Little unimportant misfortunes
Little unimportant misfortunes —All My Puny Sorrows— is a drama written by Canadian author, journalist and actress Miriam Toews. The work was published for the first time in 2014. Later, the Sexto Piso publishing house obtained the editing and distribution rights in 2022, with the Spanish translation by Julia Osuna Aguilar.
In his book, Toews approaches mental health issues from a very personal perspective, because his life has been surrounded by the consequences of suffering some disorder. Little unimportant misfortunes is a moving story based on her relationship with her older sister, who committed suicide in 2010, almost twelve years after the author's father threw himself on a train track.
Synopsis of Little unimportant misfortunes
A momentous decision
Little unimportant misfortunes It is a love story, one of those stark loves that transcends. In his lines you can appreciate a total dedication for the other, and when it can't be done, he is let go, because it is what must be done, because it is the right thing to do.
Elfrieda and Yolandi Von Riesen are two sisters who have had to go through hell. In between, they both came back with very different perspectives and mindsets, and built their lives around these experiences to the best of their ability.
Elfrieda is a talented and renowned pianist of international stature. She is married to a man who loves her, and she is surrounded by luxury and glamor. On the other hand, Yolandi's life could not be described with any other word than “chaotic”. Her teenage children are too close to leaving the nest, she can't pay the bills, and to top it off, she just got divorced. However, Elf leads several suicide attempts, and Yoli clings to life like a starving lion would to the last piece of meat.
Dear Yoli, let me go
Yoli's desire to live does not let her understand why her sister does not want to stay alive. Both maintain constant talks about it, but never agree. Yoli, letting herself be carried away by the anguish of seeing one of the people she loves the most not being able to give up the idea of leaving forever, tells her:
“Can't you be more like the others, normal and sad and with your shit, alive and with a conscience? Get fat and smoke like there's no tomorrow and play the piano like a ass. Fuck it!"
This speech is unfair, cruel, selfish, yes, but who would not resort to iniquitous words to try to keep a loved one alive? While he tries not to sink too deep and thinks about his "little unimportant misfortunes", Yoli sits next to her sister in the hospital, after her last attempt at suicide. She begins to wonder how to convey her hunger for life to him. At some point, she understands that he can't help her live.
A critique of the stigmatization of mental disorders
Miriam Toews experienced firsthand the terror and pain that can be caused by mental diseases. His father suffered from bipolar disorder for much of his life. In the process, she was trying to make him laugh, as well as her sister. The author has mentioned that her absurd humor is her way of seeing the world and fighting battles, and that has helped her sustain herself after losing part of her family.
At the same time, he speaks harshly about the role of psychiatrists and nurses in hospitals dedicated to mental disorders. Specifically, he says that there is a kind of "infantilization of patients who are there because they are suffering, because they need care."
Most people with a psychological illness are blamed for their own discomforts, they are separated, and, in addition, the State does not provide sufficient resources for investigation.
Miriam Toews defends assisted dying
Unlike other books with similar themes, Little unimportant misfortunes has an ending that does not focus on how love is able to save us. On the contrary. The outcome of this novel by Miriam Toews is heartbreaking, and invites reflection.
In the last moment, Yoli is able to identify her sister's psychological pain, to see that he genuinely suffers. While this is happening, Elf begs him to help her die, and the protagonist has no other choice.
In the end, he gives in, and he does it because he loves her enough to be compassionate and generous.. Miriam Toews affirms that all human beings feel anguish, that this is part of life. However, when this type of suffering is perpetuated over time, we may be talking about a pathology.
That is why it is necessary to talk more about mental illnesses: of depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder... Bringing it to the fore humanizes the patient, and makes it easier to give them the tools they deserve, even if that tool is death.
About the author, Miriam Leslie Toews
Miriam Toews
Miriam Leslie Toews was born in 1964, in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada. This Canadian actress and author earned a BA in Film Studies from the University of Manitoba. Likewise, he has studies in Journalism from King's College in Halifax. The writer's parents were Mennonites, and this community had a great influence on her life. This fact is documented in many of her novels, where the negative influences of religious pressure are shown.
Toews had a very special relationship with his father, Melvin C. Toews, who was a respected elementary school teacher., responsible for collaborating in the establishment of the first public library in Steinbach. Later, the man committed suicide, an event that marked the author and the rest of her family, especially her older sister, Marjorie, who was never able to recover.
Miriam Toews thought she would never write again, yet doing so freed her. In her own words, it was necessary for her to return to letters to maintain her sanity. She also decided to do it with the hope that this would be her way to maintain healthier ties with other people.
Other books by Miriam Toews
- Summer of My Amazing Luck (1996);
- A Boy of Good Breeding (1998);
- Swing Low (2000);
- complicated goodness (2004);
- The flying Troutmans (2008);
- irma voth (2011);
- All My Puny Sorrows (2014);
- They speak (2018);
- Women Talking: The Oscar-winning film starring Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley and Claire Foy (2018);
- Fight Night (2021)