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A Boy of Good Breeding
Hosea Funk, mayor of Algren, believes he is the biological son of the Prime Minister of Canada, and longs to meet him. To his delight, this becomes a possibility when the Prime Minister announces that he will visit Canada's smallest town on Canada Day. With a population of just 1500, Algren is in the running, and Hosea becomes fixated on keeping the town as small as he possibly can.
But the untimely arrival of out-of-towners, including Hosea's girlfriend who wants to move in with him, throws into jeopardy his plans to be reunited with his biological father.
But the untimely arrival of out-of-towners, including Hosea's girlfriend who wants to move in with him, throws into jeopardy his plans to be reunited with his biological father.
237 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
54 people are currently reading
1915 people want to read
About the author
Miriam Toews
18 books3,275 followersMiriam Toews is a Canadian writer of Mennonite descent. She grew up in Steinbach, Manitoba and has lived in Montreal and London, before settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Toews studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of King's College in Halifax, and has also worked as a freelance newspaper and radio journalist. Her non-fiction book "Swing Low: A Life" was a memoir of her father, a victim of lifelong depression. Her 2004 novel "A Complicated Kindness" was her breakthrough work, spending over a year on the Canadian bestseller lists and winning the Governor General's Award for English Fiction. The novel, about a teenage girl who longs to escape her small Russian Mennonite town and hang out with Lou Reed in the slums of New York City, was also nominated for the Giller Prize and was the winning title in the 2006 edition of Canada Reads.
A series of letters she wrote in 2000 to the father of her son were published on the website www.openletters.net and were profiled on the radio show This American Life in an episode about missing parents.
In 2007 she made her screen debut in the Mexican film "Luz silenciosa" directed by Carlos Reygadas, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
In Sept. 2008, Knopf Canada published her novel "The Flying Troutmans", about a 28-year-old woman from Manitoba who takes her 15-year-old nephew and 11-year-old niece on a road trip to California after their mentally ill mother has been hospitalized.
Irma Voth, was released in April 2011 and is a novel about a conservative Mennonite community in Mexico.
All My Pun Sorrows published in 2014 is a novel about two sisters in story that was inspired by Miriam Toews’ relationship with her sister who committed suicide.
Women Talking is a novel published in 2018 and is inspired by historical events that took place between 2005 and 2009 on a remote Mennonite community in Bolivia. A film adaptation of the book was released in late 2022. The movie won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Fight Night published in 2021 is a novel that focuses on a multigenerational family of women living in Toronto and features the relationship between the grandmother and grand daughter on a trip to California.
A Truce That Is Not Peace published in 2025 is nonfiction memoir.
Toews studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of King's College in Halifax, and has also worked as a freelance newspaper and radio journalist. Her non-fiction book "Swing Low: A Life" was a memoir of her father, a victim of lifelong depression. Her 2004 novel "A Complicated Kindness" was her breakthrough work, spending over a year on the Canadian bestseller lists and winning the Governor General's Award for English Fiction. The novel, about a teenage girl who longs to escape her small Russian Mennonite town and hang out with Lou Reed in the slums of New York City, was also nominated for the Giller Prize and was the winning title in the 2006 edition of Canada Reads.
A series of letters she wrote in 2000 to the father of her son were published on the website www.openletters.net and were profiled on the radio show This American Life in an episode about missing parents.
In 2007 she made her screen debut in the Mexican film "Luz silenciosa" directed by Carlos Reygadas, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
In Sept. 2008, Knopf Canada published her novel "The Flying Troutmans", about a 28-year-old woman from Manitoba who takes her 15-year-old nephew and 11-year-old niece on a road trip to California after their mentally ill mother has been hospitalized.
Irma Voth, was released in April 2011 and is a novel about a conservative Mennonite community in Mexico.
All My Pun Sorrows published in 2014 is a novel about two sisters in story that was inspired by Miriam Toews’ relationship with her sister who committed suicide.
Women Talking is a novel published in 2018 and is inspired by historical events that took place between 2005 and 2009 on a remote Mennonite community in Bolivia. A film adaptation of the book was released in late 2022. The movie won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Fight Night published in 2021 is a novel that focuses on a multigenerational family of women living in Toronto and features the relationship between the grandmother and grand daughter on a trip to California.
A Truce That Is Not Peace published in 2025 is nonfiction memoir.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 210 reviews
August 24, 2014
Another fantastic book by Toews, with all her characteristic quirk, humour and poignancy. I think this might be among my faves of hers ... but then, aren't they all? Some things:
1. She's one of those authors who does something magical turning plain-jane words into stories. Magical, as in deceptive: she creates something out of nothing, like making coins appear from behind ears or rabbits out of hats. She reminds me of Alice Munro in a way (and no, I don't think that comparison is at all outlandish). She takes very simple scenes and language, very easy to read and then, by the end of a paragraph or chapter or story, you think: holy hell, how did she make me feel all that, how did she convey all that, from just words and sentences about nothing really? A chunk of every-day dialogue; a description of someone making coffee in a kitchen.
