Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Last night, up far too late, i finished miriam toews all my puny sorrows. Yoli is writing a novel about a harbourmaster who ends up not being able to get off this ship and not being at. All my puny sorrows by miriam toews the boston globe. Jul 28, 2015 all my puny sorrows is the latest novel from miriam toews, one of canadas most beloved authors not only because her work is rich with deep human feeling and compassion, but because her observations are knifesharp and her books wickedly funny. Elfrieda elf, despite her fame as a worldrenowned pianist and a loving husband at home, has suffered from depression and. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of all my puny sorrows by miriam toews. All my puny sorrows available for download and read online in other formats.
But its intelligence, its honesty and, above all, its compassion provide a kind of existential balm. I guess you could choke on a ring if you decided to swallow it, or pound it against your head for several weeks nonstop until you did some damage. Perhaps a suggestion can be found in a wonderful analogy included. All my puny sorrows consequently reads almost like a memoir, and the heroines contemplations seem powerfully heartfelt and emotionally charged. She chose miriam toews all my puny sorrows because shed read and liked some of her earlier work, and because the author is, like m, canadian. This is a book with very little plot, but the characters themselves propel the story along. I have enjoyed all of miriam toews other works, and this was no exception. Nov 19, 2018 a benefit for music hall members at our contributorlevel and above, book club meets the second monday of the month in the lounge at portwalk place from 67. All my puny sorrows is awash in fear and grief and pain, but it is for all that not a bummer of a book. All my puny sorrows was a finalist for the giller prize in 2014, and i am personally of the opinion that it should have won. Yolandi, divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men as she tries to find true love. So much painful, magnificent life, and so much love.
The novels plot revolves around a family confronting the potential loss of a beloved member through suicide. This one is longish and maybe only really brilliant. The book has a pulse, which strengthens and weakens with perfect pacing so you get a little time to breathe before the next plunge into the characters. Sisters elf and yoli seem to have entirely different lives, yet they are incredibly close, both raised mennonite and both bearing the weight of elfs wish to end her own life. Review i first came across miriam toews all my puny sorrows on the mcsweeneys blog, which i follow due to my unwavering devotion to dave eggersesque humor. She is winner of the governor generals award for fiction, the libris award for fiction book of. All my puny sorrows by miriam toews mcsweeneys buy from indiebound buy from amazon.
You wont forget elf and yoli, two smart and loving sisters. All my puny sorrows by miriam toews, paperback barnes. Toews took a very thoughtful approach to family, love, loss and suicide. Exquisite book would you consider the audio edition of all my puny sorrows to be better than the print version. Review i first came across miriam toews all my puny sorrows on the mcsweeneys blog, which i follow due to. Com library journal the av club vox summer of my amazing luck. Buy all my puny sorrows main by toews, miriam isbn. One is our narrator, yolandi, a moderately successful author of rodeothemed young adult novels. A benefit for music hall members at our contributorlevel and above, book club meets the second monday of the month in the lounge at portwalk place from 67. I think she just might be my favourite author with this book and i highly recommend it to anyone looking for a beautiful read with a different approach. Find books like all my puny sorrows from the worlds largest community of readers. All my puny sorrows, by miriam toews the new york times. I was not sold on this book until page 148, when i read these lines.
Evenings include time for socializing followed by a moderated discussion. Goodreads members who liked all my puny sorrows also liked. Its a voice that acknowledges the immensity of the world, and how consequently ones own problems matter at once so little and so much. Elfrieda, a worldrenowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married. My book club recently had an engaging and lively discussion about the fiction novel, all my puny sorrows. Yolandi, divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men as she tries to find true love, she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive. All my puny sorrows is thus a tonal masterclass of a novel, a sad, sad book which is compulsive reading because of how it acknowledges humour as a pivotpoint in the seesaw of dignity. One is our narrator, yolandi, a moderately successful author of.
Yoli refers to her houseofcards plan to make her want to live p. All my puny sorrows is the sixth novel by canadian writer miriam toews. This months title is all my puny sorrows by miriam toews. Toews has said that the novel draws heavily on the events leading up to the 2010. Throughout all my puny sorrows yoli makes impassioned pleas to elf to continue life. All my puny sorrows is a deeply personal story that is as much comedy as it is tragedy, a goodbye grin from the friend who taught you how to live. Yoli is writing a novel about a harbourmaster who ends up not being able to get off this ship and not being at all prepared for a journey 190. This book club meets in hillcrest, north park, and nearby uptown areas. The novel focuses on two sisters, elfrieda and yolandi. In miriam toewss brilliant and desperately sad new novel, all my puny sorrows, we meet two sisters. It is vulnerable to accusations of plotlessness, yes, but to criticise toews for that is to miss the point entirely.
This is the kind of book for which book clubs were invented a lot of book clubs are about friends getting together and drinking wine and the book is the excuse, i get that, but nevertheless theres a genuine need underlying the concept of the book club. As someone who has had dysthemia longterm, lowmedium grade depression for my entire adult life, i found this book relatable and even. Pdf all my puny sorrows download full pdf book download. Well, to be accurate, i felt that hot snuffling feeling beneath and behind the eyes that precedes tears, and which miriam toewss superlative book is confident enough to describe right back to the reader as like being teargassed. Throughout all my puny sorrows yoli makes impassioned pleas. There is hope in it, and a deep sense of home and family, and an encoded determination. All my puny sorrows book club kit okanagan regional.
