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Fight Night
The beloved author of bestsellers Women Talking, A Complicated Kindness, and All My Puny Sorrows returns with a funny, smart, headlong rush of a novel full of wit, flawless writing, and a tribute to perseverance and love in an unusual family.
Fight Night is told in the unforgettable voice of Swiv, a nine-year-old living in Toronto with her pregnant mother, who is raising Swiv while caring for her own elderly, frail, yet extraordinarily lively mother. When Swiv is expelled from school, Grandma takes on the role of teacher and gives her the task of writing to Swiv's absent father about life in the household during the last trimester of the pregnancy. In turn, Swiv gives Grandma an assignment: to write a letter to "Gord," her unborn grandchild (and Swiv's soon-to-be brother or sister). "You’re a small thing," Grandma writes to Gord, "and you must learn to fight."
As Swiv records her thoughts and observations, Fight Night unspools the pain, love, laughter, and above all, will to live a good life across three generations of women in a close-knit family. But it is Swiv’s exasperating, wise and irrepressible Grandma who is at the heart of this novel: someone who knows intimately what it costs to survive in this world, yet has found a way—painfully, joyously, ferociously—to love and fight to the end, on her own terms.
Fight Night is told in the unforgettable voice of Swiv, a nine-year-old living in Toronto with her pregnant mother, who is raising Swiv while caring for her own elderly, frail, yet extraordinarily lively mother. When Swiv is expelled from school, Grandma takes on the role of teacher and gives her the task of writing to Swiv's absent father about life in the household during the last trimester of the pregnancy. In turn, Swiv gives Grandma an assignment: to write a letter to "Gord," her unborn grandchild (and Swiv's soon-to-be brother or sister). "You’re a small thing," Grandma writes to Gord, "and you must learn to fight."
As Swiv records her thoughts and observations, Fight Night unspools the pain, love, laughter, and above all, will to live a good life across three generations of women in a close-knit family. But it is Swiv’s exasperating, wise and irrepressible Grandma who is at the heart of this novel: someone who knows intimately what it costs to survive in this world, yet has found a way—painfully, joyously, ferociously—to love and fight to the end, on her own terms.
Audiobook
First published October 5, 2021
About the author
Miriam Toews
17 books2,958 followersMiriam Toews is a Canadian writer of Mennonite descent. She grew up in Steinbach, Manitoba and has lived in Montreal and London, before settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Toews studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of King's College in Halifax, and has also worked as a freelance newspaper and radio journalist. Her non-fiction book "Swing Low: A Life" was a memoir of her father, a victim of lifelong depression. Her 2004 novel "A Complicated Kindness" was her breakthrough work, spending over a year on the Canadian bestseller lists and winning the Governor General's Award for English Fiction. The novel, about a teenage girl who longs to escape her small Russian Mennonite town and hang out with Lou Reed in the slums of New York City, was also nominated for the Giller Prize and was the winning title in the 2006 edition of Canada Reads.
A series of letters she wrote in 2000 to the father of her son were published on the website www.openletters.net and were profiled on the radio show This American Life in an episode about missing parents.
In 2007 she made her screen debut in the Mexican film "Luz silenciosa" directed by Carlos Reygadas, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
In Sept. 2008, Knopf Canada published her novel "The Flying Troutmans", about a 28-year-old woman from Manitoba who takes her 15-year-old nephew and 11-year-old niece on a road trip to California after their mentally ill mother has been hospitalized.
The book, Irma Voth, was released in April 2011. Her latest book, All My Puny Sorrows, was published in April 2014.
For more information see Miriam Toews (1964–) Biography - Personal, Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Adaptations, Sidelights
The following is an interesting article written by Miriam Toews:
http://lithub.com/how-pacifism-can-le...
Toews studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of King's College in Halifax, and has also worked as a freelance newspaper and radio journalist. Her non-fiction book "Swing Low: A Life" was a memoir of her father, a victim of lifelong depression. Her 2004 novel "A Complicated Kindness" was her breakthrough work, spending over a year on the Canadian bestseller lists and winning the Governor General's Award for English Fiction. The novel, about a teenage girl who longs to escape her small Russian Mennonite town and hang out with Lou Reed in the slums of New York City, was also nominated for the Giller Prize and was the winning title in the 2006 edition of Canada Reads.
A series of letters she wrote in 2000 to the father of her son were published on the website www.openletters.net and were profiled on the radio show This American Life in an episode about missing parents.
In 2007 she made her screen debut in the Mexican film "Luz silenciosa" directed by Carlos Reygadas, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
In Sept. 2008, Knopf Canada published her novel "The Flying Troutmans", about a 28-year-old woman from Manitoba who takes her 15-year-old nephew and 11-year-old niece on a road trip to California after their mentally ill mother has been hospitalized.
The book, Irma Voth, was released in April 2011. Her latest book, All My Puny Sorrows, was published in April 2014.
For more information see Miriam Toews (1964–) Biography - Personal, Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Adaptations, Sidelights
The following is an interesting article written by Miriam Toews:
http://lithub.com/how-pacifism-can-le...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,913 reviews
January 1, 2022
Miriam Toews is one amazing author. In an NPR review, reviewer Kristen Martin states “In Toews’s hands, mundanity teems with comic detail”. I don’t know how she does it, but Toews writes absorbing novels that contain very dark subjects, such as suicide and depression, intertwined with comedic and absurd situations.
In “Fight Night” Toews continues writing about women who struggled in the Mennonite community. This time, the narrator is nine-year-old Swiv. She has been expelled from school for fighting. Her mother, Mooshie, is in her third trimester of pregnancy. “Mom is having a complete nervous breakdown and a geriatric pregnancy which doesn’t mean she’s going to push out an old geezer..” Swiv is very concerned about her mother’s geriatric pregnancy and it being the death of her.
Mooshie solicits her mother for help with Swiv while Swiv is expelled. The only problem is that gramma suffers from a heart problem, is partially deaf, and needs help doing everything. Well, actually this turns out to be the fun part of the novel. There’s nothing like a quirky elderly woman who needs 24/7 care and a nine-year-old earnest little girl who is worried about basically everything. Toews has fun using Swiv’s thoughts while she takes care of her gramma and worries about her pregnant mommy and developing fetus/sibling.
The heart of the story is Elvira (gramma) explaining to Swiv that the women in the family need to fight for survival. Swiv’s world is dysfunctional, but it’s full of powerful love.
The novel goes into comedic overdrive when Elvira decides she wants to see her nephews before the baby is born. Swiv and Elvira’s adventures in Fresno are laugh-out-loud hilarious. How does Toews think of these silly situations?
For those who enjoyed “All My Puny Sorrows” you will love this one. The other novel that comes to mind is the wonderful “MaryJane” by Jessica Anya Blau. I love spunky young protagonist trying to understand their world.
In “Fight Night” Toews continues writing about women who struggled in the Mennonite community. This time, the narrator is nine-year-old Swiv. She has been expelled from school for fighting. Her mother, Mooshie, is in her third trimester of pregnancy. “Mom is having a complete nervous breakdown and a geriatric pregnancy which doesn’t mean she’s going to push out an old geezer..” Swiv is very concerned about her mother’s geriatric pregnancy and it being the death of her.
