews gets her voice so right. It's as if you can hear Nomi speaking directly to you, sharing her thoughts, dreams, and frustrations.

I don't want to say too much here as one of my groups is about to do this read together. I don't want to spoil anything for them.

However, I will say that it's a great novel to read over the Canada Day long weekend. It's a story that will make you laugh, cry, and think. It's a story about family, friendship, and growing up. It's a story that you won't forget.

Huge sigh...

I simply can't believe that Canadians read this and label it as literature. It's fine to be culturally trendy and promote this work, but truly, shouldn't the primary purpose of what we read be to provide entertainment? I was raised in this community, and a significant portion of what is presented is a lie. I'm not a supporter of the Mennonites, but must we force this upon an uninformed public and declare it as some form of truth? It isn't. Toews' teenage gripes could easily be itemized on a single page.

It's a pity that we don't have genuine writers in this country who are capable of captivating a potentially vast audience. For this verbose and historically inaccurate piece to be honored with a GG Award is the epitome of folly and merely emphasizes the flaws in Canada's perception of good writing.

To make the situation even worse, we now place it before the glazed eyes of our university students. Most of the students I've talked to were astonished that it's required reading and thought the era of myopic CBC indoctrination had ended... I guess not.

Done... In any other country, this might be considered a hate crime against the Mennonites, but here we bestow a prize upon it.