A BOY OF GOOD BREEDING

The success of A COMPLICATED KINDNESS has spurred interest in Toews's previous work. In this 1998 novel, the mayor of Algren, Manitoba, is determined to keep the population at precisely 1,500 in order to win the distinction of being Canada's smallest town, which includes a visit from the prime minister. The original novel is brief, so this short abridgment doesn't cut the heart out of it, and Ruth McIntosh clearly gets the mix of laugh-out-loud humor and poignant moments that Toews writes so well. Some of her male voices, however, make the characters sound more dim-witted than the author intends, a quirk that detracts from an otherwise good narration of an entertaining novel. D.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]