With other writers--maybe most--Atwood, say, you can see the mechanics behind the trick. And that's ok, because you're still amazed: the mechanics, even when you can see them, don't dampen your enthusiasm for the writing at all. You still know there are only maybe a few hundred people in the world who could ever employ the mechanics at that level; there is still so much mastery of words, sentences, plot, structure, imagery ... all that makes a book. It still adds up to something greater than the sum of its parts.
But Toews, man, she is magical. Alchemistry on the page.
2. This book is about coming and going; staying and leaving. You will start to play the game with Mayor Hosea Funk: trying to get things to add up to 1,500 on the nose. And then, you'll realize (as Knute does, as even Hose does): every number is a whole life; bigger than a single individual, bigger than a name written in a Hilroy exercise book (and some of those names - man, they are big!). It's not just that Johnny needs to stay and become the town's chief firefighter (+1) (and then that he needs to go (-1)); it's why. It's not just that Veronica took the triplets and left (-4); it's her husband Gord on the front step not knowing why.
"Fighting and anger don't necessarily drive a person away. And love and friendship don't necessarily keep a person from going away." (p.211)
3. It's really hard not to feel hopeful when reading Toews, even tho' she writes with such sadness at the heart of it. Or not to feel that everything is going to work out alright, even when things couldn't be going further south. But it's the ordinary sadness, foibles and calamities of real human beings, who love each other, who help each other, who are doing the best they can. In this one, people have the most amazing conversations with each other; and even when they don't (Hosea being the epitome of being unable to say what he feels), they are understood. People treat people with gentleness and compassion. They are doing all they can, and that's not only ok, it's enough. More than enough really. In this town - Canada's Smallest Town of 1,500 - it adds up to so much more.
1. She's one of those authors who does something magical turning plain-jane words into stories. Magical, as in deceptive: she creates something out of nothing, like making coins appear from behind ears or rabbits out of hats. She reminds me of Alice Munro in a way (and no, I don't think that comparison is at all outlandish). She takes very simple scenes and language, very easy to read and then, by the end of a paragraph or chapter or story, you think: holy hell, how did she make me feel all that, how did she convey all that, from just words and sentences about nothing really? A chunk of every-day dialogue; a description of someone making coffee in a kitchen.
With other writers--maybe most--Atwood, say, you can see the mechanics behind the trick. And that's ok, because you're still amazed: the mechanics, even when you can see them, don't dampen your enthusiasm for the writing at all. You still know there are only maybe a few hundred people in the world who could ever employ the mechanics at that level; there is still so much mastery of words, sentences, plot, structure, imagery ... all that makes a book. It still adds up to something greater than the sum of its parts.
But Toews, man, she is magical. Alchemistry on the page.
2. This book is about coming and going; staying and leaving. You will start to play the game with Mayor Hosea Funk: trying to get things to add up to 1,500 on the nose. And then, you'll realize (as Knute does, as even Hose does): every number is a whole life; bigger than a single individual, bigger than a name written in a Hilroy exercise book (and some of those names - man, they are big!). It's not just that Johnny needs to stay and become the town's chief firefighter (+1) (and then that he needs to go (-1)); it's why. It's not just that Veronica took the triplets and left (-4); it's her husband Gord on the front step not knowing why.
"Fighting and anger don't necessarily drive a person away. And love and friendship don't necessarily keep a person from going away." (p.211)
3. It's really hard not to feel hopeful when reading Toews, even tho' she writes with such sadness at the heart of it. Or not to feel that everything is going to work out alright, even when things couldn't be going further south. But it's the ordinary sadness, foibles and calamities of real human beings, who love each other, who help each other, who are doing the best they can. In this one, people have the most amazing conversations with each other; and even when they don't (Hosea being the epitome of being unable to say what he feels), they are understood. People treat people with gentleness and compassion. They are doing all they can, and that's not only ok, it's enough. More than enough really. In this town - Canada's Smallest Town of 1,500 - it adds up to so much more.
December 19, 2014
Who else but the author Miriam Toews could place a story in the "smallest town in Canada" where nothing interesting could ever possibly happen, and make the story interesting. She conjers up a collection of idiosyncratic personalities loaded with foibles and obsessions, and then proceeds to make them believeable and, if not loveable, at least interesting.