The novel won the 2014 rogers writers trust fiction prize, and was shortlisted for the 2014 scotiabank giller prize, the 2015 folio prize for literature, and the 2015 wellcome book prize. This is the kind of book for which book clubs were invented a lot of book clubs are about friends getting together and drinking wine and the book is the excuse, i get that, but nevertheless theres a. The main characters of this fiction, cultural story are. A lifeaffirming romp through death in all my puny sorrows. Well meet monthly in a coffee shop, brewery or bar in the uptown area and discuss the book of the month. Its a testament to the entertaining voice, emotional acuity and quick pacing of all my puny sorrows that it doesnt become evident until about twothirds of the way through how slight the plot is. Free download or read online all my puny sorrows pdf epub book. Such a synopsis would not, if i hadnt read the book, seem to me enticing, but all my puny sorrows is irresistible. Apr 05, 2015 all my puny sorrows is based on the authors own experience of her sisters suicide, in 2010, 12 years after their father killed himself, explaining the novels urgency and rawness. Apr 18, 2014 in miriam toewss brilliant and desperately sad new novel, all my puny sorrows, we meet two sisters.
All my puny sorrows is a novel by canadian author miriam toews, first published. All my puny sorrows paperback boswell book company. Mar 12, 2020 all my puny sorrows is the latest novel from miriam toews, one of canadas most beloved authors not only because her work is rich with deep human feeling and compassion, but because her observations are knifesharp and her books wickedly funny. Nov 04, 2018 the book offers no definitive answer to how to live life with its joy and its real and puny sorrows. About the author miriam toews is the author of seven bestselling novels, all my puny sorrows, summer of my amazing luck, a boy of good breeding, a complicated kindness, the flying troutmans. She is winner of the governor generals award for fiction, the libris award for fiction book of the year, the rogers writers trust fiction prize. Its sometimes shocking to hear how a narrator handles a book ive read. 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. Jun 05, 2014 buy all my puny sorrows main by toews, miriam isbn. Miriam toews is the author of seven bestselling novels, all my puny sorrows, summer of my amazing luck, a boy of good breeding, a complicated kindness, the flying troutmans, irma voth, and women talking and one work of nonfiction, swing low. And yet, canadians have pushed all my puny sorrows up the bestseller list. We get it, we know what sad is, and then the whole book is basically a description of the million and one ways in which our protagonist is sad.
All my puny sorrows is the latest novel from miriam toews, one of canadas most beloved authors not only because her work is rich with deep human feeling and compassion but because her observations are knifesharp and her books wickedly funny. What toews can do with her characters is nothing short of genius. Jul 28, 2015 all my puny sorrows is unsettling, because how can a novel about suicide not be. Yoli is dealing with an impending divorce, a faltering career, a tendency toward promiscuity, and the lingering selfloathing brought on by her mennonite upbringing. All my puny sorrows is based on the authors own experience of her sisters suicide, in 2010, 12 years after their father killed himself, explaining the novels urgency and rawness. The book has a pulse, which strengthens and weakens with perfect pacing so you get a little time to breathe before the next plunge into the characters dilemmas. This month, m chose the book we would read we take it, roughly, in turns. Yoli is the author of a series of young adult cowgirl novels and is currently working on a serious novel about sisters. Nov 23, 2014 such a synopsis would not, if i hadnt read the book, seem to me enticing, but all my puny sorrows is irresistible. It is narrated by and told from the perspective of her little sister yolandi yoli.
A story of sisters, suicide and how to carry on with hope when grief loads the heart. Toews writing is remarkable in that shes able to convey that emotion so palpably to her readers. This is a fun and social group we want to discuss the books but also get to know each other and have a good time. The story revolves around elfs hospital room in winnipeg.
Throughout all my puny sorrows yoli makes impassioned. She is winner of the governor generals award for fiction, the libris award for fiction book of the year, the rogers writers trust. All my puny sorrows is toewss most personal work yet her father killed himself in 1998, her elder sister in 2010 photo. The book offers no definitive answer to how to live life with its joy and its real and puny sorrows. In this case, the narrator enhanced what was already a great book. Miriam toews is the author of the bestselling novels, women talking, all my puny sorrows, summer of my amazing luck, a boy of good breeding, a complicated kindness, the flying troutmans, and irma voth, and one work of nonfiction, swing low.
All my puny sorrows is both incredibly moving and a page turner, because despite so much talk of death, there is so much life in this book. Wit cant wholly conceal the chief flaw of all my puny sorrows, which is aimlessness. This is a book about deep, protracted, unrelenting sadness, and it knows it. The story of brittany maynard, the terminally ill woman in oregon who committed suicide earlier this month after making her intention public, forces us to consider or repress wrenching questions about how life ends. Elf has beautiful hands, not ravaged by time or sun because she doesnt go out much. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 321 pages and is available in hardcover format. The flashbacks to yoli and elfs childhood in a rural mennonite. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. All 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. I laughed and i cried all the way through all my puny sorrows, a comedy about suicide. Apr 10, 2016 my book club recently had an engaging and lively discussion about the fiction novel, all my puny sorrows.
The first edition of the novel was published in april 15th 2014, and was written by miriam toews. The flashbacks to yoli and elfs childhood in a rural mennonite community are vivid and energetic. The novel was a finalist for the giller prize, and last week it won the rogers writers trust fiction prize. This months book club meeting convened on the banks of the brisbane river, at the goma cafe. In her most passionate novel yet, she brings us the riveting story of two sisters, and a love that illuminates life. All my puny sorrows is the latest novel from miriam toews, one of canadas most beloved authors not only because her work is rich with deep human feeling and compassion, but because her observations are knifesharp and her books wickedly funny. Miriam toews is beloved for her irresistible voice, for mingling laughter and heartwrenching poignancy like no other writer. Furthermore, i believe all my puny sorrows was one of the more more mature, thoughtful, complex novels she has written to date.