A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews review – a memoir of great scope and intimacy

A meditation on loss, literature and the unspoken, from one of Canada’s most admired writersAsking himself “Why I write”, George Orwell gave four reasons: aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, political purpose and sheer egoism. Asked the same question ahead of a literary conference in Mexico City, Miriam Toews mentions the teenage letters she sent from Europe to her sister Marjorie (Marj or M as she calls her) as the reason she became a writer. Sorry, that won’t do for an answer, she’s told. Try again.In a frenetic household set-up in Toronto, keeping an eye on her mother one moment, entertaining her grandchildren the next and warding off angry neighbours in between, she struggles to get her act together and makes a to-do list: “Wind Museum. Deranged skunk. North-west quadrant with ex. Conversación in Mexico City.” The skunk has distemper and keeps getting trapped in the window well. The Wind Museum is the collection she’d love to create, commemorating winds from all over the world (Harmattan, Calima, Mistral, Sirocco etc), if she can find a way to exhibit them. The ex is the father of her second child, who despite years of separation is still taking the royalties on her work – it’s time to meet him and end that arrangement. Continue reading...

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