Book of the Week: All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

In a return to the Mennonite milieu of her award-winning novel A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews’ riveting new book tells the story of two sisters, Elf and Yoli, whose fierce love and connection to one another extends well past childhood. Now in their forties, one is a gifted, world-famous pianist with a devoted husband, the other a broke, novelist-mother who spends much of her time dealing with ex-husbands and a string of unsuitable lovers. But most of her energy is spent keeping her glamorous, but clinically depressed and suicidal sibling alive.

All My Puny Sorrows is an unforgettable story that mingles laughter with heartbreak, and in the end, asks an impossible question: if the person you love doesn’t want to live, is it kinder to let them go?