Never before in history has a small town mayor had to concentrate so mightily of such trivial details in order to maintain the town's population at 1500. When a woman in town gives birth to triplets it forces him to seek creative ways to make compensating population reductions. One thing is for sure, he can't ask his girl friend to move in with him because that would make a population change in the wrong direction. His motivations go deeper than maintaining the notoraity of being the "smallest town in Canada." It turns out that he has secret knowlege of his possible fraternal parentage; you'll need to read the book to see how that's connected to the town's population. Everything is made more complicated by his needing to keep the motivations for his actions a secret thus making him appear to be even more crazy.
The other main character in the book is a single mother (She's not the only one; the book seems to be filled with single mothers) who's returned to the town with her child to help her mother take care of her father who has suffered a stroke. Well, the long absent boy-friend/father-of-the child arrives in town too, and then things get complicated.
Then there's the stray dog that won't go away. This is a cast of characters so weird it's hard to believe they're not real. This is creative writing at its best. The only thing wrong with the book is that nothing much happens, it's sort of like real life.
Never before in history has a small town mayor had to concentrate so mightily of such trivial details in order to maintain the town's population at 1500. When a woman in town gives birth to triplets it forces him to seek creative ways to make compensating population reductions. One thing is for sure, he can't ask his girl friend to move in with him because that would make a population change in the wrong direction. His motivations go deeper than maintaining the notoraity of being the "smallest town in Canada." It turns out that he has secret knowlege of his possible fraternal parentage; you'll need to read the book to see how that's connected to the town's population. Everything is made more complicated by his needing to keep the motivations for his actions a secret thus making him appear to be even more crazy.
The other main character in the book is a single mother (She's not the only one; the book seems to be filled with single mothers) who's returned to the town with her child to help her mother take care of her father who has suffered a stroke. Well, the long absent boy-friend/father-of-the child arrives in town too, and then things get complicated.
Then there's the stray dog that won't go away. This is a cast of characters so weird it's hard to believe they're not real. This is creative writing at its best. The only thing wrong with the book is that nothing much happens, it's sort of like real life.
May 25, 2010
Miriam Toews is from Winnipeg, the great Canadian city that has given the world John K. Samson / The Weakerthans, and Marcel Dzama. Besides being from Winnipeg this book could be set in a Canadian cousin town to Donald Harington's Staymore; oh and she also writes in such an effortlessly feeling kind of way that Harington does, which is also a good thing. The book is also quite funny, and the little girl in the book made me really smile in almost every scene she was in. So unlike most books I like, there is something happy about this one.
With all of these things going for the book one would have to be suffering from a malignant brain tumor, or moderate to severe mental retardation to not give this book a chance.
With all of these things going for the book one would have to be suffering from a malignant brain tumor, or moderate to severe mental retardation to not give this book a chance.
September 26, 2021
This is another hilarious Toews book. So enjoyable. I had a smile on my face the entire time. Reading Miriam's books are like chatting with friends. The characters are so real and although the situations are sometimes a bit over-the-top (that's what makes them so hilarious) they somehow also feel real. She has an uncanny understanding of the human spirit. I've read several of her books and I've enjoyed every single one! A big thanks to my sister for turning me on to Toews in the first place - she's the quintessential Canadian author.
July 13, 2009
Toews always manages to create characters with whom it is easy to empathize.
Nothing overly serious here, just a nice little story about
a small town, a mayor with an obsessive personality, and everyday people
struggling to deal with relationships, life, death, and a dog who is his own man....errrr....dog.
Nothing overly serious here, just a nice little story about
a small town, a mayor with an obsessive personality, and everyday people
struggling to deal with relationships, life, death, and a dog who is his own man....errrr....dog.
July 4, 2022
I feel like I'm missing something with Miriam Toews - everyone is so very enthusiastic about her, but I just didn't feel this book. I laughed at some bits, and enjoyed some of the eccentric characters. but felt unsatisfied with the story overall. I'm at a bit of a loss as to why I found this book so annoying because it had so many elements I like: brilliant setting; really unique characters; a mixture of sadness mixed with the comic... maybe I wasn't in the mood?
Hosea Funk is the mayor of Algren which is in the running for the smallest town in Canada prize, meaning a visit from the Prime Minister - but only if the population stays at exactly 1500. But, unfortunately for Hosea's dreams, people keep doing things - people die, people have babies (completely unreasonable to have triplets!), people move in, people move out... even his girlfriend wants to move in with him! Changing the town barriers just doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the whims of the populace...
You'll meet some great characters, characters you probably won't meet outside a Miriam Toews story: Knute, Summer Feelin', Euphemia, Combine Jo, Dr Bonsoir and a dog called Bill Quinn - they are quirky and funny and nicely fleshed out. I particularly liked the mother-daughter relationship between Knute and Summer Feelin'.