Mooshie solicits her mother for help with Swiv while Swiv is expelled. The only problem is that gramma suffers from a heart problem, is partially deaf, and needs help doing everything. Well, actually this turns out to be the fun part of the novel. There’s nothing like a quirky elderly woman who needs 24/7 care and a nine-year-old earnest little girl who is worried about basically everything. Toews has fun using Swiv’s thoughts while she takes care of her gramma and worries about her pregnant mommy and developing fetus/sibling.
The heart of the story is Elvira (gramma) explaining to Swiv that the women in the family need to fight for survival. Swiv’s world is dysfunctional, but it’s full of powerful love.
The novel goes into comedic overdrive when Elvira decides she wants to see her nephews before the baby is born. Swiv and Elvira’s adventures in Fresno are laugh-out-loud hilarious. How does Toews think of these silly situations?
For those who enjoyed “All My Puny Sorrows” you will love this one. The other novel that comes to mind is the wonderful “MaryJane” by Jessica Anya Blau. I love spunky young protagonist trying to understand their world.
May 5, 2021
Swiv is nine years old, precious and wise beyond her years.
She lives with her mother and grandmother in Toronto. Grandma’s health may be fragile—but she’s feisty-lively-and bluntly outspoken.
Mom is pregnant, an actress, and doesn’t know where the heck Swiv’s dad ran off to.
“Fight Night” had a touch of the same flavor as “My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry”, by Fredrik Backman….
‘Tad’ similarities.
Both books are charming - with heart endearing quirkiness.
But “Fight Night” is more bold-has more profanity-with a message: knowing oneself is serious business!
Fighting for oneself is serious business.
No getting pushed around in this family.
I thought it was great -funny as hell - with sentences that kept outdoing themselves page after page.
My only quibble is that at times there was ‘so much’ humorous-sarcasm … poking and pushing the envelope—with it’s witty prose — I felt like I needed a breather— in other words - the writing was slightly overkilling a great thing.
But…. my goodness Miriam Toews sure could keep the punches rolling.
“Alternating between the exuberant, precious voice of young Swiv and her irrepressible tenacious Grandma, Fight Night is a love letter to mothers and grandmothers, and to all women who are still fighting-painfully, ferociously-for a way to live on their own terms”.
“Grandma likes to tell Mom we’ve accomplished household tasks every day because Mom is having a complete nervous break down and a geriatric pregnancy which doesn’t mean she’s going to push out an old geezer out of her vag, it means she’s too old to be up the stump and is ‘so exhausted’ and when she comes home from rehearsals she’s all, god, what a mess, god you guys, what a dump,
you can’t poor fat down the drain, these pipes are ancient, you can’t overload the toilet with toilet paper, why are there conchigliettes everywhere, can’t you two pick up a dish or put this shit away or have you ever heard of ‘household tasks’? Mom’s
‘domestic’ freak-out is that she always has to put all the food that’s in the fridge at the very outer edges of the racks so that it’s entirely visible to
Grandma, otherwise Grandma thinks there’s no food because she can’t see it, and she doesn’t move things around to see the food in the back of the fridge and then she orders take-out or just eats ice cream or bacon or handfuls of cereal from the box. So now Mom lines everything up in a row on the outer edges of the fridge racks with labels like THIS IS LENTIL CHILI! EAT IT! THIS IS KALE SALAD! EAT IT!
Grandma doesn’t eat anything green. Not a single thing, ever.
“I’m not going to spend my last five minutes on earth eating rabbit food!”
“Grandma says Mom has a tiny bit of PTSD still, plus she’s searching. I asked Grandma what Mom’s searching for and she said, Oh, you name it. PTSD and searching don’t end when we are asleep. Mom and Grandma no things about each other that they just have to ‘contend with’ because that’s how it is. They don’t mind. They know each other”.
“What happened is we met a friend of Mom’s who is a director. Mom said oh god, don’t look now. Fucking kill me. I looked and saw a tall guy come walking towards us. Mom tried not to embrace him but he bent down to hug ‘her’ so then out of politeness she hugged ‘him’ for under one second and just with one arm barely touching him. She pointed at me and said, this is my daughter, Swiv. I waved. He said Oh! I thought you’d say son. Mom and I looked at him. Pleasure, he said. He nodded at me. Mom asked him how he was and he said he was involved in an epic struggle with his demons. Mom burst out laughing and said really? Wow! He said yes, more and more as I get older I am finding evidence that supports the fact that I am a tragic character. Mom laughed again. The director looked confused. He said, It’s not funny, really, it’s painful.
Mom couldn’t stop laughing. Then I started laughing at it too. The director frowned and looked away, down towards the far end of the park towards the offleash pit. Mom said she was sorry. The director said it was fine. He was trying to smile. Finally he left and Mom sat back down on the bench and watched him disappear. When he was far enough away Mom said of my ‘god’, what a douchepetard. She told me he had touched her all over—and she means ‘all’ over—during one rehearsal when he was trying to show her how to
‘simulate love-making’. She said he’s ‘banged every young actress in town and super talks down to everyone’.
Mom said we can’t afford therapy anymore even with a sliding scale and even with giving the therapist free tickets to the theater because
doucherockets like the tall director aren’t giving her roles anymore because she’s too old and because of Gord and also because he knows she’s got his fucking number. Now she has to addition for fucking tooth-whitening commercials”.
“But where’s Dad? I asked her. She said a bunch of things but basically she doesn’t know”.
The characters of “Fight Night”…. are champions. They defend, support, and safeguard themselves and their tribe!
Thank you Netgalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Miriam Toews
She lives with her mother and grandmother in Toronto. Grandma’s health may be fragile—but she’s feisty-lively-and bluntly outspoken.
Mom is pregnant, an actress, and doesn’t know where the heck Swiv’s dad ran off to.
“Fight Night” had a touch of the same flavor as “My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry”, by Fredrik Backman….
‘Tad’ similarities.
Both books are charming - with heart endearing quirkiness.
But “Fight Night” is more bold-has more profanity-with a message: knowing oneself is serious business!
Fighting for oneself is serious business.
No getting pushed around in this family.
I thought it was great -funny as hell - with sentences that kept outdoing themselves page after page.
My only quibble is that at times there was ‘so much’ humorous-sarcasm … poking and pushing the envelope—with it’s witty prose — I felt like I needed a breather— in other words - the writing was slightly overkilling a great thing.
But…. my goodness Miriam Toews sure could keep the punches rolling.
“Alternating between the exuberant, precious voice of young Swiv and her irrepressible tenacious Grandma, Fight Night is a love letter to mothers and grandmothers, and to all women who are still fighting-painfully, ferociously-for a way to live on their own terms”.
“Grandma likes to tell Mom we’ve accomplished household tasks every day because Mom is having a complete nervous break down and a geriatric pregnancy which doesn’t mean she’s going to push out an old geezer out of her vag, it means she’s too old to be up the stump and is ‘so exhausted’ and when she comes home from rehearsals she’s all, god, what a mess, god you guys, what a dump,
you can’t poor fat down the drain, these pipes are ancient, you can’t overload the toilet with toilet paper, why are there conchigliettes everywhere, can’t you two pick up a dish or put this shit away or have you ever heard of ‘household tasks’? Mom’s
‘domestic’ freak-out is that she always has to put all the food that’s in the fridge at the very outer edges of the racks so that it’s entirely visible to
Grandma, otherwise Grandma thinks there’s no food because she can’t see it, and she doesn’t move things around to see the food in the back of the fridge and then she orders take-out or just eats ice cream or bacon or handfuls of cereal from the box. So now Mom lines everything up in a row on the outer edges of the fridge racks with labels like THIS IS LENTIL CHILI! EAT IT! THIS IS KALE SALAD! EAT IT!
