All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews– 317 pages
Book Blurb:
Elf and Yoli are sisters. While on the surface Elfrieda’s life is enviable (she’s a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, and happily married) and Yolandi’s a mess (she’s divorced and broke, with two teenagers growing up too quickly), they are fiercely close — raised in a Mennonite household and sharing the hardship of Elf’s desire to end her life. After Elf’s latest attempt, Yoli must quickly determine how to keep her family from falling apart, how to keep her own heart from breaking, and what it means to love someone who wants to die.
My Review: 5 stars
Beautiful, honest, raw, haunting, heavy and sometimes comical words fill the pages of this tragic story of two sisters from a Mennonite family in Canada. This book is a heart breaker, as Elf, the sister that “has everything” simply wants to end her life and Yoli, whose life is “in shambles” does everything to help save her. There is a fierce bond between these two and they are on opposite ends of a seesaw as they navigate the boundaries of love as it relates to mental illness. I enjoyed the many literary references and just how important reading was to their family. This author uses smart language with an abundance of words I had to look up, however for a literary novel, it was readable and relatable to the pedestrian reader. After I finished, I was scouring for information about Miriam Toews (which was easy as there was a lot of it) and learned that this book is semi-autobiographical. In interviews, she shares several parts of the book that are taken from her real life battle between her and her sister. Knowing this only heightened the beauty and sadness of this book.
Quotes I liked:
Public enemy number one for these men was a girl with a book.”
– “But Elf, I say, just because you have no use for the systems that help us measure our lives doesn’t mean that our lives don’t need measuring.”
-“It was the first time that we had sort of articulated our major problem. She wanted to die and I wanted her to live and we were enemies who loved each other. We held each other tenderly, awkwardly, because she was in bed attached to things.”
– “Yoli, she said, I ‘m just saying that apologies aren’t the bedrock of civilized society. All right! I said. I agree. But what is the bedrock of civilized society? Libraries, said Elf.”
-“I don’t remember what I am. I am what I dream. I am what I hope for. I am what I don’t remember. I am what other people want me to be. I am what my kids want me to be. I am what mom wants me to be. I am what you want me to be. What do you want me to be? Don’t we need to stick around to find out what we are? What do you want me to be?”
-“I can’t throw a book, any book, in the garbage.”
– “Maybe it’s because you’ve perfected life that you are now ready to leave it behind. What else is there left to do?”
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This book sounds amazing….in a heart-aching but beautiful way.
It is a must read. Just beautiful!
Are you planing to review The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks.
yes! It’s on my list! Have you read it?