Reviews

Irma Voth by Miriam Toews

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moirastone's review against another edition

2.0

Scathing scenes of movie director hubris are always welcome. But in this case the director in question is a not-very-thinly-veiled-at-all Carlos Reygadas, and the film shoot that provides the backbone of this novel's plot is Silent Light, and I found myself irrationally angry at Miriam Toews for daring to offer an unflattering perspective on a movie I dearly loved. I am not particularly proud of this reaction, but there it is.

bookengulfer's review

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

franksreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

novelesque_life's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 STARS

"Irma Voth entangles love, longing and dark family secrets. The stifling, reclusive Mennonite life of nineteen-year-old Irma Voth - newly married and newly deserted and as unforgettable a character as Nomi Nickel in A Complicated Kindness - is irrevocably changed when a film crew moves in to make a movie about the community. She embraces the absurdity, creative passion and warmth of their world but her intractable and domineering father is determined to keep her from it at all costs. The confrontation between them sets her on an irrevocable path towards something that feels like freedom as she and her young sister, Aggie, wise beyond her teenage years, flee to the city, upheld only by their love for each other and their smart wit, even as they begin to understand the tragedy that has their family in its grip." (From Amazon)

I love Toews's writing but the plot wasn't too engaging and the characters were not too relateable.

bcgg's review against another edition

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2.0

I found it too erratic.

emilyinparis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

‘Jorge said he wasn’t coming back until I learned how to be a better wife. He said it’s okay to touch him with my arm or leg or my foot, if it’s clean, when we’re sleeping but not to smother him like a second skin’

‘Aggie ignores all my advice, as though she were determined to live successfully’

‘Aggie and I met on the road between our houses and had one of our speed conversations. It’s a silly thing we do to make it seem like our imposes separation is not the source of continuous heartbreak’

‘She was a thimble-sized girl on the road, a speck of a living thing’

‘That night I took off all my clothes and examined my body. I had forgotten about it’

‘And I considered telling her that if thoughts and home were random patterns then actions were too, all actions, tender, desperate, lucid, treacherous ones and the promises we make and break’

‘But I guess that’s how the world works. How it sucks you in by being all beautiful just when you’re ready to leave’

‘Words of shame like I’m sorry about this mess and the smell and I don’t know why the hell I’m crying on such a beautiful summer day’

‘I fed Ximena. We looked deeply into each other’s eyes while she drank. I liked the heavy, warm weight of her in my arms’

‘What would Gustavo Mundo, the taxi driver from Acapulco, think about all of this? That losing all our month and material belongings was worth learning how to dance the tango?’

‘We had sunlight and traffic noise and breath. We had art. We had each other. We had ourselves. We had memories and we had lies. Those were the difficult-to-insure contents of our room’

‘I want to be forgiven. I want to be forgiven for causing the deaths of so many people I’ve loved’