Grandma doesn’t eat anything green. Not a single thing, ever.
“I’m not going to spend my last five minutes on earth eating rabbit food!”
“Grandma says Mom has a tiny bit of PTSD still, plus she’s searching. I asked Grandma what Mom’s searching for and she said, Oh, you name it. PTSD and searching don’t end when we are asleep. Mom and Grandma no things about each other that they just have to ‘contend with’ because that’s how it is. They don’t mind. They know each other”.
“What happened is we met a friend of Mom’s who is a director. Mom said oh god, don’t look now. Fucking kill me. I looked and saw a tall guy come walking towards us. Mom tried not to embrace him but he bent down to hug ‘her’ so then out of politeness she hugged ‘him’ for under one second and just with one arm barely touching him. She pointed at me and said, this is my daughter, Swiv. I waved. He said Oh! I thought you’d say son. Mom and I looked at him. Pleasure, he said. He nodded at me. Mom asked him how he was and he said he was involved in an epic struggle with his demons. Mom burst out laughing and said really? Wow! He said yes, more and more as I get older I am finding evidence that supports the fact that I am a tragic character. Mom laughed again. The director looked confused. He said, It’s not funny, really, it’s painful.
Mom couldn’t stop laughing. Then I started laughing at it too. The director frowned and looked away, down towards the far end of the park towards the offleash pit. Mom said she was sorry. The director said it was fine. He was trying to smile. Finally he left and Mom sat back down on the bench and watched him disappear. When he was far enough away Mom said of my ‘god’, what a douchepetard. She told me he had touched her all over—and she means ‘all’ over—during one rehearsal when he was trying to show her how to
‘simulate love-making’. She said he’s ‘banged every young actress in town and super talks down to everyone’.
Mom said we can’t afford therapy anymore even with a sliding scale and even with giving the therapist free tickets to the theater because
doucherockets like the tall director aren’t giving her roles anymore because she’s too old and because of Gord and also because he knows she’s got his fucking number. Now she has to addition for fucking tooth-whitening commercials”.
“But where’s Dad? I asked her. She said a bunch of things but basically she doesn’t know”.
The characters of “Fight Night”…. are champions. They defend, support, and safeguard themselves and their tribe!
Thank you Netgalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Miriam Toews
January 26, 2022
Life is a mystery.
There are no real rules or patterns. We all just wander through without guidelines or parameters, just vibing and seeing what happens. Surprises around every corner.
In other words: I should have hated this book, and instead I loved it.
I hated the other book I've read by this author very much, and I expected to feel neutral at best about this one, and yet - I am stubborn. I refuse to not read books I have no chance of liking.
And look how well it works out for me!!!
I am so in love with the narrator of this book, an ornery funny smart nine year old. (2021 was the year of realizing I like child narrators even though I am not a huge fan of real-life children.) I am obsessed with her equally ornery grandmother, and her emotive and somewhat crazy mom, and even the absent dad and unborn child this is addressed to have soft spots in my book just for creating this story.
As soon as I finished this, I did two things:
- lent my mom my copy
- thought about rereading.
What higher praise could there be?
Bottom line: Miriam Toews, we remain in good graces.
Well, I can't speak for you. But good-ish.
------------------
pre-review
i give up on thinking i have any idea what books i'll like.
this was just wonderful.
review to come / 4.5 stars maybe 5
------------------
currently-reading updates
sure, i hated the first book i read by this author with a fiery passion. but life is about growth
clear ur sh*t book 60
no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
There are no real rules or patterns. We all just wander through without guidelines or parameters, just vibing and seeing what happens. Surprises around every corner.
In other words: I should have hated this book, and instead I loved it.
I hated the other book I've read by this author very much, and I expected to feel neutral at best about this one, and yet - I am stubborn. I refuse to not read books I have no chance of liking.
And look how well it works out for me!!!
I am so in love with the narrator of this book, an ornery funny smart nine year old. (2021 was the year of realizing I like child narrators even though I am not a huge fan of real-life children.) I am obsessed with her equally ornery grandmother, and her emotive and somewhat crazy mom, and even the absent dad and unborn child this is addressed to have soft spots in my book just for creating this story.
As soon as I finished this, I did two things:
- lent my mom my copy
- thought about rereading.
What higher praise could there be?
Bottom line: Miriam Toews, we remain in good graces.
Well, I can't speak for you. But good-ish.
------------------
pre-review
i give up on thinking i have any idea what books i'll like.
this was just wonderful.
review to come / 4.5 stars maybe 5
------------------
currently-reading updates
sure, i hated the first book i read by this author with a fiery passion. but life is about growth
clear ur sh*t book 60
no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
October 2, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up.
Eight year old Swiv, precocious and unrealistically mature, has responsibilities and an understanding of things far beyond her years. In spite of my reservation about that, she’s a memorable character as is her loving, quirky grandmother. It’s easy to care about them and root for them along with her depressed, pregnant mother. It’s a touching story that is filled with the love they have for each other.
This was a monthly read with Diane and Esil.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Bloomsbury Publishing through Edelweiss.
Eight year old Swiv, precocious and unrealistically mature, has responsibilities and an understanding of things far beyond her years. In spite of my reservation about that, she’s a memorable character as is her loving, quirky grandmother. It’s easy to care about them and root for them along with her depressed, pregnant mother. It’s a touching story that is filled with the love they have for each other.
This was a monthly read with Diane and Esil.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Bloomsbury Publishing through Edelweiss.
September 4, 2021
Well... that was perfect, and beautiful. Perfect and beautiful. And touching, and funny, and really heartwarming, and again... perfect.
I don't know... it's difficult to know what to write as the book is really just kind of a play-by-play of life written by nearly 10-year old Swiv as she and her family go about their days. Mom is a very pregnant stage actress, Dad disappeared recently (off fighting fascists, she's told), and then there's Grandma—the funniest, most loveable character I've ever encountered in a book! She's absolutely delightful, but not in the ordinary sense you'd expect of a Grandma. Oh no! And finally there's Gord—the name given to the baby in Mom's tum—gender unknown. For the first half of the book, the 3.5 of them live at their home in Toronto. About midway through, Grandma decides to take a trip to Fresno to visit two much-loved nephews she hasn't seen in many years. As Grandma's health is now a bit dodgy, Swiv accompanies her to ensure she takes her meds, doesn't overdo things and, generally, to watch over her.
So that's the basic outline, but what I can't explain is the humour. This is seriously (oxymoron) one of the funniest books I've ever read (in 65 years!) and it's all thanks to Swiv—wise W-A-Y beyond her years—and Grandma with her extraordinary joie de vie! Every person she meets falls instantly in love with her—taxi drivers, bus patrons, airline attendants! She just has one of those incredible personalities, with a child-like outlook on life that draws people to her like moths to a flame! She's just remarkable.
And now we're back where I began. Fight Night... Perfect and beautiful. And touching and funny, and really, really heartwarming.
As the end approaches, Toews works her magic with some very special scenes you won't soon forget. (And you'll want to read the 'Acknowledgements' for something kind of sweet.)
