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Irma Voth (2011)

by Miriam Toews(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 7

ISBN

0307400689 (ISBN13: 9780307400680)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Knopf Canada

review 1: I initially didn't know what to think of this book- I will admit I wasn't automatically drawn in. I know nothing about Mennonites and, as the story progressed, found myself irritated with the presence of the hooligans and posers in the film crew and their related shenanigans. I guess it was the character of Irma, who simultaneously didn't believe in her abilities yet quietly refused to surrender to hopelessness, who kept me reading. When she reaches a point where she is willing to abandon the farce she has been living in, the story breaks open. The new setting, the developments in her relationship with her younger sister, and the later revelations that lead Irma to perceieve and portray herself as a person who must now live with crushing guilt- these humanized what initial... morely seemed like a stiff and uninteresting character. Part of me would have liked more, but another part of me enjoyed the restrained and understated narrative. By the end of the novel, I felt I understood Irma in ways I hadn't expected. A quiet surprise that challenges in subtle ways.
review 2: Not the sort of thing I normally read, but I liked it nonetheless. The first half is about how the titular Irma Voth was kicked out of her Mennonite home for marrying a Mexican labourer, and how she returns when a film crew rents part of the family home to make a film and hires her. Her husband leaves her and her father is violent, etc. The second part follows Irma Voth to Mexico City and it's much better. less

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Reviews (see all)

Jesse LB

Daring book, almost experimental, but still really funny. She really captures the atmosphere of the desert and the clash of cultrues between the film crew and the Mennonites.

MaryJane

I want to say I wish it were longer but this would be a lie as it is perfect.

mayads

Un po' lento ma una scrittura freschissima

Mina

Couldn't get into it. Gave up.

sruthyabhilash

DNF

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