I'm a bit of a loss why I didn't enjoy it - it's not meant to be high literature and I know that, but it ended up irritating me somehow which was a real shame.
Hosea Funk is the mayor of Algren which is in the running for the smallest town in Canada prize, meaning a visit from the Prime Minister - but only if the population stays at exactly 1500. But, unfortunately for Hosea's dreams, people keep doing things - people die, people have babies (completely unreasonable to have triplets!), people move in, people move out... even his girlfriend wants to move in with him! Changing the town barriers just doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the whims of the populace...
You'll meet some great characters, characters you probably won't meet outside a Miriam Toews story: Knute, Summer Feelin', Euphemia, Combine Jo, Dr Bonsoir and a dog called Bill Quinn - they are quirky and funny and nicely fleshed out. I particularly liked the mother-daughter relationship between Knute and Summer Feelin'.
I'm a bit of a loss why I didn't enjoy it - it's not meant to be high literature and I know that, but it ended up irritating me somehow which was a real shame.
January 16, 2022
Easy enough to get through, humorous and unique story, but irritating characters who are either one-dimensional, inconsistent, or undeveloped. I just couldn't care about a single one of them. The name Summer Feelin' almost had me throw this book out the window.
August 10, 2021
Heerlijke lectuur!
January 1, 2020
this review is for the audiobook edition, narrated by susanna fournier.
i love this book. i've read it a couple of times before, in paper, but wanted to listen to it, to see how it was in that format. fournier is a good narrator and did suit this story... but toews is an excellent reader so it would have been cool to listen to her narrate her own book. my only criticism about the narration is that it felt toooo fast and a little frantic at times. there are certainly those types of moments in the story, but not enough to necessitate that sort of pace for the entirety of the tale. it was a bit distracting at moments. apart from that minor quibble, this is still one of my favourites from toews. it is high on her signature quirkiness, and still clever, insightful, and warm in its intent. there is always so much heart in a miriam toews story, and her style of humour truly appeals to my own. my favourite, and funniest, bit in the novel occurs when uncle jack comes to visit knute's father. uncle jack is a tornado of hilarity . i was listening to this in the middle of the night and trying to stifle my laughter so as to not wake people up! i recommend this book to everyone, and especially so if you need a literary pick-me-up.
i love this book. i've read it a couple of times before, in paper, but wanted to listen to it, to see how it was in that format. fournier is a good narrator and did suit this story... but toews is an excellent reader so it would have been cool to listen to her narrate her own book. my only criticism about the narration is that it felt toooo fast and a little frantic at times. there are certainly those types of moments in the story, but not enough to necessitate that sort of pace for the entirety of the tale. it was a bit distracting at moments. apart from that minor quibble, this is still one of my favourites from toews. it is high on her signature quirkiness, and still clever, insightful, and warm in its intent. there is always so much heart in a miriam toews story, and her style of humour truly appeals to my own. my favourite, and funniest, bit in the novel occurs when uncle jack comes to visit knute's father. uncle jack is a tornado of hilarity . i was listening to this in the middle of the night and trying to stifle my laughter so as to not wake people up! i recommend this book to everyone, and especially so if you need a literary pick-me-up.
April 19, 2021
Who would have thought? Such a lighthearted, breezy Miriam Toews book. But also this she pulls off magnificently, the perfect book to read at this moment in time.
Hosea Funk is the mayor of Algren, population 1,500 and in the running for the prize of Canada's smallest town. But babies are being born and people are returning, heck, even his girlfriend wants to move in with him. And it's crucial that he keeps the population down, so they win the Prize and the accounting visit by the prime minister. Delightfully sweet, second book this year with tears at the end, second Miriam Toews.
"I like my stories happy, the sadness comes creeping out of the cracks in the story like blood, happy stories are the saddest."
Hosea Funk is the mayor of Algren, population 1,500 and in the running for the prize of Canada's smallest town. But babies are being born and people are returning, heck, even his girlfriend wants to move in with him. And it's crucial that he keeps the population down, so they win the Prize and the accounting visit by the prime minister. Delightfully sweet, second book this year with tears at the end, second Miriam Toews.
"I like my stories happy, the sadness comes creeping out of the cracks in the story like blood, happy stories are the saddest."
November 20, 2009
Algren, where the sky is the color of tolet bowl cleaner and staying the smallest town in Canada is the mayor's number one priority. This book will make you smile.
October 13, 2022
So very quirky and funny and sweet. I feel like I really got to know the characters and enjoyed reading this!
April 15, 2024
This was a well written quirky fiction that gave me Coen Brothers vibes. I really liked the unusual names, Knute, Hosea, Summer Feelin! The plot was funny, pacing just right and the place and setting well described. I liked how each character was flawed with their own little eccentricities.
