In what they say (Boréal, 2019) — including the film adaptation, Women Talking (2022), won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — Miriam Toews was inspired by real-life drama to tell the story of women in a Mennonite community who, after days of waking up bruised and bloodied , understand that they are, night after night, put to sleep by means of an anesthetic used for cattle, then raped by their uncles, their cousins, their brothers.
Gathered in secret, the victims must make a choice: flee, fight or do nothing. These three questions are at the heart of the work of Miriam Toews, nine novels centered on the love and the courage of women who suffer the violence of a world which persists, in vain, in reducing them to silence, nine stories of grief, resilience, survival and hope.
“The older I get, the more I realize how easy and natural it is to feel despair, bitterness and disillusionment, underlines the writer, joined by The duty at her home in Toronto, which she shares with her mother, daughter and her family. The world is a fragile and vulnerable place. Through writing, I hope to bequeath a tiny bit of hope, or something like it. Hope is essential to ask the difficult questions that allow us to move forward, to bring them to light and learn to compose and live with them. »
Choose the light
This shift in perspective is noticeable in fight night, the brand new novel by the Manitoba native. She tells, through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl, the story of a family not quite like the others, defined by giggles, spectacular adventures, nervous breakdowns, exacerbated sensitivities, of love and a great thirst for freedom.
More than ever, Miriam Toews addresses the issues that obsess her — mental illness, suicide, bereavement, faith — from the side of laughter and light; a light that emanates both from the candor of childhood and from the flamboyant personality of Elvira, a character of a grandmother in love with life and eager for love and bonds inspired by the author’s own mother.
“After writing Women Talking, an intense and painful experience, I wanted to embark on something different. In the meantime, I also became a grandmother. I now have four grandchildren under the age of five. As my mother will not be with us for a very long time, I wanted to tell her, so that they can get to know this remarkable woman, who is a real rock for our family. »
The swings
Nine-year-old Swiv is kicked out of school after fighting one too many times, according to the school principal. “…I replied that we wouldn’t be in this mess if I had any idea of the exact number of battles I’m supposed to have. “Wielding sarcasm with sarcasm and address – impossible to ignore the delectable translation work of Paul Gagné and the late Lori Saint-Martin – the little girl recounts her daily life in a long letter addressed to her deceased father.
Since her mother, exhausted by her pregnancy and by the mind-numbing rehearsals she goes through at the theatre, cannot take care of her education, Swiv is entrusted all day to the good care of her exuberant and endearing grandmother, an old woman with the edge of death, Toronto Raptors fan, hungry for adventure, whose long life is filled with loss and tragedy. Between history lessons and a grand convertible trip through the valleys of Fresno, California, the kid learns to come to terms with the dramatic magnitude of her family heritage.
Among the destinies offered to the characters of Miriam Toews, Elvira is unquestionably a fighter, a woman who chooses to celebrate life and its promises despite the mourning that crosses her life – the mother of the novelist notably lost her husband and a daughter, both of whom took their own lives.
“That’s one of the reasons I write about her. My mother is an inspiration to me, as much for her resilience as for her curiosity, her love, her way of living her life and her mourning, of continuing to find in her the joy and the strength to connect with others. It’s so hard to cultivate beauty through the pain and chaos of life. My mom does it, and that’s why she’s exceptional. »
Bequeathing Elvira’s perspective on life is also a way for Miriam Toews to deal with the fears, traumas and wounds that are passed down from generation to generation in her family. “Writing is for me a form of communion. Sooner or later, my grandchildren will wonder about this great-grandfather and this aunt they never knew. With this book, I try to open a space for dialogue, to give them a form of power, to show them, through the anxiety of the character of Swiv, that it is possible to survive despite the magnitude of our fears. »