num_pages: 274
description: Min was stranded in her bed hooked on the blue torpedoes and convinced that a million silver cars were closing in on her (I didn't know what Thebes meant either) Logan was in trouble at school something about the disturbing stories he was writing Thebes was pretending to be Min on the phone with his principal the house was crumbling around them the black screen door had blown off in the wind a family of aggressive mice was living behind the piano the neighbours were pissed off because of hatchets being thrown into their yard at night (again confusing something to do with Logan)  basically things were out of control. And Thebes is only eleven.from The Flying TroutmansDays after being dumped by her boyfriend Marc in Paris  he was heading off to an ashram and said we could communicate telepathically  Hattie hears her sister Min has been checked into a psychiatric hospital and finds herself flying back to Winnipeg to take care of Thebes and Logan her niece and nephew. Not knowing what else to do she loads the kids a cooler and a pile of CDs into their van and they set out on a road trip in search of the children's long-lost father Cherkis.In part because no one has any good idea where Cherkis is the traveling matters more than the destination. On their wayward eventful journey down to North Dakota and beyond the Troutmans stay at scary motels meet helpful hippies and try to ignore the threatening noises coming from under the hood of their van. Eleven-year-old Thebes spends her time making huge novelty cheques with arts and crafts supplies in the back and won't wash no matter how wild and matted her purple hair gets; she forgot to pack any clothes. Four years older Logan carves phrases like Fear Yourself into the dashboard and repeatedly disappears in the middle of the night to play basketball; he's in love he says with New York Times columnist Deborah Solomon. Meanwhile Min can't be reached at the hospital and more than once Hattie calls Marc in tears.But though it might seem like an escape from crisis into chaos this journey is also desperately necessary a chance for an accidental family to accept understand or at least find their way through overwhelming times. From interwoven memories and scenes from the past we learn much more about them: how Min got so sick why Cherkis left home why Hattie went to Paris and what made Thebes and Logan who they are today.In this completely captivating book Miriam Toews has created some of the most engaging characters in Canadian literature: Hattie Logan and Thebes are bewildered hopeful angry and most of all absolutely alive. Full of richly skewed richly funny detail The Flying Troutmans is a uniquely affecting novel.
language: English
title: The Flying Troutmans
publisher: Knopf Canada