The story pootled along and I found myself laughing a lot at parts of the dialogue.
A very enjoyable read and one that I would return to in the future so it's a keeper.
The story pootled along and I found myself laughing a lot at parts of the dialogue.
A very enjoyable read and one that I would return to in the future so it's a keeper.
June 27, 2014
If I do not live in a small town, at least I can read about one and enjoy it, thanks to Ms Toews. This small Canadian town is outside of Winnipeg, and its mayor, Hosea Funk, plots, plans and counts continuously, hoping it will remain at the number of residents so that it qualifies to be visited by the prime minister.
Ms Toews stretches each character in certain ways to bring out their weirdnesses--or, is that what small towns do to us, magnify our quirks?
The first chapter is full of heroic deeds, especially by the mother, Euphemia, of the future mayor. Euphemia is keeping her swelling belly a secret from her family. Even the birth is heroically sequestered:
"Euphemia made it out of the house. In the darkness she stumbled and lurched, cupping her belly with one hand, in an attempt to keep the baby in, until she could make it to the machine shed, to the little bundle of hay she had tossed in one corner months ago, before being confined to her bedroom.
The effort of opening the heavy shed door helped to break her water. Inside the shed, Euphemia ripped off her coat, her two sweaters, her wet woollen leotards, and stained cotton underwear and sank to the floor, naked, on her hands and knees. It was pitch-black inside the shed. Euphemia, her face twisted sideways on the cement floor, screamed into the darkness, and Hosea Funk was born." (p 10-11)
Secrets turn into mystery and rift and all get worked through by interesting characters who keep the suspense going.
Ms Toews stretches each character in certain ways to bring out their weirdnesses--or, is that what small towns do to us, magnify our quirks?
The first chapter is full of heroic deeds, especially by the mother, Euphemia, of the future mayor. Euphemia is keeping her swelling belly a secret from her family. Even the birth is heroically sequestered:
"Euphemia made it out of the house. In the darkness she stumbled and lurched, cupping her belly with one hand, in an attempt to keep the baby in, until she could make it to the machine shed, to the little bundle of hay she had tossed in one corner months ago, before being confined to her bedroom.
The effort of opening the heavy shed door helped to break her water. Inside the shed, Euphemia ripped off her coat, her two sweaters, her wet woollen leotards, and stained cotton underwear and sank to the floor, naked, on her hands and knees. It was pitch-black inside the shed. Euphemia, her face twisted sideways on the cement floor, screamed into the darkness, and Hosea Funk was born." (p 10-11)
Secrets turn into mystery and rift and all get worked through by interesting characters who keep the suspense going.
March 1, 2014
The characters in this book are not people you know. With names like Knute, Hosea Funk, Summer Feelin', Euphemia, Combine Jo, and a dog named Bill Quinn, you should expect some quirkiness. They are likable in their own ways and they are made more "normal" by "normal" people loving them (Hosea's girlfriend, Lorna, for example). Sad things happen, but it's not a sad book. To its credit, not once did I look ahead to see what might happen. I wanted to be there as the story unfolded, and I assumed the answer to the question posed in the beginning of the book would not be revealed until the very last page. I was not disappointed. The author offered a way for the reader to be satisfied without spelling out how the truth of the situation was better than the hope that ran through the story. I can say no more for fear of being labeled a spoiler. I enjoyed living in the smallest town in Canada for a short while.
December 11, 2017
Another Miriam Toews read, my 5th of her books. By page 50, my feelings were that it was an okay story, but not on the level of the others of hers that I've read. By page 100, it had stepped up a level and I was finding it more interesting and the characters were growing on me, especially Hosea. By page 150, it had kept at the 4 star level and I was enjoying the ride. By page 200, I realised why I love her books, and had fallen in love with the town of Algren, and all those within it's town limits. And as the shadow of the final page was nearing, I was feeling a little sad that my visit to Algren was nearing an end and I would soon be closing the final page on my time there. But as I walked past the Algren sign on my way out of town, I knew I would return again on another day, and that my time there was very well worth it.
April 6, 2014
Really cool and original idea for a story - I kept reading because I wanted to find out what would unfold - but ultimately a bit disappointing. I think it either should have been shorter (with fewer "useless" characters) or longer (adding more sustainable plot twists and leaving room for character development, which I feel it sorely lacked). It was very funny though.
September 21, 2024
The story takes place in Algren, Winnipeg, a town whose claim to fame is being the smallest town in Canada, and centers around a mayor who is determined to keep it that way. A lighter and quirkier story than her other books, it is full of eccentric characters and small town drama. Her writing is so beautiful. You will want to pause and re-read some of her paragraphs. A very enjoyable, well written and easy to digest book!
