Irma Voth

Irma Voth, the 19 year narrator of this uniquely original novel, starts off by telling us that her husband told her he isn't coming back until she learns to be a better wife. By the time you've finished the first paragraph, I was totally sucked in. I was laughing, and curious, and touched with this girl's innocence. And then on this journey as she develops experience, and courage. Having discovered Miriam Toews thru her novel, The Flying Fruckmans, I was curious about her background. She came from a Mennonite community in Canada. And then, with a few novels under her belt, was 'discovered' via the postage stamp sized author photo of her FACE, by a Mexican filmmaker who wanted to do a film on the Mennonite community. Irma Voth is the love child of that real life experience. Toews is so cool, walks this tightrope of humour and tragedy with such skill, and I wish I could sit down with her and ask her, how much of this is your story. She isn't Irma Voth - her experience as the 40-something female lead is actually a smaller characters - but Irma tells the story with such a great voice. She writes in English, but you really get the voice of the various Mexican characters.. what can I say. Just read it. I'm surprised it isn't a best seller. This would also make an amazing film. These pale blonde blue eyed people in the desert.. the ending is one of the most powerful endings to any novel I've ever read, because we simply don't know what happens next. I found myself, long after I read it, really hoping it's a happy ending.

Beautifully written. I haven't come across Miriam Toews before, and I wonder why! Her style is smooth and elegant; each word carefully chosen and placed. The story wasn't the most compelling I have read, but it doesn't matter - the characterisation is fabulous, and I couldn't get enough of her prose. I'd like to explore more of Toews' books now I have been introduced to her; her Mennonite background also makes for fascinatingly real reading. Thank you for this book - Mr B's Reading Year!

Irma Voth is a young woman of nineteen; she recently married against her father's wishes, and has even more recently been deserted by her husband, Jorge. Irma lives in northern Mexico, near Chihuahua, and is part of the Mennonite community - a strict religious group which has parallels with the Amish and, like the Amish, is not concerned with material matters or possessions and shuns the modern world of commercialism and consumerism. When a film crew arrives to make a film about the Mennonite community, which angers Irma's father, Irma makes the brave decision to work as a translator for the film director and, in doing so, comes into contact with people who live a very different life to hers. Irma's father, however, is determined to prevent Irma, and more especially Irma's younger sister, thirteen-year-old Aggie, from becoming tainted by the film crew's modern ways and his behaviour towards his daughters becomes even more unreasonable and abusive than normal. After yet another painful confrontation with her father where he threatens to evict Irma from her home and follows this with physically abusing Aggie, Irma realizes that she can no longer put up with his behaviour and decides to make a bid for freedom. Taking Aggie with her and also her baby sister, Irma manages to escape to Mexico City where she feels they will all be safe. But Irma gradually comes to the realization that you cannot escape your past and that to move forward there are some things that must be faced and dealt with. Miriam Toews is, I understand, one of Canada's most celebrated writers; she is also an actress and I would imagine that she has used her experience in the film industry to inform her writing for the first part of this novel; but it was not the first part of the novel that I found the most interesting - it was the second part where Irma struggled to cope with a difficult teenager and a very small baby in a strange city, which was more involving - if not entirely convincing. I found this book a little difficult to rate fairly as I had mixed feelings towards it; it's fresh, quirky, drily humorous and, in some ways, quite compelling, but I can appreciate that not everyone will find this a satisfying read. A friend, who was eager to read this immediately I had finished it, commented that the style of writing was difficult to 'get into', she found the first part of the story slow and she found the short sentences and lack of proper punctuation made for a confusing read. I do understand her reservations but I found that once I had acclimatized to Toews style of writing, this book made for an interesting, original and quite poignant, if not wholly convincing read. 3.5 Stars

Excellent. Arrived promptly

Think "Thelma and Louise", but two sisters instead, living in a strict, religious sect called the Mennonites. Irma is 19 and her younger sister Aggie is just into her teens. At the start of the book, in a flashback to an earlier time when the family has just moved from Canada to Chihuahua City, Irma is depressed. Her mother takes her to the doctor and Irma tells him she thinks she is dead. She describes how her life suddenly changes in a way that is "colossal and swift, like the sinking of the Titanic", when the family moves to Mexico when Irma is 13. Irma marries at 18 and after a year her husband, Jorge, leaves her, telling her he will return when she "learns how to be a better wife." Irma gets a job working as a translator for a film maker who is making a film about the Mennonites. Diego, the film-maker, says he is interested in the Mennonites and the fact that "nobody would understand their language and that they (are) uniform." I felt this was a minor flaw in the book - I never fully got the feeling of being immersed in a Mennonite community and how that might feel, though I suppose you could argue that Irma wants to escape that austere life herself, and so she spends her time avoiding being part of that life. The book is split into two halves. The first half tells the story of the making of the film, and Irma's attempts to avoid her father, who seems to be angry at her general flaunting of his values. Indeed, he throws her out of the house. The second half of the book concerns Irma's attempted escape to a better life. This was when I thought the book became a more compelling read. The style of writing is quite beautiful and there are plenty of startlingly original similes to ponder. It's the sort of book that is best read quite slowly, I think. I also think it reads very much like a screenplay; I could almost see the cinema screen as I turned the pages! I liked this book with some minor reservations. Did the writer really get under the skin of the main characters? I am not sure. However, it's a lovely, delicately written book, and worth a read.

