And this is Toews at her finest: a story that is as much a comedy as it is a tragedy, a goodbye grin from the friend who taught you how to live.
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.Īll My Puny Sorrows is the latest novel from Miriam Toews, one of Canada’s most beloved authors - not only because her work is rich with deep human feeling and compassion but because her observations are knife-sharp and her books wickedly funny. 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. Publisher’s DescriptionĮlf and Yoli are sisters. This book is by turns witty, sharply observant, and heartbreaking. Yoli grapples with what it means to approach her sister with love and compassion, without being complicit in her plans. All My Puny Sorrows, at once tender and unquiet, offers a profound reflection on the limits of love, and the sometimes unimaginable challenges we experience when childhood becomes a new country of adult commitments and responsibilities. Crippled by depression, she is determined to end her life. As the situation becomes ever more complicated, Yoli faces the most terrifying decision of her life. Yoli is less successful–going through her second divorce and struggling to raise two teenagers–but it’s Elf’s struggles that dominate. Their family went against the grain, and as an adult, Elf is an acclaimed and glamorous pianist. Elf and Yoli are two sisters who grew up in a Mennonite community in Winnipeg. This backlist offering from Miriam Toews is a novel about what it means to love a struggling sibling. Please see Disclosures for more information. That means if you click and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.
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