September 2, 2016
Siamo in Canada, ad Algren, una piccola cittadina immaginaria. Il sindaco, Hosea Funk, ha un unico, segreto pensiero fisso: il premier canadese ha annunciato che il primo luglio visiterà quella che risulterà essere la città più piccola del paese e, poiché il numero minimo di abitanti per una città è 1500, Hosea deve in tutti i modi stabilizzarlo su quella cifra: non 1499, perché altrimenti Algren sarebbe un villaggio e non una città, e non 1501, perché altrimenti... non sarebbe LA più piccola. Da qui una serie di buffi calcoli e stratagemmi per... bilanciare arrivi inaspettati, partenze, nascite (anche gemellari!) e morti. Quella di Hosea potrebbe sembrare un'ossessione un po' ridicola, in realtà il suo sogno di incontrare il premier si spiega con una circostanza del suo passato. Non è proprio uno spoiler perché è svelata abbastanza presto, e ve la dico così è un'ulteriore conferma che il libro l'ho letto, ma se pensate di leggerlo anche voi non aprite perché è bello scoprirla da soli: .
Ed è in effetti Hosea, bizzarro, insicuro, svagato, imbranato, pieno di tic, manie, ossessioni, ma anche tenerissimo, umanissimo e innamoratissimo della sua fidanzata, a reggere l'interesse della storia, che però vede anche un'altra coprotagonista, la 24enne Knute, madre single della piccola Summer Feelin' (i nomi sono un po' bislacchi ma simpatici!), tornata nella cittadina natale di Algren per dare una mano agli anziani genitori e indecisa se rimettersi insieme al padre della bambina.
Il libro non è perfetto. Tanto per cominciare, la premessa è assai improbabile (la città visitata dal premier canadese che viene decisa con un anticipo minimo, quasi all'ultimo minuto, non quella con 1499 abitanti, non quella con 1501, abitanti, ma quella che ne ha esattamente 1500, e bisogna contarli porta a porta pochi giorni prima della data fatidica, invece di affidarsi a un censimento ufficiale della popolazione), ma è veramente inutile farsi questi problemi, è chiaro che la storia si presenta come una tenera e graziosa favola. Inoltre, i due filoni della trama con i due personaggi principali non sono ben connessi: l'autrice ci prova, a farli intersecare, ma in modo non molto convincente (Hosea assume Knute nel suo ufficio... perché per qualche motivo il sindaco di un paesino in cui non succede niente ha bisogno di una assistente), e insomma procedono quasi sempre paralleli; alla lunga l'effetto "carineria" rischia di stancare, e alcune transizioni della trama sono un po' precipitose (ad esempio la salute del padre di Knute peggiora drammaticamente all'improvviso, oppure gli sbalzi d'umore della fidanzata di Hosea non sono sempre molto comprensibili, ma forse la cosa più grave è che l'autrice non ci fa capire bene prima , il padre di Knute, o almeno non bene al punto da rendere giustizia al finale e al suo carattere apertamente "favolistico").
Ma questi difetti sono tutto sommato compensati dal calore sprigionato da quest'atmosfera buffa e raccolta e dal "tifo" che il lettore non può non fare per l'adorabile Hosea, un personaggio davvero ben riuscito perché non è semplicemente una macchietta (bellissimi i flashback della sua nascita e infanzia assieme alla madre Euphemia).
Il voto "giusto" sarebbe 3, 3,5 stelle. Perché allora le 4 stelle? Beh, le ultimissime righe del romanzo, anche se forse non si tratta di un finale totalmente inaspettato, regalano un sorriso e salutano il lettore lasciandolo con una bella impressione di ottimismo e positività.
Ed è in effetti Hosea, bizzarro, insicuro, svagato, imbranato, pieno di tic, manie, ossessioni, ma anche tenerissimo, umanissimo e innamoratissimo della sua fidanzata, a reggere l'interesse della storia, che però vede anche un'altra coprotagonista, la 24enne Knute, madre single della piccola Summer Feelin' (i nomi sono un po' bislacchi ma simpatici!), tornata nella cittadina natale di Algren per dare una mano agli anziani genitori e indecisa se rimettersi insieme al padre della bambina.
