A Boy of Good Breeding [Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

Miriam Toews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

One thousand five hundred, that’s the magic number. At least, it is for Mayor Hosea Funk when it comes to his town, Algren, Manitoba. Algren’s claim to fame is its rank as Canada’s smallest town, a title that incites both pride and constant angst for its eccentric mayor. Motivated by the Prime Minister’s pledge to visit the smallest Canadian town, Hosea Funk tallies births, deaths and all other arrivals and departures to make sure the population hovers at 1,500 — less than that and the town becomes a village, more and the town might lose its title. Enter Knute Corea-McCloud. A single mom returning home to Algren from the big city, Knute takes a job in the mayor’s office and soon finds herself entangled in his schemes. But keeping the population at an even 1,500 is easier said than done, especially when citizens threaten to leave, the father of Knute’s daughter threatens to move back, and Hosea’s lady friend pressures him to commit. Then there’s the rumour that a local woman might give birth to triplets, and it looks like Mayor Hosea’s plan is on the verge of turning into a shamble. A sweet, funny story about finding out where one belongs, A Boy of Good Breeding is Miriam Toews’s second novel. First published by Stoddart in 1998, it was revised and released in paperback in Canada by Vintage in 2005. It was released first the first time in the United States by Counterpoint in the spring of 2006. The CBC recording, remastered here for an audiobook, originally aired in 1998 and was recently rebroadcast to enthusiastic listener response.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the tradition of Lake Wobegon, Toews (A Complicated Kindness) gives us Algren, Manitoba, a town noteworthy because, with 1,500 colorful residents (give or take), it ranks as Canada's smallest town. For the town's painfully shy mayor, Hosea Funk, Algren's small population spurs both pride and constant anxiety. He tallies births, deaths and all other arrivals and departures to make sure the population hews to the magic number 1,500—less than that, and the town diminishes to a mere village, but more than that and Algren might outgrow its title. Funk's obsession isn't motivated just by bragging rights, but also by a family secret: on her deathbed, Funk's mother told him that the prime minister of Canada is his long-lost father, and that same prime minister has pledged to visit the smallest Canadian town. When single mother Knute McCloud and her kinetic young daughter return to Algren and Funk's own long-distance romance threatens to catch up with him, Funk's compulsive people-counting tests his already awkward human relationships. First published in Canada in 1998, this is a sweet, funny novel full of memorable, picaresque characters and unexpected drama. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Small-town life is a lot more eventful than one might think, especially for the mayor of Algren, the smallest town in Canada. Hosea Funk works hard to keep the population at just the right amount to maintain the town's designation. His anticipated reward is a promised visit from the prime minister as part of the Canada Day celebration. He spends his time keeping careful track of births and deaths, arrivals and departures. In his obsessive attention to his population, he risks things of real value, but does come to realize what indeed matters. Algren may be small, but love and loyalty are in good supply, as are the odd characters, including a couple of unusual single mothers--Hosea's mom, Euphemia, and Knute, whose daughter is named Summer Feelin'--who make life there unique and wonderful. Toews, author of A Complicated Kindness (2004), offers a mellow summer interlude that allows readers to revel in the not-so-simple pleasures of small-town life, and consider what matters most. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: BTC Audiobooks; No edition edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 086492464X
• ISBN-13: 978-0864924643
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,795,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unusual characters make this an enjoying read, July 27, 2000

By 

Andrew Laurence (Alameda, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Boy of Good Breeding (Paperback)

I first heard of Miriam Toews (pronounced Taves) when an excerpt from "A Boy of Good Breeding" was read on CBC Radio One while I was traveling in Canada recently. I was captivated and wound up purchasing the book. The story centers on the zany characters who live in fictional Algren, Manitoba, which at 1,500 people is in the running for Canada's smallest town, and its eccentric mayor is intent on keeping it that way until Canada Day (July 1), for reasons which I won't go into to avoid spoiling your fun. Toews has a gift for making ordinary people and their failings (teenage motherhood, poverty, chronic depression) interesting and sympathetic, without drowning in sentimentality. I was so hooked by this book that I purchased and read "Summer of my Amazing Luck," which won a Manitoba award in 1996. It too was amusing, warm and thoroughly enjoyable

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Writer of Good Breeding, February 26, 2001

By 

Levi Miller (Scottdale, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Boy of Good Breeding (Paperback)

I was recently in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and someone mentioned Miriam Toews as a good writer from the area. I really enjoyed the characters in this book: the eccentric mayor Hosea Funk, the young mother Knute Corea-McCloud and the wonderful mutt named Bill Quinn. The characters make bad, petty, heroic and hilarious decisions, but the writer is ultimately a friendly narrator who gets us to care and want to keep reading right to the end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Writer of Good Breeding, February 26, 2001

By 

Levi Miller (Scottdale, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Boy of Good Breeding (Paperback)

I was recently in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and someone mentioned Miriam Toews as a good writer from the area. I really enjoyed the characters in this book: the eccentric mayor Hosea Funk, the young mother Knute Corea-McCloud and the wonderful mutt named Bill Quinn. The characters make bad, petty, heroic and hilarious decisions, but the writer is ultimately a friendly narrator who gets us to care and want to keep reading right to the end.