Fight Night: A Novel by Miriam Toews, 3/5

Since I like my dialogue to be punctuated, do not generally enjoy the coming-of-age genre, and think “girl power” is a bit cringeworthy, I shouldn’t have enjoyed this book. However, consistent with the theme of her novel, Toews infuses her writing with so much love and humor that I was challenged to look past my preconceptions and appreciate the power of love to make messy situations, damaged people, embarrassment, mistakes, death, and loss into something beautiful.

Why I read it: I was going through my old reviews to make a book shopping list when I saw Toews’ transcendent novel, All My Puny Sorrows,and realized I’d never gotten around to reading more of her work.