She says to Yoli, point-blank, 'You carry a lot of sadness, and for that I am sorry.' The girls' mother, Lottie ( Mare Winningham), is a strong and solid woman, who carried on alone, but is devastated at the heavy load her daughters have had to carry. Jake commits suicide soon after, and the family has lived in the aftershock of that event ever since. Jake ran up against similar resistance in his attempts to create a small library. It caused a lot of friction in the traditional hierarchy.

Their father Jake ( Donal Logue), butted heads with the elders when he decided to let Elf study music in college. Everything seems to be happening underwater, and this runs counter to the overall subject of generational trauma, suicide, and mortality.Įlf and Yoli grew up in a close-knit and very controlling Mennonite community in Winnipeg.

While the adaptation is, in many ways, quite skilled, the pace of 'All My Puny Sorrows' is so stately, and the overall tone so reserved, that it results in an emotionally muted film. Director Michael McGowan has adapted Toews' book for the screen, and two powerful actresses- Sarah Gadon and Alison Pill-play the sisters. Toews' book is a painful one, but it's also funny, sharp-witted, giving a rich texture to this very specific Mennonite family and the ways they cope, endure, hold each other up (or not).

All my puny sorrows goodreads