51 pages 1 hour read

Miriam Toews

All My Puny Sorrows

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014

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Essay Topics

1.

Yoli is the first-person narrator of the novel. How does her point of view dictate the narrative’s primary tensions, conflicts, and stakes?

2.

The novel incorporates flashbacks throughout the narrative present. What formal and thematic role do these sequences play in Yoli’s overarching story?

3.

Much of the narrative action in the present takes place at the hospital. How does this micro setting impact the narrative moods and atmospheres? What conflicts does the setting create? How does the setting impact the primary characters?