Customer Reviews

The Flying Troutmans

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

For the most part, I found this novel to be engaging, if a little light on plot, and not to be taken too seriously. I applaud the book's attempt to deal with the issue of mental illness, and its effects on family members. I also commend the story's courage in dealing with the disease realistically, because, although we often hear of the miracles that the latest series of pharmaceuticals can bring to patients (in TV and magazine ads and the like), the truth is, that for every patient that finds relief with drug therapy, many more will not. And, so, unfortunately, mental illness is often a chronic and life long disease for many people.

That being said, the story itself, while having some touching and humorous moments, had a few problems with character development. The precocious 11 year old was just a little too precocious, and it took way, way too long for her adult aunt to finally give that child a bath!!!

My biggest disappointment with the book was its obvious similarity to the 2006 movie, "Little Miss Sunshine". We have the precocious, quirky, female child, the sulky teen boy, a van that breaks down, and an extended road trip. Ok, so the book doesn't include a drug-addicted, eventually dead grandfather with obvious psychological problems, but it does have a mother with mental illness who is ever present in the van, though not physically, because of the amount of time the characters discuss, think, and attempt to contact her via pay phones (so they don't believe in cell phones in Canada, eh?).

There is even a similarity in the endings involving the sulky male teen, which I won't go into in detail, so as not to spoil it for others. While I enjoyed some of the story, the portions of the novel that were original and fresh were few and far between. The writing was very good, the story flowed (except for the bath bit and the constant stopping at pay phones), but the book was too reminiscent of a road trip we already took at the movies in 2006.

The Flying Troutman opened with what was for me a dubious, well-worn premise. Broken group of odd characters heads on improbable road trip and finds healing/redemption/understanding or whatever. In this particular incarnation the group is family - a recently dumped aunt who rides in from Paris to rescue her mad sister's children. Yeah, sure, lower your expectations.

However, the characters quickly catch your attention - the author's choice of details quickly build into full characters with a range of concerns and responses that makes what happens to them matter to the reader. My favorite - the remains of a candy necklace on Thebes clothes and body.

While the characters at first seem extreme, as their background unfolds their responses become believable, perhaps even "normal" for the circumstances. The road trip becomes the perfect vehicle for healing - the close proximity for hours at a time without facing each other. There is a distancing effect that permits confidences that would be more difficult in an intimate setting. As the trip progresses, one learns that the aunt riding to the rescue is inept herself, bearing the consequences of growing up with a mentally ill sister.

The misstep in the book, from my perspective, is the reliance towards the end of the book on meeting the right person at the right time to learn the right lesson ... the adoption of a dog works; meeting the second wife of the kids' father sort of works; the pot head ... give me a break.

Nonetheless, if you want a delightful, semi-light afternoon's read, I would recommend The Flying Troutmans as a decent choice.

I will be honest, I read this book with nothing more to go on than the cover and the title, which I found intriguing. However, when I first began to read the book I felt a little disappointed. Right off the bat it seemed like a written version of The Royal Tenenbaums...really weird. Having finished the book, I can say it retained this weirdness throughout, but it ended up very endearing. While the names and situations seemed a little far-fetched, I really began to care about the characters. Best of all, there were some moments when I literally laughed out loud--quite a few of them in fact. What really made me like this book were the author's sardonic wit and wicked sense of humor...these things trump any other issues I might have originally had with the book. Another reviewer mentioned the similarity this book has with the film Little Miss Sunshine, and s/he was right. It is about a broken family traveling across North America looking for answers, and things just have this magical way of working themselves out, even with all the blunders and mishaps that befall them along the way.
I wouldn't call the book literary in any way, but it would make a nice beach/gym read. I got more than a few stares at my gym when I was laughing out loud to myself on the exercise bike while reading this novel...each time I felt like one of the weirdos I was reading about. That made me laugh all the more. Normalcy is overrated. When all was said and done, I found that I had really enjoyed the book, quirks and all.

I must admit, I didn't have very high expectations for this book. I read "A Complicated Kindness" by Miriam Toews, and I wasn't very impressed by it. However, as soon as I began "The Flying Troutmans," I could tell it was going to be a completely different reading experience. This book is about Hattie, a 28-year old woman who takes over caring for her niece and nephew when her older sister, Min, is institutionalized. Hattie, Logan, and Thebes embark on a spontaneous road trip in search of the childrens' father, and learn a lot about themselves and each other in the process.

This is a terrific book. Toews has a very unique writing style, and I became completely engrossed with the story from the very first page. All of the characters are dynamic and endearing, and I felt very invested in their outcome. I enjoyed "The Flying Troutmans" very much and highly recommend it.

The concept of The Flying Troutmans is simple: Hattie Troutman comes home to care for her niece and nephew when her sister is committed to a mental hospital. Hattie's solution to dealing with the situation and the emotional issues of the whole family is a spontaneous road trip in search of the children's father. This book isn't about the plot at all; it focuses completely on the three members of the Troutman family, their relationships with one another, and how they deal with a loved one's mental instability and their own emotional baggage. It's extraordinarily funny, depressing, and beautiful all at once. It also has a feeling of realism that many novels lack.

