A Complicated Kindess by Miriam Toews

Bah!

Bah, I say!

I really have nothing to say about this one … other than a little bit that has vexed me. So to get to that part, I'll have to write enough of a bridge to get us to where we can legitimately talk about me. 'Cause you see, it is all about me. This whole exercise, just me.

Anywho … A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews is about this poor Canadian girl, Nomi, growing up in a Mennonite community that gives new meaning to the word repression. It is the type of community that if you do something that upsets the elders, you could find yourself shunned. Basically, you become a ghost, no one can talk to you, can't even eat at the same table as a shunned family member. Nomi's sister and mother left when she was younger and it is only her and her father left to struggle out a life together. You can't blame her for not being all that motivated with her schoolwork when the only future you see for yourself is at the chicken processing plant.

Every character is depressed or unhappy in some form or another. Not a happy story in the lot of them. That didn't make me all that motivated to read this one very fast because it was way too easy to get sucked into the world of the walking despondent. I didn't completely hate it but was glad when it was over. It was sort of like Catcher in the Rye but without the happy ending.

Now we can talk about me and the vexing. You see, I finished the book last weekend and then went to work and told a coworker. (Yep, this is another book club selection.) We started talking about it and I mentioned the ending and how it was sad about ________. I won't give it away here in case you haven't read it. But then, apparently, even if you had read it, you don't see that either. So now, we start taking a poll and it turns out that I'm the only one to get this impression out of the turn of events. (One woman even patted me on the shoulder and said, "Figures you would find the morbid angle." But thanked me for making the book more interesting for her.)

Now I'm starting to think I'm just crazy, which could be true or a potential side effect of this book. I don't know. If you have read it please email me so I can get your take on it. This could be another case of me reading into something that really isn't there or it really did happen and I'm not so nuts.

Bah!