Category: ENG4U Reading List

Miriam Toews has written this novel based on her own personal experiences with a sister and father who had battled depression and in the end, committed suicide. When Toews began writing All My Puny Sorrows in 2012 (the title is borrowed from a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) she was unsure what form it would take. It was simply something she had to write, she says, a way to deal with the anger, and confusion, and sadness that threatened to become all-consuming. Many will read the novel as a memoir, and, while Toews says this is “definitely, absolutely” the most personal book she’s ever written, and much of the dialogue is based on conversations Toews had with her sister while Marj was in the hospital, it is still a work for fiction. (source)

The story is a passionate look at the connections that Elf and Yoli, sisters, form early in life and should sustain them through adulthood. But depression is an over powering monster and without timely help from the medical system, Elf sister is lost. The book brings up many questions about life, death, depression and suicide. It is a deep read.

This is a riveting, boys to men coming of age story that you will find hard to put down. There is something interesting happening on every page and Davidson tells the story with humourous insight and details are easy to relate to. Highly recommended!

Canadian writer and St Catharines native Craig Davidson tells a compelling story set in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Through winding flashbacks we follow Owen and Duncan from childhood through the vicissitudes of adult life. They don’t have it easy… And so Owen and Duncan hand off their bad luck like a relay baton, through high school and the short plateaus of their twenties. Their alternating narration works well to illustrate the Rashomon nature of male friendship, how stubbornness can be mistakenly read for confidence, how youthful slights can balloon into years of avoidance. Owen will pursue glory on the basketball court and even get out of Cataract City for a spell. Duncan attempts to settle down with the older and wiser Edwina, work at the Bisk, and resist the gravitational pull of local kingpin Lemuel Drinkwater. It doesn’t go well. (Barnes & Noble review)

Canadian author Joseph Kertes releases this novel this month (September 2014). It follows the life of two brothers starting from their escape from Hungary in 1956. Joseph himself had fled Hungary with his family in 1956, so he is well able to establish the credibility of this story. It begins when the Russians invade Hungary to crust the Hungarian Revolution and the brothers Robert and Attila Beck escape with their family to their great-aunt’s house in Paris. They experience heartbreak, loss and terror as they literally run for their lives out of Hungary. The story is told from their perspective which gives the story a fresh, humourous approach. The author does tend to ramble on a bit, but it is a small price to pay for this solid story. Joseph Kertes founded Humber College’s creative writing and comedy programs. He is currently Humber’s Dean of Creative and Performing Arts.