Read the book. You'll love it too. 💜💛💚🧡💙
I don't know... it's difficult to know what to write as the book is really just kind of a play-by-play of life written by nearly 10-year old Swiv as she and her family go about their days. Mom is a very pregnant stage actress, Dad disappeared recently (off fighting fascists, she's told), and then there's Grandma—the funniest, most loveable character I've ever encountered in a book! She's absolutely delightful, but not in the ordinary sense you'd expect of a Grandma. Oh no! And finally there's Gord—the name given to the baby in Mom's tum—gender unknown. For the first half of the book, the 3.5 of them live at their home in Toronto. About midway through, Grandma decides to take a trip to Fresno to visit two much-loved nephews she hasn't seen in many years. As Grandma's health is now a bit dodgy, Swiv accompanies her to ensure she takes her meds, doesn't overdo things and, generally, to watch over her.
So that's the basic outline, but what I can't explain is the humour. This is seriously (oxymoron) one of the funniest books I've ever read (in 65 years!) and it's all thanks to Swiv—wise W-A-Y beyond her years—and Grandma with her extraordinary joie de vie! Every person she meets falls instantly in love with her—taxi drivers, bus patrons, airline attendants! She just has one of those incredible personalities, with a child-like outlook on life that draws people to her like moths to a flame! She's just remarkable.
And now we're back where I began. Fight Night... Perfect and beautiful. And touching and funny, and really, really heartwarming.
As the end approaches, Toews works her magic with some very special scenes you won't soon forget. (And you'll want to read the 'Acknowledgements' for something kind of sweet.)
Read the book. You'll love it too. 💜💛💚🧡💙
September 19, 2021
This was my monthly read with Angela and Esil, and I'm the outlier with my rating. The book is a letter that eight year old Swiv is writing her father. The father who disappeared from their lives. She lives with her grandmother, Elvira, who is a hoot. Nothing gets her down, everything is an adventure, and her mother, who is a stage actress. This is a funny book but after a while I felt the humor was too much, overkill. Also question whether a child as young as this could or should have had the responsibililitybwith which she was charged. Swiv is often stressed, anxious and that's not a normal nor necessary state for a child. She is treated as an adult and at times seemed more grown-up than the grown-ups. There is, however, a great deal of love in this little family as the ending portrays.
ARC from Edelweiss
ARC from Edelweiss
November 6, 2021
A quick, fun read, Fight Night is about Swiv, a nine year old child living with her pregnant mother, her unborn sibling Gord, and her grandmother. The grandmother was a total riot, and Swiv's observations made her even funnier. Though not everything is "fun and games!" (as Grandma likes to say), the book is lighthearted and serves as a reminder to live in the moment and enjoy life as much as one can.
Grandma's advice: "You can only die once so don’t die a thousand times worrying about it."
(Note, though this has a child narrator, it's not a children's nor YA novel.)
Grandma's advice: "You can only die once so don’t die a thousand times worrying about it."
(Note, though this has a child narrator, it's not a children's nor YA novel.)
September 2, 2021
I loved this book! It was absolutely hilarious. I can't even remember the last time that I laughed out loud so much while reading a book!!
This is a story about three generations of women living in the same house, but mostly focuses around the grandmother and her granddaughter; their relationship was so sweet. The grandmother was extremely feisty, frank and outspoken and talked to her granddaughter like she was an adult; I loved her character so much.
This book was about love and fighting through the hard times that life puts in your path but was a lot more than that. It really focused on the imperfect and in finding the beauty in those moments. It is okay to make mistakes and lose control, or go a little crazy sometimes, you just need to fight to find your way back.
Overall, I was left with a strong feeling of love and hope. I would definitely recommend this book and am already planning to read it again.
"She would rather join a losing team than win a lonely fight."
I was provided a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
This is a story about three generations of women living in the same house, but mostly focuses around the grandmother and her granddaughter; their relationship was so sweet. The grandmother was extremely feisty, frank and outspoken and talked to her granddaughter like she was an adult; I loved her character so much.
This book was about love and fighting through the hard times that life puts in your path but was a lot more than that. It really focused on the imperfect and in finding the beauty in those moments. It is okay to make mistakes and lose control, or go a little crazy sometimes, you just need to fight to find your way back.
Overall, I was left with a strong feeling of love and hope. I would definitely recommend this book and am already planning to read it again.
"She would rather join a losing team than win a lonely fight."
I was provided a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
April 15, 2022
To be alive means full body contact with the absurd. Still, we can be happy. Even poor old Sisyphus could figure that much out. And that’s saying something. You might say that God is an absurd concept but faith in God’s goodness. . .I find joy in that. I find it inspiring. Oba! I’m rambling. But I brought up Romeo and Juliet for a reason. What was it. . .yes! My town. . .my hometown, and your Mom’s too. Hooooooooo. And Momo’s, of course. . .it had a similar tragedy, in my opinion. The church. . .all those men, all those Willit Brauns. . .prevented us from. . .well no, it was more than that . . .they took something from us. They took it from us. They stole it from us. It was. . .our tragedy! Which is our humanity. We need those things. We need tragedy, which is the need to love and the need. . .not just the need, the imperative, the human imperative. . .to experience joy. To find joy and to create joy. All through the night. The fight night.
With Fight Night Miriam Toews returns to familiar themes of surviving (and escaping from) a fundamentalist Mennonite community (even if the M word isn’t specifically used this time), and the suicide of those who can’t find the will to go on. Unlike her earlier novels, however, this one has an absurdist tone, with three female generations of a family living together and exchanging frank and farcical barbs. The main character, nine-year-old Swiv, is constantly exasperated by her mother’s and grandmother’s seemingly unserious approach to life, but as the novel unspools, it’s obvious that this is a family filled with love, fighting to survive and find meaning in this irrational world. The tone is relentlessly comedic, but I was amused throughout and ultimately touched. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
Why is Mom so weird? I asked Grandma. She had fallen asleep. Weird? she said, after a minute. She put on her glasses. Well, let’s see. Is it because of Gord? I asked her. No, no, said Grandma. Well, maybe. Her hormones might be out of whack but that’s not really why she’s weird, as you say. Gord makes her happy! Really? I said. Very happy, said Grandma. As do you. Grandma moved her hand over my hair. It got caught in a massive tangle and she laughed. She called the tangle an elflock. Your mom is fighting on every front, said Grandma. Internally, externally. Eternally, I said. Yes, it would seem so, said Grandma. With your dad being gone and —
After being suspended from school (for taking King of the Castle too seriously; she’s a fighter, too), Swiv needs to spend the days with her aged and ailing grandmother while her late-term pregnant mother attends rehearsals for a play she’s starring in. Grandma’s makeshift lessons aren’t exactly school board approved (Math class could be answering the question: If it takes five years to kill a guy with prayer, and it takes six people a day to pray, then how many prayers of pissed off women praying every day for five years does it take to pray a guy to death?), and based on a suggestion from a Family Therapist, Swiv’s main “assignment” (and the conceit of the novel) is to write a letter to her recently runaway father, telling him everything that’s happening in the family’s lives. They have Editorial Meetings (where Swiv assigns letters for her mother and grandmother to write, too), and between all the storytelling about the old country, their experiences in modern day Toronto, and a surprise trip to visit some American cousins, Toews is able to, once again, shine a light on her own Winnipeg Mennonite childhood without ever mentioning either (beyond one reference to the Disraeli Bridge). This does and doesn’t feel like familiar territory from Toews and I was bemused by the following quote (from the pregnant Mom’s letter to her unborn child, “Gord”):
I remember reading an interview with a writer once and she said that she was writing against death, that the act of writing, or of storytelling, that every time she wrote a story I mean, she was working through her own death. She didn’t care about impermanence. She didn’t care if anybody read her stories. She just wanted to write them down, to get them out of her.
