My own mother had a strong death urge, so I identified with the care-taking narrator, and the tension, which a preoccupation with suicide places within their relationship. One sister longs to end her life, the other, lives with anxiety and responsibility of care, which this creates. I was afraid that when I went to sleep I’d wake to find them wrapped around my throat.” Two sisters grow up in a family already carrying sorrow. She brings dark humour to the tragic circumstances her central protagonists find themselves in. There is a sense of melodrama in the unfolding story. Hence when a family member is sick, there can be a heightened intimacy, and yet provisions must still be bought, meals cooked, and cars repaired. She captures the senses of paradox that comes when dealing with difficult circumstances that co-exist with the common rituals of everyday life. She writes with humour that sounds almost flippant about their family dynamics and troubles. Miriam Toews writes this poignant and unflinching tale based on the autobiographical details of her own family life. The novel’s title quotes from a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ‘On Receiving an Account That His Only Sister’s Death Was Inevitable’.
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