My only complaint was that dialogue wasn't indicated with the standard quotation marks. It was sometimes hard to follow who was speaking, what parts they were actually saying, and what parts were thoughts and not spoken words. Nevertheless, it doesn't greatly detract from the ease of reading this book. Anyone interested in a realistic and beautifully written story about families dynamics should try The Flying Troutmans.

This was an extremely well written novel by a talented author. I could not put it down. It is a story from Canadian, Hattie Troutman's perspective about the effect her sister Min's mental illness had played on her parent's life, her life, Min's children Thebes and Logan's life, and the children's father Cherkis' life.

The author thoroughly developed each character to the point where I could see 10 year old Thebes purple matted hair and irritating mannerisms and hear her colorful language and smell her body odor. I felt annoyed along with her 15 year old brother Logan as she taunted and aggravated him. I could feel Logan's anger and understand his frustrations and his need to be alone from time to time dealing with his determination to tolerate and protect his sister and cope with his unstable broken family situation. I could visualize Hattie's airhead ex-lover, Marc, in Paris and Hattie's determination to look out for the best interest of her niece and nephew without abandoning her needy self-centered manic depressive and psychotic sister.

In spite of the fact that Min tried to drown Hattie as a small child, a scene that resulted in their father's death attempting to save them, Hattie loved Min and thoughout her life waited patiently for the depressive stormy side of Min to subside and the gentle loving side to resurface.

Much of the setting in this book took place in various parts of the country as Hattie travels from Canada across America with Logan and Thebes in a clunker van and keeps the reader on edge encountering dangerous situations and surprises on the road trip while searching for Cherkis.

Although this book has a painful side to it and some of the characters use profane language, drugs and alcohol to excess, this is a book that will undoubtedly become a best seller. The symbolism and imagery is noteworthy and the author's skillful storytelling abilities will keep you on edge and sometimes make you laugh out loud. You will think about this book long after you put it down. I think it is best suited for mature readers.

I am glad I had the opportunity to read this book and look forward to reading Miriam Toews other novels.

I was excited to get a Toews book because I had been thinking of buying some of her earlier works. This book was an interesting read but not so interesting that I want to read another. I really liked the character of Thebes, who has the best and wittiest lines in the book. The nephew's character was a spot-on portrayal of teenage angst. But I never resonated with the heroine, nor were her actions and decisions adequately explained, and so for me the story fell flat and ended strangely. (How to get Thebes through a US airport and back into Canada with no passport, post-9/11, is conveniently ignored.)

Like others have mentioned, the 'epic journey' promised on the back cover never materialized for me inside, but instead I was treated to a great 'road trip' tale, complete with the old leaky van, and quirky characters who are mingling 'running away' with 'running towards' different things in their lives.

Although many of the situations in this book should be heart-rending, the author is able to keep things light. This could be seen as a detriment in a heavy novel, but in this case, it lends interest without tension - similar to the murder in an Agatha Christie novel, as opposed to some agonized death imagined by Stephen King.

Good characters, well-written location descriptions, overall a good lightweight read for teens and adults.

This book would be of great interest to anyone who likes to learn more about human psychology. It is well written. You need to be up to date with teenagers lingo in order to understand some of it. The characters are interesting, and very believable. The novel works, despite the rather terse style.

Saying that, I did not particularly ENJOY the novel. The fault however, was not with the book, it was because it so closely followed some very painful relationships in my own life, in particular the older sister who always wanted to be the only child- even well into adulthood. If you suffer, or have suffered, from severe depression, and worried extensively about your children and how to care for them, this book is probably best skipped.

This book is about journeys -- physically and spiritually. It's about three people who set out looking for somebody, but each of them finds more than what they originally thought they were seeking. It's a story that reminds me that, no matter how bad things may seem, you just need to continue. "Hope" and "faith" are weaved throughout the story.

Miriam Toews does an excellent job at creating three extremely enjoyable and diverse characters. Told in the first person from Hattie's perspective, you never really get to know what Thebes and Logan are thinking, but the way Miriam describes them provides enough insight into each of their personalities. Underneath their instability, grit, and grime lies three very intelligent characters. You learn a lot about their history through the stories and flashbacks related by each of the characters -- there are a lot of these, and it probably takes up about 40% of the book. Most of the time, they don't appear to be closely connected to what's going on, but I believe that's the point -- when you're uncertain about the future, you cling to the past. At times, I thought some of these stories were quite boring.

As you read this, you'll start to wonder "is there anything more that can possibly go wrong?" At one point, I thought it was unbelievable, but continued reading. This book has that particular quality -- it's written well-enough that you're truly interested in knowing what happens next. There's always something going on, and with three distinct personalities, the dialog and thought process shifts dramatically but realistically. Challenge after challenge, each of these characters continues to go on.

At the end, there seems to be no real closure. You're left wondering "what happens next?" The characters simply completed this journey, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. I closed the book thinking "I hope everything ends up OK" -- these are characters that I came to enjoy, understand, and care about. For me, that's the mark of a good book.

Although I enjoyed it, I don't recommend it for everybody, because it involves some dark topics and includes some harsh language.