This book, with a mentally ill person as the catalyst, exhibits
schizoid traits of its own. My initial reaction: unconvincing and
lazy. I didn't think I'd say this about Toews, winner of the 2004
Governor General's award for "A Complicated Kindness." "The Flying
Troutmans" is my first Toews novel.
Mild quibbles kept piling up. Flurries of minor quibbles turned
into dumps of significant quibbles, completely snowing under the
charm of the book.
Toews uses the venerable road trip as a platform for the novel.
Which is fine, some the best fiction is road-trip fiction. But she
gives a really half-hearted try to explain why.
So ditzy and stunningly immature 28-year-old Hattie, sullen wannabe
punk 15-year-old Logan, and flaky, precocious Thebes pile into the
aging Aerostar in search of Hattie's sister's ex-husband and father
of Logan and Thebes.
Hattie has fled Paris after hearing that psychotic, suicidal Min is
in the psych ward and someone needs to care for Logan and Thebes.
Logan and Thebes are neglected and emotionally damaged - but in a
good way. They exhibit colourful and artistic behaviour, prone to
doing wacky things on impulse. Which suits Hattie just fine,
because she's the same way.
"Logan took out his knife and started carving in the dashboard
again. I wasn't going to try and stop him any more. I wanted to
figure out what all his carvings meant. If the dashboard was his
canvas, so be it."
Hattie Troutman, responsible guardian.
I gave Toews a bit of latitude with her wildly inconsistent
characterizations of the two children. My recent experience with
teens and tweens is limited and I'm aware that many kids exhibit
childish behaviour and remarkable adult insights. But the swings of
Thebes just aren't plausible to me, even allowing that her
chatterbox style causes her to spout random thoughts unedited. Like
many 11-year-olds, she plays sax in a ska band at school. She
boasts a comprehensive knowledge of R-rated and old movies, yet
rarely watches TV.
Toews mentions a couple of times that "someone had written 'Deborah
Solomon, be my girlfriend' in the thick layer of dust on the
screen." According to Wikipedia, "Deborah Solomon (born August 9,
1957) is a journalist and cultural critic with a weekly Q&A
column in The New York Times Magazine." Of course. Every tortured
teen soul has a crush on her. At least the boy's well read.
Probably peruses the Times while listening to the Crucifucks on his
Discman. (Toews gives us a list of edgy punk and rap acts on his
CD.) A lot of hip kids seem to listen to iPods these days, but
never mind.
The whole novel feels like Toews has injected a list of interesting
details that she has gleaned over time:
1) Logan practises his picks and rolls with his basketball. How do
you do a pick and roll by yourself? In Toews's hands, it sounds
like he's putting spin on the ball.
2) Min as a 15-year-old not only read "Quotations from Chairman
Mao" but "The Anarchist Cookbook" as well. Really? She's lulling on
a beach in Acapulco reading recipes and instructions for the
manufacture of explosives and phreaking devices?
She doesn't know exactly what they are, but they sound good. This
is where the lazy tag comes in. She's content skate by on her easy
charm. Toews needs to do more than toss a random series of tics
together.
I know this is nitpicky, but the Troutmans were on the road "for
hours" and they only got to Mexican Hat from Moab - it's a short
hop, maybe 30 km. Toews's little "facts" can confuse someone who
was actually there. I think she likes the names of the towns.
So a complete waste of time? No, around the mid-point Toews
surprises me. Her description of a Winnipeg cold spell is sharply
observed. It's two very good paragraphs and this marks the turning
point. Thebes dials down her zaniness a couple of notches, Logan's
cynical façade cracks a little, and Hattie ruminates about her past
and her relationship with Min. Toews seemingly effortless prose
gives us telling details of Min's problems, something she neglected
to do in her haste to get on the road. She articulates well the
almost universal feeling of regret that haunts the mentally ill and
addicted people. This is honest pain and emotion, never maudlin,
simply and directly told. This is what won her the GG. In sum, the
second half of the book is everything the first half is not. Toews
redeems herself and earns a passing grade - but just barely.