Miriam Toews
Fight Night by Miriam Toews is the story of three generations of strong, resilient females. The story unfolds in the first-person voice of nine-year-old Swiv, a precocious, intelligent, articulate young girl who straddles the line between responsible caregiving with the naivete of childhood. Swiv has been suspended from school for fighting. Her grandmother, Elvira, takes it upon herself to home school Swiv in an unorthodox manner. Included in her lessons are survival skills and reinforcement of her granddaughter’s fighter instincts. Swiv’s mother, an aspiring actress, is in her third trimester of pregnancy.
Elvira has given Swiv the assignment of writing letters to her absent father. Because her mother is in rehearsals for a play, it falls upon Swiv to be the caregiver for her ailing grandmother. She reminds her to take her medication, picks up pills she has dropped, struggles to squeeze compression socks on her legs, brushes her teeth, bathes her, saws her heavy books for easier transportability, and waits patiently while her grandmother has a bowel movement. She writes every day happenings in letters that will never be sent. She punctuates her words with cautionary tales for Gord, her soon-to-be-sibling, while alerting her to their mother’s “scorched earth” fits and their grandmother’s idiosyncrasies. Her promises to protect and help Gord navigate her nonconformist family are heart-warming.
Swiv takes on a lot of responsibilities for a child and is wise beyond her years. What makes this book so delightful and so hilarious is Swiv’s endearing voice. She parrots her mother’s and grandmother’s phrases, mimicking their frustrations. Her observations are astute. She comments on events, interacts with her indomitable grandmother while squirming at her irreverent sense of humor, and mothers her heavily pregnant mother. All this makes for hilarity. Swiv’s voice is also very poignant. Mortified by the behavior of her mother and grandmother, she is frequently haunted by the possibility they will die and abandon her.
Threaded throughout is Toews scathing critique of the oppressive Mennonite community she left behind. The characters comment on the repressive nature of the religion and its discriminatory practices toward women. Toews also weaves the depression and later suicides of her father and sister since Swiv’s grandfather and aunt killed themselves. In spite of these tragic losses, the theme to forge on ahead is uplifting. Grandmother’s insights on life and death, on finding meaning in life, on perseverance, on maintaining a fighting spirit, and on retaining a sense of humor in spite of—or because of—life’s absurdities are priceless. As Elvira says, “To be alive means full body contact with the absurd.” These words will serve her granddaughter well.
A compelling celebration of female resilience, of their fierce determination to fight for a life on their own terms, and of their unconditional love for one another.