Books › A complicated kindness
A complicated kindness
First published 2005 · 356 pages
A darkly hilarious and deeply tender portrait of a teenage girl using sarcasm as a shield against the crushing weight of her fractured family and insular religious town.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like sitting on the hood of a car in the middle of nowhere with the smartest, funniest, and saddest girl you know. The narrative voice is the star here, offering a masterclass in deadpan, wry observation that uses biting sarcasm to mask a profound, aching vulnerability. The pacing is steady and reflective, anchored not by explosive plot twists but by the slow, claustrophobic unraveling of a family within a rigid, unforgiving community. It is a deeply bittersweet experience, balancing laugh-out-loud teenage rebellion with the quiet devastation of maternal abandonment and religious suffocation. This book will completely captivate readers who appreciate fiercely intelligent, cynical narrators and stories that find absurd humor in the darkest corners of grief and isolation.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- bittersweet
- lonely
- darkly comic
- Tone
- wry
- sarcastic
- tender
- melancholic
- deadpan
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- religious suffocation · maternal abandonment · coming of age · the burden of belief · grief and resilience
- The writing
- Sharp, conversational, and darkly hilarious, masking profound vulnerability with deadpan wit.
- The arc
- Moves from cynical, defensive isolation toward a fragile, heartbreaking acceptance of love and loss.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love fiercely intelligent, sarcastic teenage narrators grappling with heavy family trauma in insular communities.
Content notes
- religious trauma
- maternal abandonment
- depression
- underage substance use
- suicidal ideation
About the book
"A 16-year-old rebels against the conventions of her strict Mennonite community and tries to come to terms with the collapse of her family..."--Publishers Weekly.
Description from Open Library.
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