Friday 56 & #BookBeginnings: A Complicated Kindness

For Book Beginnings:

I live with my father, Ray Nickel, that low brick bungalow out on highway number twelve. Blue shutters, brown door, one shattered window. Nothing great. The furniture keeps disappearing though. That keeps things interesting.

- p. 1

For Friday 56:  

I silently thank the disenfranchised kids from Detroit or St. Louis for providing some colour in my life. I've often wanted to send a message back to them. Nomi from Nowhere says hello.

- p. 56

About A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews: Nomi Nickel lives with her father, Ray, in East Village, a small Mennonite town in Manitoba. She dreams of escaping to the big city, but since her mother and sister left home, it's hard to imagine leaving her father behind. As she begins to piece together the story behind her mother's disappearance, she finds herself on a direct collision course with the town's minister. With fierce originality and brilliance, Miriam Toews takes us straight to the centre of Nomi's world and the complicated kindness at the heart of family life.