(It’s no coincidence that the grandmother’s first name, Elvira, is the same as Toews’ own mother's, and in the Acknowledgements at the end, Toews thanks her “for teaching me, ceaselessly, when to fight and how to love.”) And again, the main difference between this novel and some of Toews' earlier work is the relentlessly absurdist tone. Swiv, who is just a little girl, often feels like she’s the only adult in her house; rolling her eyes at her mother’s and grandmother’s discussions about sex and other body functions; repeating profanities back to the older women and sighing if they object (“I don’t know why saying bowel movement and stool is better than vag and piehole. It doesn’t matter what words you use in life, it’s not gonna prevent you from suffering.”) The following is a pretty typical scene that captures the overall tone:
Mom did these stretching exercises while we walked. She called them lunges. She pushed against buildings and light-posts like she was trying to knock them over. She said she was doing it to strengthen her uterus and her vaginal wall, and because that’s what actors do. Do it with me, Swiv! No! I said. I don’t have all that shit. You don’t have a uterus and a vaginal wall? she asked me. I walked away while she was pushing as hard as she could against the corner of Nova Era bakery because I don’t want to just stand beside her while she does weird things like I’m in support of it. She was almost lying down, and taking up the whole sidewalk, and people had to go all the way around her.
I can imagine that this tone (and some of the frank talk and profanity) might be a turnoff to some readers but I think that Toews carries it off. There’s power in recognising the absurdity of life, and often, it’s from that recognition that we find the strength to fight. I'd expect to see this again at award season.
October 22, 2021
Let me open by saying that if I could give Fight Night six stars, I would. In fact, I'd give it seven. I'm a big fan of Mirian Toews' work, and Fight Night is my favorite by far. Fight Night is absolutely, positively, unendingly hysterical (in both the mirthful and the teetering-on-the-brink ways) and is also dead serious. The only other books that have left me guffawing the way this one did are Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series. (If you've read them, you know what I mean; if you haven't read them, get started as soon as possible.)
The novel is narrated in the voice of Swiv, a Canadian girl of roughly 10 years' age who has been suspended from school for her propensity to be unreasonably violent when playing King of the Hill. She also worries. A lot. About everything—and is never one to fail to think of a worse-case scenario. Her father is absent. Her mother is an actress in antifa theatre. She's pregnant. She's moody as hell. Swiv spends most of her time home with her grandmother, where they assign each other essays and watch Raptors basketball games, while Swiv endlessly picks up pills and books and hearing aid batteries and whatever else her grandmother drops and can't pick up for herself. Swiv's grandmother is a Russian ex-pat from a strict religious community. She takes great pleasure in talking about bowel movements, being naked, and her life, which seems to have been filled with one outrageous stunt after another—all of which leave Swiv paralyzingly embarrassed.
Spending time with this threesome is a crazy romp that pulls at the heart while moving from one moment of comic genius to the next.
You should read this book. Please read this book. Seriously. Read it. Buy a full case of copies and give them as presents for every occasion. If there is any justice in the world, Fight Night will be up near the top of the 2021 bestsellers list.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title; the opinions are my own.
The novel is narrated in the voice of Swiv, a Canadian girl of roughly 10 years' age who has been suspended from school for her propensity to be unreasonably violent when playing King of the Hill. She also worries. A lot. About everything—and is never one to fail to think of a worse-case scenario. Her father is absent. Her mother is an actress in antifa theatre. She's pregnant. She's moody as hell. Swiv spends most of her time home with her grandmother, where they assign each other essays and watch Raptors basketball games, while Swiv endlessly picks up pills and books and hearing aid batteries and whatever else her grandmother drops and can't pick up for herself. Swiv's grandmother is a Russian ex-pat from a strict religious community. She takes great pleasure in talking about bowel movements, being naked, and her life, which seems to have been filled with one outrageous stunt after another—all of which leave Swiv paralyzingly embarrassed.
Spending time with this threesome is a crazy romp that pulls at the heart while moving from one moment of comic genius to the next.
You should read this book. Please read this book. Seriously. Read it. Buy a full case of copies and give them as presents for every occasion. If there is any justice in the world, Fight Night will be up near the top of the 2021 bestsellers list.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title; the opinions are my own.
October 5, 2021
A story narrated by Swiv, a 9-year-old girl, shared through rambling thoughts she shares as she writes to her father. She’s wise in the ways of the world, but has stopped attending school because she has been made to feel like an outsider, a freak not only by other students, but by teachers, as well. As a result, she acts out, and is suspended from school.
Swiv’s mother is an actress, who leaves their home in Toronto for periods of time for her work, but Swiv’s grandmother is an almost constant presence. Swiv hovers over her grandmother, and is responsible for administering her medicine when her heart starts acting up. Swiv seens to be the most responsible person in her family. It isn’t that her grandmother is irresponsible, but she tends to be spontaneous, always looking for fun and adventure, despite her health issues. She looks at life as an adventure to be lived fully, whereas Swiv’s mother, who is pregnant, seems to be perpetually tense.
When her grandmother decides it’s been too long since she’s visited her family in Fresno, California, she convinces Swiv to book her a flight, which means that Swiv would be alone while her mother is working. Swiv ends up joining her grandmother on an adventure that seems like it’s destined to fall apart before they even leave the house for the airport, but they arrive safe and sound.
There’s a lighthearted, zany sense of joy at times, but this story explores all the emotions, from anger, fear, fighting our inner demons at others. All the natural human emotions, from heartbreak and sorrow to an overflowing of love that, ultimately, is the heart of this story.
Published: 05 Oct 2021
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Bloomsbury USA / Bloomsbury Publishing
April 18, 2022
It’s always a shock to my system when I go from a book written in 1949 to a contemporary book. The writing style, the dialogue- it all feels like I have stepped into a modern world that I cannot identify with.
But luckily, Miriam Toews knows how to draw a reader in. I would call this book a high energy book- there is always some antic or joke going on. Borders on exhausting at times.
I loved meeting this trio- Swiv (100 months old), so almost 9; her mother, who is pregnant with “Gord” and her grandmother, Elvira. Grandma has instilled strength in her daughter and Swiv. Thanks to telling Swiv to fight for herself, she has been suspended from school. She stays home and helps take care of her grandmother, including helping her shower and making sure she takes her pills. Loved the relationship between the three, which is the heart of the story.
My only quibble: I found that Swiv was too “ grown up” and “capable” for her young years. I found it hard to believe she could do all that she did in this book.
Nonetheless, a wonderful exploration of family and the timeless love between these three wonderful characters. It is a testament to embracing life at all costs.
I picked up this book to read for a lecture series I attend, and I must admit I wasn’t totally sold on it at first, but I ended up loving it and being ecstatic that I read it !
One other think I loved- I am a huge Toronto Raptors ( basketball) fan, and I loved the references to them in the book.
So much to love in this book! Definite recommendation if you love eccentric families.
Published: 2021
But luckily, Miriam Toews knows how to draw a reader in. I would call this book a high energy book- there is always some antic or joke going on. Borders on exhausting at times.
