Particularize About Books Irma Voth
Title | : | Irma Voth |
Author | : | Miriam Toews |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 272 pages |
Published | : | April 5th 2011 by Knopf Canada (first published 1st 2011) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Canada. Contemporary |
Miriam Toews
Hardcover | Pages: 272 pages Rating: 3.51 | 3492 Users | 421 Reviews
Commentary Concering Books Irma Voth
That rare coming-of-age story able to blend the dark with the uplifting, Irma Voth follows a young Mennonite woman, vulnerable yet wise beyond her years, who carries a terrible family secret with her on a remarkable journey to survival and redemption. Nineteen-year-old Irma lives in a rural Mennonite community in Mexico. She has already been cast out of her family for marrying a young Mexican ne'er-do-well she barely knows, although she remains close to her rebellious younger sister and yearns for the lost intimacy with her mother. With a husband who proves elusive and often absent, a punishing father, and a faith in God damaged beyond repair, Irma appears trapped in an untenable and desperate situation. When a celebrated Mexican filmmaker and his crew arrive from Mexico City to make a movie about the insular community in which she was raised, Irma is immediately drawn to the outsiders and is soon hired as a translator on the set. But her father, intractable and domineering, is determined to destroy the film and get rid of the interlopers. His action sets Irma on an irrevocable path toward something that feels like freedom. A novel of great humanity, written with dry wit, edgy humor, and emotional poignancy, Irma Voth is the powerful story of a young woman's quest to discover all that she may become in the unexpectedly rich and confounding world that lies beyond the stifling, observant community she knows.Point Books Toward Irma Voth
Original Title: | Irma Voth |
ISBN: | 0307400689 (ISBN13: 9780307400680) |
Edition Language: | English URL http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307400680 |
Rating About Books Irma Voth
Ratings: 3.51 From 3492 Users | 421 ReviewsCommentary About Books Irma Voth
Miriam Toews' (pronounced "Taves", please) earlier books had a charming quirky humor to lighten the story but not this one. I think she intended the younger adolescent sister Aggie to provide some comic relief but she only screws things up. If you thought Toews portrayed a dour Mennonite existence before you ain't seen nothin' yet. Irma Voth is a nineteen year-old Mennonite girl transplanted from rural Manitoba to rural northern Mexico. Apparently, some ultra-conservative Mennonites startedThis is an odd book. Its written in the first person and is told in conversation throughout by the main character. There are no quotation marks at all which is odd too. I felt compelled to finish it but not particularly because I was enjoying it but because it was odd and I wanted to find out the end. I haven't read anything by the author before and I'm not sure if I will read her again.
I feel as though a sign of an enduring work of literature is a title which is the name of the main character and theres something sturdy and plain and Germanic about it. And also it is just this good.
Irma Voth deals with similar themes to the fantastic A Complicated Kindness. Engaging from the beginning, it is an incredibly strong novel, filled with female characters you end up rooting strongly for. There is a darkness to it which hasn't been as prominent in Toews' other work, and there isn't the wry humour here which I have almost come to expect from her novels. Regardless, Irma Voth is incredibly though-provoking, and overarchingly rather sad.
I really wanted to like this one. I truly did. The description of this novel, by new-to-me author Miriam Toews, sounded so different than anything else I'd read and seemed very intriguing.Irma Voth is 19, married, and living in a Mennonite community in Mexico. With the exception of her younger sister, Irma is pretty much estranged from her family. A filmmaker arrives in town to make a documentary and hires Irma as a translator. Irma befriends Marijke, an actress in the film and ...well, that
My favourite of Miriam's books, although Swing Low was personally moving and brought on a sadness I was not prepared for.
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