Il libro non è perfetto. Tanto per cominciare, la premessa è assai improbabile (la città visitata dal premier canadese che viene decisa con un anticipo minimo, quasi all'ultimo minuto, non quella con 1499 abitanti, non quella con 1501, abitanti, ma quella che ne ha esattamente 1500, e bisogna contarli porta a porta pochi giorni prima della data fatidica, invece di affidarsi a un censimento ufficiale della popolazione), ma è veramente inutile farsi questi problemi, è chiaro che la storia si presenta come una tenera e graziosa favola. Inoltre, i due filoni della trama con i due personaggi principali non sono ben connessi: l'autrice ci prova, a farli intersecare, ma in modo non molto convincente (Hosea assume Knute nel suo ufficio... perché per qualche motivo il sindaco di un paesino in cui non succede niente ha bisogno di una assistente), e insomma procedono quasi sempre paralleli; alla lunga l'effetto "carineria" rischia di stancare, e alcune transizioni della trama sono un po' precipitose (ad esempio la salute del padre di Knute peggiora drammaticamente all'improvviso, oppure gli sbalzi d'umore della fidanzata di Hosea non sono sempre molto comprensibili, ma forse la cosa più grave è che l'autrice non ci fa capire bene prima , il padre di Knute, o almeno non bene al punto da rendere giustizia al finale e al suo carattere apertamente "favolistico").
Ma questi difetti sono tutto sommato compensati dal calore sprigionato da quest'atmosfera buffa e raccolta e dal "tifo" che il lettore non può non fare per l'adorabile Hosea, un personaggio davvero ben riuscito perché non è semplicemente una macchietta (bellissimi i flashback della sua nascita e infanzia assieme alla madre Euphemia).
Il voto "giusto" sarebbe 3, 3,5 stelle. Perché allora le 4 stelle? Beh, le ultimissime righe del romanzo, anche se forse non si tratta di un finale totalmente inaspettato, regalano un sorriso e salutano il lettore lasciandolo con una bella impressione di ottimismo e positività.
August 1, 2020
This is so lovely and like other Toews's books bittersweet but funny (yet not as sad as some of the others). This story is set on Canada's smallest town and there's a hilarious small town vibe that reminded me of Schitts Creek. It's super quirky and funny but also with a melancholic, human side to it. It is not as deep and emotionally charged as her most recent books, though, but maybe a good pick for people that shy away from the saddest titles.
January 26, 2023
Toews’s characters are always so interesting. This book doesn’t disappoint as we meet an array of characters in Canada’s smallest town of Algren, Manitoba. From the mayor who is obsessed with keeping his town’s population at exactly 1500, to an adorable 4 year old who flaps her arms with excitement, to an elderly depressed father trying to figure out how to live the remainder of life, there is a lot to love about the residents of Algren.
March 29, 2015
I really like Miriam Toews - I've read her recent books and this was her second novel back in 1998. It's interesting her humour and way with words is very much in evident. The characters are quirky and cute - perhaps a little too quirky - but not really very strong, and there's not a lot of narrative drive. I found myself skipping parts of the text towards the end.
October 5, 2025
Delightful! I so enjoyed visiting tiny Algren and its gentle, quirky residents. Here they crash through life‘s daily struggles to find and keep love, create meaningful work, discover their place in the world, and hang onto a community where people mostly care about each other. Or if not, they still tolerate each other’s eccentricities. Toews, who grew up in a little town in Manitoba, captures the sometimes gossipy, in-your-business culture and pride of small towns in an amusing and loving way.
As a person who spent part of her childhood shepherded by an exceptional single mother, I really appreciated that, in a small story about a small town, Toews gives space to at least four single mothers to become real and sympathetic characters. Knute, Euphemia, Combine Jo, and Marilyn have differing personalities and parenting styles (Combine Jo’s being the most bizarre), but all are accepted by the townspeople in spite of their idiosyncrasies.
As a person who spent part of her childhood shepherded by an exceptional single mother, I really appreciated that, in a small story about a small town, Toews gives space to at least four single mothers to become real and sympathetic characters. Knute, Euphemia, Combine Jo, and Marilyn have differing personalities and parenting styles (Combine Jo’s being the most bizarre), but all are accepted by the townspeople in spite of their idiosyncrasies.
January 3, 2024
A quirky little story full of quirky little characters.
April 18, 2023
I’ll read everything she writes and I loved this book. It drew me in and kept me in through the whole thing. Read on the S9 bus and the Green line.
April 4, 2024
Just what I needed!
December 29, 2024
3.75⭐️
so warm and loving to all its characters♥️
such a great opening and I wish I’d read it all in one sitting to keep that momentum! I am simply NOT a chapter-a-day kind of girl
so warm and loving to all its characters♥️
such a great opening and I wish I’d read it all in one sitting to keep that momentum! I am simply NOT a chapter-a-day kind of girl
February 27, 2025
The thing about saving an author’s earliest, least-discussed work for last is that you run into the distinct possibility that their earlier work is less discussed because it’s simply not (quite!) as good.