I loved meeting this trio- Swiv (100 months old), so almost 9; her mother, who is pregnant with “Gord” and her grandmother, Elvira. Grandma has instilled strength in her daughter and Swiv. Thanks to telling Swiv to fight for herself, she has been suspended from school. She stays home and helps take care of her grandmother, including helping her shower and making sure she takes her pills. Loved the relationship between the three, which is the heart of the story.
My only quibble: I found that Swiv was too “ grown up” and “capable” for her young years. I found it hard to believe she could do all that she did in this book.
Nonetheless, a wonderful exploration of family and the timeless love between these three wonderful characters. It is a testament to embracing life at all costs.
I picked up this book to read for a lecture series I attend, and I must admit I wasn’t totally sold on it at first, but I ended up loving it and being ecstatic that I read it !
One other think I loved- I am a huge Toronto Raptors ( basketball) fan, and I loved the references to them in the book.
So much to love in this book! Definite recommendation if you love eccentric families.
Published: 2021
July 23, 2022
Nine year old Swiv lives at home with her mother and grandmother after being suspended from school for fighting. Her grandmother Elvira has taken on the responsibility of her education though her methods of teaching are certainly unconventional, idiosyncratic and funny. Swiv's mother is frequently overwhelmed as she's heavily pregnant, struggling to find work as an actor and grappling with her own mental health issues. Since Swiv's father is absent, this novel takes the form of a letter she's writing to him (although most of the book settles down into a more standard account of events as she experiences them.) Each of these women write their own letters – not so much to communicate with someone but to try to articulate what they want and understand their own experiences. Their personalities vibrantly come to life as we learn about the intimate details of their days, the story behind the father's disappearance and their opinions of the world around them.
Read my full review of Fight Night by Miriam Toews at LonesomeReader
Read my full review of Fight Night by Miriam Toews at LonesomeReader
November 7, 2021
Had to fight through tears toward the end and then had to email Miriam to tell her how much I loved it immediately after. Fight Night is charmingly narrated by nine-year-old Swiv and revolves mostly around her relationship (and trip to Fresno) with her grandmother. The dueling concerns of a young girl figuring out the world and an old lady making sure she gets the most out of the time she has left in it give this beautiful and funny novel a double-dose of naivety and wisdom that feels larger than life. Oh, and Swiv's mom is about to give birth, so there's also that.
Like her famous 2004 masterpiece, A Complicated Kindness, Toews masters the young voice in a way that few others do. Fight Night is one of her best.
Like her famous 2004 masterpiece, A Complicated Kindness, Toews masters the young voice in a way that few others do. Fight Night is one of her best.
October 7, 2021
Swiv is given the task of writing to her absent father about life in her house by her grandmother, Elvira, who is teaching her after Swiv was expelled from school. Swiv's mother is pregnant and in the later stages of her pregnancy. Three generations living under one roof make for interesting writing for Swiv. She writes in a rambling way which is both entertaining and endearing. Try not to laugh at times or not have a smile on your face during other times.
There is heart here, there is also a young girl wise beyond her years, who makes observations and has a close bond with her grandmother. There is a bit of goofy, zany actions which will entertain and have you shaking your head.
This is an endearing, quirky, and at times goofy book about family, their antics, their tribulations, and their bond.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
There is heart here, there is also a young girl wise beyond her years, who makes observations and has a close bond with her grandmother. There is a bit of goofy, zany actions which will entertain and have you shaking your head.
This is an endearing, quirky, and at times goofy book about family, their antics, their tribulations, and their bond.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
November 16, 2021
This would have been a 1* if it wasn't for Grandma. I wouldn't even remember this book in few weeks time.
May 8, 2022
Fight Night by Miriam Toews is a delightful read following a nine-year-old Torontonian named Swiv. This young girl lives with her pregnant Mom and Grandma. All three of these women fight for their rights, in a variety of ways. This character study follows the three women, and we learn a lot about their background and how they view the world. Their character growth and journey in this book will make you smile, laugh, and most likely cry (like I did).
Miriam Toews is a master of the literary arts (in my opinion). This book moved me, grabbed me, pulled me in, and kept me there until the end. I will definitely be picking up more books from this marvellous author. Also, Canadian author alert! That made me so happy.
I highly recommend this book if you love Canadian authors, contemporary fiction, character studies, and easy reads. This book was such an easy read, and one I loved sinking back into. It truly is a gem!
Five out of five stars.
Miriam Toews is a master of the literary arts (in my opinion). This book moved me, grabbed me, pulled me in, and kept me there until the end. I will definitely be picking up more books from this marvellous author. Also, Canadian author alert! That made me so happy.
I highly recommend this book if you love Canadian authors, contemporary fiction, character studies, and easy reads. This book was such an easy read, and one I loved sinking back into. It truly is a gem!
Five out of five stars.
May 2, 2022
Very sweet. Maybe a 4 star but I’ll have to see how it sticks with me after… I love children and old people and their perspectives and the fact that this book took those head on was so fantastic to see. The prose and meandering nature of the novel lost me at times, but I feel like this might be a good book to cure your book hangover after reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog??
June 28, 2023
this was incredible! it was my first introduction to miriam toews, and i actually won a paperback copy in a goodreads giveaway, so thank you goodreads:)
fight night takes place in toronto, following (and narrated by) 9 year old Swiv, who lives with her mom (who is pregnant with gord) and grandma, who she helps take care of since being kicked out of school. it was incredibly witty, but also depicted living in a small house/apartment with a multigenerational family and childhood trauma as a whole, from the perspective of grandma, mom, and swiv.
the narration by and characterization of swiv was so good and effective. i felt like i was in her head, truly viewing her world from her perspective and she was so so funny. i love when characters feel real and she felt so real. especially when swiv was using words and phrases clearly learned from her grandma, i was laughing because she incorporated them into regular 9 year old language. i also annotated my book with pencil and was underlining so many of swiv's thoughts and adding LOL beside so many paragraphs.
i am very excited to read more miriam toews, especially women talking! this will also probably end up in my top books of 2023 which i love<3
fight night takes place in toronto, following (and narrated by) 9 year old Swiv, who lives with her mom (who is pregnant with gord) and grandma, who she helps take care of since being kicked out of school. it was incredibly witty, but also depicted living in a small house/apartment with a multigenerational family and childhood trauma as a whole, from the perspective of grandma, mom, and swiv.
the narration by and characterization of swiv was so good and effective. i felt like i was in her head, truly viewing her world from her perspective and she was so so funny. i love when characters feel real and she felt so real. especially when swiv was using words and phrases clearly learned from her grandma, i was laughing because she incorporated them into regular 9 year old language. i also annotated my book with pencil and was underlining so many of swiv's thoughts and adding LOL beside so many paragraphs.
i am very excited to read more miriam toews, especially women talking! this will also probably end up in my top books of 2023 which i love<3
February 26, 2022
[3.7] Enjoyable, uplifting read. Poignant at times with laugh-aloud moments. The relationship between Swiv and her grandmother was wonderful. But as a novel, it didn't quite feel complete to me.
Read
March 7, 2022I must apologize but i cannot continue to read this book. I read 27% of it and still don’t know what the story is about and where it is going.
I rarely abandon a book but in this case I have too.
I rarely abandon a book but in this case I have too.
