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 The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews, 2008.
Things aren’t working out for Hattie Troutman. Just when her Parisian boyfriend decides they need a break – he’s going to an ashram in India and insists they can continue to communicate telepathically – her niece Thebes calls from Manitoba to tell her that things are falling apart. Hattie’s sister Min has a bed waiting in a psych ward; 15-year-old Logan and 11-year-old Thebes have been fending for themselves as their world collapses around them.
Hattie hops a plane back to Canada only to discover that things are
worse than she imagined. Logan is in trouble at school for handing in
disturbing stories as English assignments and hanging out with the wrong
kids at recess. Thebes has dyed her hair purple so she can keep
sneaking through the Zellers she was banned from, and her teacher calls
to let Hattie know that Thebes has repeatedly wished she hadn’t been
born.
Hattie thought she’d escaped this mess when she moved to Paris, but her
family’s problems have finally caught up with her. Her solution: she
packs Logan and Thebes into their minivan and sets off to find their
father. The three Troutmans follow clues from Manitoba to Calexico in
search of Cherkis, making a tour of cheap motels and dilapidated
basketball courts.
While The Flying Troutmans brought to mind some of our favourite road
trip movies and books – The Bean Trees, Thelma and Louise, and Little
Miss Sunshine to name a few – we realized that this story is about
evolving relationships and family interaction rather than highway
scenery. The Troutmans’ haphazard road trip is the context that allows
this to happen; a family minivan becomes an incubator for conversations
that have been waiting to happen.
This journey of relationships starts on a low note: “Yeah, so things
have fallen apart,” Hattie reflects in the opening sentence of the
novel. By the end of the book, we all agreed that things have more or less been pulled back together. The main conflicts
have been resolved. Logan and Thebes have come to terms with each
other; Logan learns how to be a kid; Hattie comes to terms with the
realization that Min and Min’s depression aren’t something she can run
away from. While these characters haven’t necessarily figured out
exactly what their ultimate destination will be, they’ve come to terms
with where they are. The story is over.
In reality, however – the reality that families dealing with mental
illness face – the story is far from over. Hattie has come to terms
with the fact that she needs to continue being involved in Min’s life,
in spite of Min’s frequent attempts to push help away. Min’s health is
precarious and will never resolve into stability; Thebes is barely
coming to terms with her mother’s depression and learning to accept that
her family loves her; Logan badly needs the opportunity to shoot hoops
without any other cares in the world. In the midst of a health care
system that offers no long-term support and a school system that has no
place for students who are different, Hattie is the only one who can
hold things together. While she realizes at the end of the novel that
her place is ultimately with her sister’s family, this commitment comes
at a cost. By creating disorganized and incomprehensive support
systems, our society has dumped unnecessary burdens on people like
Hattie. For lack of a community of support, an individual must shoulder
the load alone.
While we were concerned about the obvious problems in our support system
that this book portrays, ultimately this story is hopeful. Towards the
novel’s end, Logan carves “the f—ing Troutmans” into the minivan’s
dashboard. Thebes takes up his penknife to change it to “the flying
Troutmans”, reflecting the shift this little family has made from
despair to optimism.
We would recommend this book. Miriam Toews’ storytelling is sensitive
and humorous. The Flying Troutmans stands apart from some of her other
well-known novels in the emphasis it places on relationships. Toews
creates great characters who remind us that relationships require
tenacity and are worth the investment.
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Thursday, 17 May 2012 
