A Complicated Kindness - Mirium Toews

Completed Jan. 16 5/5

This one first came to my attention because it was Shortlisted for the 2004 Giller Prize. That alone wouldn't make me read it, but a friend recommended it too (thanks Kate ;) and to be honest the title drew me in.
It is about a girl growing up in a Mennonite town in Manitoba. I like to know as little about a book as possible going in, so I can't really say too much more about it without giving things away.
Absolutely beautiful writing, long story short I have another fabulous Canadian author to follow. I will definitely be reading her other books.

First Sentence: I live with my father, Ray Nickel, in that low brick bungalow out on highway number twelve.
Last Sentence: Truthfully this story ends with me still sitting on the floor of my room wondering who I'll become if I leave this town and remembering when I was a little kid and how i loved to fall asleep in my bed breathing in the smell of freshly cut grass and listening to the voices of my sister and my mother talking and laughing in the kitchen and the sounds of my dad poking around in the yard, making things beautiful right outside my bedroom window.