If “Summer of My Amazing Luck” is a nascent version of the better stories Toews would go on to write, “A Boy of Good Breeding” reads as though she were intentionally swerving away from expectations with her second book – but in so doing, also swerving away from the things she would eventually master. This book probably feels the most different from Toews’ canon so far; instead of an internal, first-person narrative driven by a young woman, Toews writes in third-person about two characters, and primarily an older man (it’s also written without chapter breaks, which is disconcerting but neither here nor there. It does read as the sort of thing that would work better in one of her more cerebral, first-person novels, however). The second character is still a classical Toews wry single mother, but Knute never quite comes alive in the way Toews’ other protagonists do. Instead, we hone in on Hosea. Rita Dirks, in her book on Toews, wrote about the sadness that pervades many of Toews’ male characters, and Hosea is certainly emblematic of that. Hosea is a deeply pathetic person, constantly anxious about everything and everyone around him, teetering dangerously close to unintentionally causing real harm in his desperate bid for affection. He’s an uncomfortable character to spend a whole novel with (which is probably part of why Knute is here) but there is a lot of opportunity for some rich catharsis there. Unfortunately, I’m not sure Toews quite goes far enough; the biggest harm in this novel being in third-person is that we’re just far enough removed from Hosea that his life reads more as a farce than anything actually tragic. Tonally, I think this is intentionally on Toews’ part – the “Canada’s smallest town” plot is inherently very silly, it just takes far too long for the other shoe to finally drop.
Probably a three-star from any other author, but definitely a lesser Toews. I was entertained, and at a couple brief moments she taps at the emotionality that she will come to perfect. I am definitely interested to see how “Swing Low” compares – my suspicion is that it’s a much better take on the Hosea-type, but we'll see.
If “Summer of My Amazing Luck” is a nascent version of the better stories Toews would go on to write, “A Boy of Good Breeding” reads as though she were intentionally swerving away from expectations with her second book – but in so doing, also swerving away from the things she would eventually master. This book probably feels the most different from Toews’ canon so far; instead of an internal, first-person narrative driven by a young woman, Toews writes in third-person about two characters, and primarily an older man (it’s also written without chapter breaks, which is disconcerting but neither here nor there. It does read as the sort of thing that would work better in one of her more cerebral, first-person novels, however). The second character is still a classical Toews wry single mother, but Knute never quite comes alive in the way Toews’ other protagonists do. Instead, we hone in on Hosea. Rita Dirks, in her book on Toews, wrote about the sadness that pervades many of Toews’ male characters, and Hosea is certainly emblematic of that. Hosea is a deeply pathetic person, constantly anxious about everything and everyone around him, teetering dangerously close to unintentionally causing real harm in his desperate bid for affection. He’s an uncomfortable character to spend a whole novel with (which is probably part of why Knute is here) but there is a lot of opportunity for some rich catharsis there. Unfortunately, I’m not sure Toews quite goes far enough; the biggest harm in this novel being in third-person is that we’re just far enough removed from Hosea that his life reads more as a farce than anything actually tragic. Tonally, I think this is intentionally on Toews’ part – the “Canada’s smallest town” plot is inherently very silly, it just takes far too long for the other shoe to finally drop.
Probably a three-star from any other author, but definitely a lesser Toews. I was entertained, and at a couple brief moments she taps at the emotionality that she will come to perfect. I am definitely interested to see how “Swing Low” compares – my suspicion is that it’s a much better take on the Hosea-type, but we'll see.
January 31, 2019
Ah, Miriam Toews. How do you do it? Another Toews book filled with small towns and larger than life characters. Careful, funny, tender, and smart, the book saunters along without a huge narrative drive, and peeks slowly in on the lives of a handful of beautifully rendered characters. Every page was a delight, and the ending sat just right with me. A quirky read that's quick to get through but will linger in your mind for weeks after.
May 29, 2017
After her father’s heart attack, single mom, Knute and her four-year-old daughter move back to the small town of Algren, Manitoba to help her mother look after him. It’s not a bad move for Knute, as not much has gone well for her in Winnipeg. Meanwhile, Algren’s mayor, Hosea Funk, is determined to win praise and acknowledgement for Algren as Canada’s official smallest town. The winner will receive a visit from the prime minister. Due to his mother’s death bed comment, Hosea believes the man is his father. The trouble is, people keep moving to and dying in Algren, which causes Hosea no end of trouble to maintain the crucial population number of 1,500.
A Boy of Good Breeding is a lovely, light look at family and unfulfilled dreams. Setting is key to this story, and the eccentric characters are funny and entertaining. Hosea’s a little over the top, but I found myself sympathizing with his odd quest. If you’re looking for a fun, light Canadian story, then this is a great choice.
A Boy of Good Breeding is a lovely, light look at family and unfulfilled dreams. Setting is key to this story, and the eccentric characters are funny and entertaining. Hosea’s a little over the top, but I found myself sympathizing with his odd quest. If you’re looking for a fun, light Canadian story, then this is a great choice.
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