Awards

• 2006 – Canada Reads – Winner
• 2004 – Giller Prize – Shortlisted

Reviews

‘Fumbling Towards Empathy.’ Lisa Nuch Venbrux, PopMatters, 22 March 2005.

“The great genius of Toews' meticulously designed narrative, however, is that all expectations are turned on their heads.”

‘Following Menno Home.’ Linda L. Richards, January Magazine, October 2004.

“A Complicated Kindness is bittersweet, wise, tender, funny, sad and — most surprisingly — promisingly hopeful at its conclusion.”

Paul M. Jessup, The Mumpsimus, 1 July 2005.

“All in all Toews pulls together an unnerving tale, filled with the haunted melodies of longing and the brilliant sarcasm that enlightens our existence.”

‘Raves for Toews.’ Christopher Wiebe, Vue Weekly

“...Toews's novel captures the herky-jerky swing between ennui and compulsiveness of adolescence.”

Cathy Stonehouse, Straight.com, 17 June 2004.

“A Complicated Kindness, at its core, is a depiction of the battle between hope and despair.”

Eve Thomas, The Link (Concordia University), 7 December 2004.

“Toews has managed to paint a portrait of a wryly apathetic teenage girl that is so real and intimate she makes Tom Wolfe's latest teenage exposé look like an anthropologist's field journal.”

Chris, book-a-rama, 16 February 2008

“This is a book I'll definitely read again, but not if I'm feeling really blue.”

Bybee, Naked Without Books, 16 January 2008

“Things happen very slowly, if at all. I like this kind of writing, but if you prefer more action, this might not be a book you'd enjoy.”

Comments

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Added 09 December 2005.
Updated 24 August 2013.