Loved this book. Startling images, odd pacing, and a clever narrator who is excellent company. I liked the ending especially, masterful. I won't forget this book. Also, it would make an excellent film.

Irma Voth is 19-year-old girl living in a Mennonite commune in a Mexican desert. Mennonites is a religious group that rejects all worldly: things of earth are the enemy of heaven. They often migrate, work hard, and avoid contact with non-Mennonites. Irma's father is an imperious man, he keeps cows. Irma's family: her sister Aggie, two little brothers, mother and father - suddenly moved to Mexico from Canada. In Mexico, Irma meets Jorge, a young man who, among other things, stores drugs at the home. After her marriage to Jorge, Irma's father banishes her from the house, separating her to the house with her husband in exchange for that Irma and Jorge would help the father with the cows. Already in the opening scene of the novel we see as Jorge moves away from Irma, accusing her of being a bad wife. Irma on the verge of despair: she does not know how to rectify the situation with my husband. Suddenly, the film crew comes to the desert headed by director Diego, planning to shoot in the desert a film about Mennonites. Diego hires Irma in the group as a translator: she knows three languages, English, Spanish and German dialect spoken by the Mennonites. Irma is the responsibility of explaining to the actress Marijke, a German with Russian roots, in German that is required of her by the director or operator. For the fact that Irma works on strangers from the cast, father and other Mennonites despise and hate her. At first glance it may seem a simple-minded story, but it is actually a multi-layered and fascinating story about eternal values. Toews does this in the first place because she was able to give the main character a unique voice. Irma, both naive and already very experienced, is all the while as if in motion, as well as her thoughts. She's all like the light, but her life has a mystery, and we learn about the death of Irma's sister Katie only in the final. Mennonites are far from the art, and even the arrival of the crew almost does not change anything, because Irma is not involved in the shootings themselves. But the girl herself is artistically by nature. She makes notes in a notebook, in the head plays scenes from the life that can not happen, repeat to herrself fragments of not even books but scraps of letters. And if Irma's sister Aggie quickly and painlessly flowed into the city life, Irma constantly tortures herself by questions and doubts, which made it quite difficult for her to get away from the old life. Irma in the soul is a Mennonite, unearthly, not of this world, but she lives on earth and have to arrange her life under the earth's rules. That's why it's so hard for her, and her diubts bring misfortune to the others. The novel is full of unusual and easy humor, especially in that part of the book where the action takes place with the film crew. The clash of two different cultures always leads to comic results. This does not mean that the book is light-weight. In places it is very dark, because conscience does not let Irma throughout the novel, is she actually guilty of something or just feels guilty. The novel sags a bit after the departure of Irma and her sisters from the desert to the city. The author seemed a bit removed from his character, and we lose the intimacy with the narrator. By the final Toews is very good again: emotions are running high, and Irma will have to make a difficult choice.

This had a brilliant review in the Guardian, and I was really keen to read it and find out more about the Mennonites. I understand (I think) that the style is meant to be as sparse and rigid as the Mennonite culture, but to be honest, this made for a flat, boring read, which never really managed to engage me with the characters, and provided little insight. Disappointed.

As the reviewer in the New York Times said, I would follow Irma anywhere. This novel is true to Mexico and its mysterious blend of love and violence and what can appear to outsiders as terminal dis-order. More importantly, Toews has created in Irma Voth a young woman who shows skill at being competent at survival and a self-questioner whose observations lead the reader to understand the world in which Irma lives...from her early years in Canada to her life in Mexico. There's so much about this story that's terrible... child abuse in many forms and violent death. But the total mix involves, not just tragedy, but humor, beauty, friendship, family love, and even the farce that lies behind the creative process of film making. I kept wishing that through some magic the book would suddenly expand to let me observe, marvel at, and learn from the next stages in Irma's life. I really want to see what becomes of the three sisters. I read a lot... and find myself disappointed over and over with authors whose books involve weak characterization and even weaker ability to use language effectively. In addition to showing a wide range of interesting people, Toews also handles first person narrative with rare skill. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Irma Voth a 10.

Good seller. Book is fine

This is an older story by the author but filled with the human angst of many of her books. Irma Voth is a complex, likeable character who so richly deserved to be cherished and loved. The restraints of the Mennonite faith coupled with a fierce German father have left their mark on her and her sisters. Both of her parents were complicit in not loving their daughters enough.

Miriam Toews is one of kind!

Chosen by my book group, this is an older title. I was happy to find a used, inexpensive copy to quickly read.