Read
July 19, 2022It's the voice of Swiv, a nine-year-old girl in this novel-as-one-long-letter that makes it so good. She's writing to her absent father about her life having been expelled from school. Swiv lives in Toronto with her mother, Mooshie (pregnant with Gord) and her crazy, funny, excitable grandmother, Elvira. Swiv relates the daily lives, her anxieties, and caring for Elvira in this three generation household and the journey she takes with her grandmother to California. I am in awe at how Toews shows us the older women only through Swiv's eyes and yet I feel like I know them completely.
Miriam Toews and I will be appearing together at the Edinburgh Literary Festival at the end of August.
Miriam Toews and I will be appearing together at the Edinburgh Literary Festival at the end of August.
November 27, 2021
“We need tragedy, which is the need to love and the need…not just the need, the imperative, the human imperative…to experience joy. To find joy and to create joy. All through the night. The fight night.”
Nine-year-old Swiv and her mother and grandma are fighters. They’ve been fighters all their lives. They fight to love…to love themselves…to gain access to their feelings. And in the process, we –the witnesses to their fight—fall in love with them.
Would that every girl had a Grandma as filled with life and joy as Swiv’s! Despite her failing health and her proximity to death, she’s determined to live every single second to the fullest. Whether it’s sneaking behind a wheel, downing a glass of wine or joking with her own daughter about a man’s – ummm – equipment, Grandma is a force to be reckoned with.
And Swiv takes right after her, suspended from school and not suffering fools gladly.
Into the mix is Swiv’s mother, an actress who (for reasons we eventually find out) feels unworthy and depressed. Her husband has left her, her career is far from satisfying anymore, and oh yes, she’s very pregnant with Swiv’s soon-to-be brother or sister.
In the hands of a lesser writer, this scenario could end up twee and formulaic. The fact that it doesn’t is testimony to Miriam Toews’ ability to breathe flesh and life into her characters. The three women are imperfect and even frustrating, but they are not surrenderers. They do not give in to a world determined to rob them of joy and independence and spirit and are hellbent on casting themselves as the main characters of their own lives.
Read this to discover characters you’ll fall in love with. Read it for a roadmap into what we all need to live a fulfilled life on our own terms. Read it to discover what it takes to lead a limitless life. But definitely read this beautifully-wrought novel that focuses on, among other things, free will, matriarchal connections and self-forgiveness.
October 25, 2021
Another wonderful tragicomic family story from the Canadian novelist Miriam Toews. Basically a two-character study where the characters are unforgettable and the dialogue sparkles. I never believed Swiv was an actual child, but Toews’ artistry is such that I didn’t even care. The audiobook is beautifully performed by Toews and her daughter, Georgia.
September 20, 2022
4.5 stars
Nine-year-old Swiv lives with her pregnant mother and her grandmother. Her father has disappeared somewhere. Who looks after whom, is something that fluctuates – Swiv washes her grandmother, escorts her on all her errands, sorts her pills and generally keeps her alive. Grandma homeschools Swiv eccentrically, teaching her about the small religious community the family used to belong to, and makes lesson plans out of any topic she has to hand. For example, a woman from said community who left her violent husband becomes the following lesson from Grandma:
“Then all the women in the town prayed that he would die. What else could they do? And he did, eventually. It took five years. Theis can be today’s math class, said Grandma. If it takes five years to kill a guy with prayer, and it takes six people a day to pray, then how many prayers of pissed off women praying every day for five years does it take to pray a guy to death?”
Grandma also has Swiv write letters to her absent father (ostensibly, the book is an extended letter of this type) and Swiv in return has Grandma write a letter to Swiv’s unborn sibling, Gord. This leads to the line that is the crux of the novel: “You’re a small thing and you must learn to fight.”
And Swiv accompanies Grandma on trips around the city to meet her other ancient friends so they can talk about their inevitable deaths, and on trips to get her hair done, and on a vacation to California to see some other escaped family from the religious community.
Toews has a wonderful ear for rhythms of speech. Grandma, Swiv and Mom are all prone to ranting and monologues, with frequent Italics as Swiv reproduces the natural inflections emphasis in their conversation:
“Sometimes, even though Mom is in her third try, mister! she still throws up, which she talked to the doctor about. The doctor said it was probably just nerves and Mom was pissed off about that because that’s how they dismiss all of what they think of as women’s vague shit and wanted to get another doctor who would be able to professionally tell Mom she was dying but it’s impossible to find another doctor here so Mom just has to live with being nervous and totally fine. Leave the drama on the stage, Mom! I said. Grandma said Yeah, honey, would it be so bad to find out you were normal? What is this, said Mom, your guyses little routine?”
I went through a bit of a journey with this book. I loved the initial sections so much, an absolute masterclass in voice. Mom is a prickly, borderline unlikeable character whom I absolutely loved (she gets into a feud at work after telling someone who “has no time to read” that mysteriously they manage to watch three hours of Netflix a night, how is that?); Swiv is one part precocious to one part lost little girl; Grandma is one of those authentic, larger-than-life characters that you’ll often find as somebody’s aristocratic aunt in British fiction, it was wonderful to find her here as a working-class woman from a repressive religious community (unspecified but clearly Mennonites).
A wonderful moment with all three:
“Grandma told us about her favourite scene from all of literature, which was in The Grapes of Wrath. It’s where a girl who is pregnant… loses the baby, and then even though she is sad and starving and scared she feeds an old man, who is also sad and starving and scared, milk from her own breasts so he won’t die. Grandma read that book a long time ago in secret because everything was banned in her town…. I asked Mom if she would let an old man drink from her body if she lost Gord. She didn’t answer for a long tiem. She sighed. If he was starving to death? She said. I nodded….Mom sighed again. Swiv, she said. I want to say yes. I really want to say yes….She made her face small to think, just like Grandma. I had never seen Mom thinking so hard before. I would hope I would, she said.”
Inevitably, this is a family unit that is on the cusp of change, of gaining a new member, of losing an old member. There’s not much in the way of plot, and I suspect in some ways its Toews love letter to her own mother, who has the same name.
I did become slightly frustrated at the midway point when Toews dips inevitably back into her own autobiography – father and sister dead by suicide, making a strange film in a foreign country, Mennonites being miserable. The material is well handled as usual, but I’m skittish with autofiction (which this isn’t exactly) and wish she would just fictionalize a few things a little more (maybe we could have a brother or a cousin dead by suicide in the next book). The trip to California veered too far into farce for me personally. But the ending was strong, pulling us back into the characters, and joys of strong personality and knowing your own mind, of fighting not to lose it, the need to teach and console your children in the face of a hard world.
Nine-year-old Swiv lives with her pregnant mother and her grandmother. Her father has disappeared somewhere. Who looks after whom, is something that fluctuates – Swiv washes her grandmother, escorts her on all her errands, sorts her pills and generally keeps her alive. Grandma homeschools Swiv eccentrically, teaching her about the small religious community the family used to belong to, and makes lesson plans out of any topic she has to hand. For example, a woman from said community who left her violent husband becomes the following lesson from Grandma:
“Then all the women in the town prayed that he would die. What else could they do? And he did, eventually. It took five years. Theis can be today’s math class, said Grandma. If it takes five years to kill a guy with prayer, and it takes six people a day to pray, then how many prayers of pissed off women praying every day for five years does it take to pray a guy to death?”
Grandma also has Swiv write letters to her absent father (ostensibly, the book is an extended letter of this type) and Swiv in return has Grandma write a letter to Swiv’s unborn sibling, Gord. This leads to the line that is the crux of the novel: “You’re a small thing and you must learn to fight.”
