Miriam Toews is an esteemed Canadian writer, and after reading her novel Summer of My Amazing Luck, there’s little doubt as to why. She holds the Governor General’s Award for A Complicated Kindness and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for The Flying Troutmans, both justly deserved.
Summer, published in 2006, sets itself in Winnipeg, Manitoba where the reader finds themselves looking at the city through the eyes of an eighteen-year-old single mother on “the dole.” Lucy Van Alstyne lives in Winnipeg’s Have-a-life, or Half-a-life as it’s called by its residents, and makes friends with the other mothers who have ended up there due to lack of financial support. Lucy herself doesn’t know the father of her son Dill, but if she did, she’d “put them out of their misery.”
Through Lucy’s observation, the reader gets a clear picture of what it’s like to rely on social services for the basic necessities. But despite the stark reality, the book holds humour and awkward situations. Lish, Lucy’s friend and mother of four, doesn’t go anywhere without her spider hat and she makes Lucy’s life interesting with her crazy ideas. Convincing Lucy to come with her on an over-the-border trip to find a fire-eating busker who happens to be the father of her twins is just one of these ideas.
Pairing Lucy’s past loss, specifically the murder of her mother, with her present non-existent relationship with her father, it’s made clear Lucy is on her own, but she is not alone.
Towes’ writing is like being stuck in someone’s mind. Sometimes there’s a rambling train of thought that ends up painting an amazing picture. Other times there is stark humour that only the reader would appreciate. Towes gives the reader well-developed, messed up characters who don’t always know if they’re doing the right thing, but that’s what makes them so relatable.
Anyone looking for a good laugh (and cry) after a long day should pick up Summer of My Amazing Luck.
Summer, published in 2006, sets itself in Winnipeg, Manitoba where the reader finds themselves looking at the city through the eyes of an eighteen-year-old single mother on “the dole.” Lucy Van Alstyne lives in Winnipeg’s Have-a-life, or Half-a-life as it’s called by its residents, and makes friends with the other mothers who have ended up there due to lack of financial support. Lucy herself doesn’t know the father of her son Dill, but if she did, she’d “put them out of their misery.”
Through Lucy’s observation, the reader gets a clear picture of what it’s like to rely on social services for the basic necessities. But despite the stark reality, the book holds humour and awkward situations. Lish, Lucy’s friend and mother of four, doesn’t go anywhere without her spider hat and she makes Lucy’s life interesting with her crazy ideas. Convincing Lucy to come with her on an over-the-border trip to find a fire-eating busker who happens to be the father of her twins is just one of these ideas.
Pairing Lucy’s past loss, specifically the murder of her mother, with her present non-existent relationship with her father, it’s made clear Lucy is on her own, but she is not alone.
Towes’ writing is like being stuck in someone’s mind. Sometimes there’s a rambling train of thought that ends up painting an amazing picture. Other times there is stark humour that only the reader would appreciate. Towes gives the reader well-developed, messed up characters who don’t always know if they’re doing the right thing, but that’s what makes them so relatable.
Anyone looking for a good laugh (and cry) after a long day should pick up Summer of My Amazing Luck.