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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Three and a half star review., August 18, 2008
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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.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasant diversion worth the time, August 5, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
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.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky Tragicomedy, August 5, 2008
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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.
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