And Swiv accompanies Grandma on trips around the city to meet her other ancient friends so they can talk about their inevitable deaths, and on trips to get her hair done, and on a vacation to California to see some other escaped family from the religious community.
Toews has a wonderful ear for rhythms of speech. Grandma, Swiv and Mom are all prone to ranting and monologues, with frequent Italics as Swiv reproduces the natural inflections emphasis in their conversation:
“Sometimes, even though Mom is in her third try, mister! she still throws up, which she talked to the doctor about. The doctor said it was probably just nerves and Mom was pissed off about that because that’s how they dismiss all of what they think of as women’s vague shit and wanted to get another doctor who would be able to professionally tell Mom she was dying but it’s impossible to find another doctor here so Mom just has to live with being nervous and totally fine. Leave the drama on the stage, Mom! I said. Grandma said Yeah, honey, would it be so bad to find out you were normal? What is this, said Mom, your guyses little routine?”
I went through a bit of a journey with this book. I loved the initial sections so much, an absolute masterclass in voice. Mom is a prickly, borderline unlikeable character whom I absolutely loved (she gets into a feud at work after telling someone who “has no time to read” that mysteriously they manage to watch three hours of Netflix a night, how is that?); Swiv is one part precocious to one part lost little girl; Grandma is one of those authentic, larger-than-life characters that you’ll often find as somebody’s aristocratic aunt in British fiction, it was wonderful to find her here as a working-class woman from a repressive religious community (unspecified but clearly Mennonites).
A wonderful moment with all three:
“Grandma told us about her favourite scene from all of literature, which was in The Grapes of Wrath. It’s where a girl who is pregnant… loses the baby, and then even though she is sad and starving and scared she feeds an old man, who is also sad and starving and scared, milk from her own breasts so he won’t die. Grandma read that book a long time ago in secret because everything was banned in her town…. I asked Mom if she would let an old man drink from her body if she lost Gord. She didn’t answer for a long tiem. She sighed. If he was starving to death? She said. I nodded….Mom sighed again. Swiv, she said. I want to say yes. I really want to say yes….She made her face small to think, just like Grandma. I had never seen Mom thinking so hard before. I would hope I would, she said.”
Inevitably, this is a family unit that is on the cusp of change, of gaining a new member, of losing an old member. There’s not much in the way of plot, and I suspect in some ways its Toews love letter to her own mother, who has the same name.
I did become slightly frustrated at the midway point when Toews dips inevitably back into her own autobiography – father and sister dead by suicide, making a strange film in a foreign country, Mennonites being miserable. The material is well handled as usual, but I’m skittish with autofiction (which this isn’t exactly) and wish she would just fictionalize a few things a little more (maybe we could have a brother or a cousin dead by suicide in the next book). The trip to California veered too far into farce for me personally. But the ending was strong, pulling us back into the characters, and joys of strong personality and knowing your own mind, of fighting not to lose it, the need to teach and console your children in the face of a hard world.
September 25, 2021
Oh man, Miriam Toews nails it pretty much every time. Gotta be one of or maybe even the best living Canadian writer. Really enjoyed reading about Swiv and her adventures with her grandmother. I don't think people appreciate her as they should. I hope this is the year Toews gets her Giller. Fight Night is exuberant and funny and even at times cartoonish (in a good way) but still managed to pack an emotional punch. Read it.
June 13, 2022
4.25
"Today I was Grandma's human walker. She stood behind me with her hands on my shoulders and we shuffled slowly from room to room. Conga line! said Grandma."
"...Grandma likes speed and laughing. She likes stories to be fast and troublesome and funny, and life too. She doesn't like hauling epic things around. Which is why she saws up her books."
Meet Swiv and Grandma. Swiv, serious, often embarrassed by Grandma's antics and conversational topics, and Grandma, who scoops a good time from thin air. And in-between lies Mom, pregnant with Gord and perpetually moody. Three generations, three different personalities, an absent father, and questions that need answering.
This book was a delightful and fun read. Amusing with a dash of serious. Lighthearted with a pinch of angst. Madcap with a touching chaser. From ingenious assignments the three give to each other, to Grandma's creative home schooling approach, to the percussion of different personalities bouncing off each other, these characters endeared themselves to me. What could have been morose and troublesome was airlifted to light and bubbly.
"At some point in Grandma's life someone must have threatened to kill her whole family unless she became friends with every single person she met."
"They took it from us. They stole it from us. It was...our tragedy! Which is our humanity. We need those things. We need tragedy, which is the need to love and the need....not just the need, the imperative, the human imperative..to experience joy. To find joy and to create joy. All through the night. The fight night."
Realistic, it was not. But sometimes that's just the ticket, and I got lost in the magical possibilities it created. And it made me wish I'd been one of Grandma's grandchildren. Or maybe even Grandma.
P.S....I really did not like the title or cover and would not typically have been drawn to this book, but the inclusion in the tournament of favorites competition and blurb enticed me to check it out.
"Today I was Grandma's human walker. She stood behind me with her hands on my shoulders and we shuffled slowly from room to room. Conga line! said Grandma."
"...Grandma likes speed and laughing. She likes stories to be fast and troublesome and funny, and life too. She doesn't like hauling epic things around. Which is why she saws up her books."
Meet Swiv and Grandma. Swiv, serious, often embarrassed by Grandma's antics and conversational topics, and Grandma, who scoops a good time from thin air. And in-between lies Mom, pregnant with Gord and perpetually moody. Three generations, three different personalities, an absent father, and questions that need answering.
This book was a delightful and fun read. Amusing with a dash of serious. Lighthearted with a pinch of angst. Madcap with a touching chaser. From ingenious assignments the three give to each other, to Grandma's creative home schooling approach, to the percussion of different personalities bouncing off each other, these characters endeared themselves to me. What could have been morose and troublesome was airlifted to light and bubbly.
"At some point in Grandma's life someone must have threatened to kill her whole family unless she became friends with every single person she met."
"They took it from us. They stole it from us. It was...our tragedy! Which is our humanity. We need those things. We need tragedy, which is the need to love and the need....not just the need, the imperative, the human imperative..to experience joy. To find joy and to create joy. All through the night. The fight night."
Realistic, it was not. But sometimes that's just the ticket, and I got lost in the magical possibilities it created. And it made me wish I'd been one of Grandma's grandchildren. Or maybe even Grandma.
P.S....I really did not like the title or cover and would not typically have been drawn to this book, but the inclusion in the tournament of favorites competition and blurb enticed me to check it out.
July 5, 2021
This book quietly broke my heart into a million pieces, and I loved every second of it.
I wish I could forget everything I just read and reread it again and again for the first time.
Please, please read this book. I promise it’s everything you need right now.
I wish I could forget everything I just read and reread it again and again for the first time.
Please, please read this book. I promise it’s everything you need right now.
August 30, 2022
3.5
A quirky tale of the relationship between a 9 year old, Swiv, her pregnant mother and her grandmother. I sometimes find child narrators to be a bit much, but the story charmed me just enough for me to overlook my reservations in this regard.
A quirky tale of the relationship between a 9 year old, Swiv, her pregnant mother and her grandmother. I sometimes find child narrators to be a bit much, but the story charmed me just enough for me to overlook my reservations in this regard.
January 9, 2024
I loved this so much. I love grandmas. ❤️
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