This is not unexpected, given that the author herself has been touched by suicide (Toews’s father and sister both took their own lives), and that she has written several books involving characters in the Mennonite community struggling with mental illness.Īll My Puny Sorrows focuses on Yoli, a writer who travels from Toronto to the Winnipeg bedside of her older sister, Elf, who has attempted, not for the first time, to kill herself. It is a sad, poignant book which made me laugh out loud.Īll My Puny Sorrows was shortlisted for The Folio Prize 2015 and I totally understand why.Ĭlick here to listen to this Writers Trust of Canada interview with Miriam Toews about All My Puny Sorrows.The choice to die and the shame associated with suicide are at the thematic heart of Miriam Toews’s stunning sixth novel. She loves her sister and does not want to lose her, but if her sister is so unhappy then how can she not help her? Is Elf’s wish not hugely selfish, does she not care for the feelings of those she will leave behind? Anyone who has been close to someone with a long-term illness will recognise many of the healthcare situations and Yoli’s many meltdowns with medical authority. No judgements are made although Yoli runs through every gamut of emotion from sorrow to guilt to anger to exasperation to despair. What we do have is Yoli’s contemplation of Elf’s request to be taken to Switzerland to end her own life. We do not hear Elf’s inner voice except in excerpts from letters and poems. I had to be just ahead of her in the music and move like a snake when I turned the page so there was no crinkling and no sticking and no thwapping. “When we were kids she would occasionally let me be her page-turner for the fast pieces that she hadn’t memorized. Elf’s story – and that of the family of women surrounding the two sisters, their mother, their aunt, Yoli’s daughter, their friends – is told by Yoli. Yoli writes the Rodeo Rhonda teen novels. The story centres on sisters Yolandi and Elfrieda von Riesen.

Do not ignore this book because you think it will be depressing: it is uplifting, and you will feel sad to finish it. Canadian writer Miriam Toews drew heavily on her own experiences in the writing of All My Puny Sorrows, and that depth of empathy shines from every page.

Yes, it is sad, but it is also laugh-out-loud in places. This is a novel about depression, suicide, death, broken families, love and music.

All my puny sorrows book