Swing Low by Miriam Toews

Summary from GoodReads:

After her father took his own life in 1998, Miriam Toews decided to face her confusion and pain straight on. In writing her father’s memoir, she was motivated by two primary goals: For her own sake, she needed to understand, or at least accept, her father’s final decision. For her father’s sake, she needed to honour him, to elucidate his life and to demonstrate its worth.

My Review:

Let me just say … I did not enjoy Irma Voth – the fiction novel that Miriam Toews wrote and I reviewed just a few weeks ago.  So it was with some trepidation that I picked Swing Low up off my shelf.

I was blown away.

Seriously, this book was nothing at all like Irma Voth.  It was clear, concise, and a beautiful tribute to her father.  Miriam’s voice, as she speaks from her father’s point of view, is crystal clear, heart-breaking and filled with love.  I never once got the sense that he was, in any way shape or form, a bad man.  I understood that he was sick, broken in a way, I understood that he loved his family – his wife and his children, and I wept when we came to the point of his last decision.

All through the book what spoke loudest to me was his daughters forgiveness.  Miriam shows with complete clarity that, while she loved her father dearly, she cannot hate him for what he did.  How powerful is that forgiveness?  It spoke to my heart, it made me weep, it made me appreciate my own parents more and think about just how serious, how dreadful and how dangerous mental disorders can be.

Take the time to hug your family.  Tell them you love them. Read this book if you need a good kick in the pants to remind you of how special they are.

About the Author

• Information regarding Miriam Toews:

Miriam 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.

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