SWING LOW: A LIFE

 Miriam Toews. SWING LOW: A Life. Stoddart, 2000. 

A beautiful book written from inside "manic depression" by the ill man, Mel Toews, with his daughter as amanuensis. 

Knowing the outcome made it less traumatizing for this reader. My take-away is the criminal way the family members of someone with a mental illness are held responsible for their care, with no help, professional or otherwise. Caretaker burnout and lack of appropriate treatment in a secure setting. 

The daughter's description is heart-warming, stressing Mel's success as a beloved teacher, and showcasing his love of words, writing, and word-play. For example, designing his own "Do Not Disturb" sign for his hospital door. He says it should say: "Come on in. The patient is already disturbed." Great, dare I say, typically Mennonite sense of humour. It struck me later that his bi-polar presented as mania at school/work and depression at home.

THE FORGOTTEN DAUGHTER

 Joanna Goodman. The FORGOTTEN DAUGHTER. Harper, 2020.

Another book club selection, also a sequel, to Goodman's novel about unwed mothers and the Duplessis orphans. Elodie is now an adult, part of her birth-mother's family, with a daughter of her own. Her through line is the court challenges for compensation from the government of Quebec and the church-run orphanages/mental homes, and the criminally abusive nuns. Elodie's brother James Phenix is a journalist, interested in understanding the source of the separatist thinkers in Quebec. He wants to interview his girlfriend Veronique's father, released from prison after being convicted of the murder of a cabinet minister. James is uncomfortable with V's participation in criminal smuggling and sale of cigarettes. Both James and Ver face ethical dilemmas. 

The writer's use of the term "French-Canadian" bothers me. I suspect an American editor, unaware of the province, and that close to half of the residents do not consider themselves or want to be "Canadian". Quebecois seems more correct to me, and the fact that it is not used loses credibility for me. Also the reference to "pure laine", the dyed in the wool Quebecker whose ancestry must link back to immigrants from France after 1600. To me, IMHumbleOpinion, this is a form of "white supremacy" and an excuse to reject newer arrivals, to disabuse the rights of certain others, the same way that the rights of illegitimate children were abused by the government who warehoused them in mental institutions in order to receive larger grants from Ottawa. 

I found this book very interesting, modern history of the changes in Quebec over the last sixty years, but lacking credibility because of a stereotypical sketch of "separatist" thinkers.