A book told from a perspective of a young girl, who is being homeschooled by her grandmother.
I just loved reading the conversations between the young Swiv and her grandmother Elvira.
I read a blurb from Glamour magazine: "A love letter to our brave and brilliant matriarchs." and I just love this description of the book, and fully co-sign it!
The book shows how special and important relationships with our grandparents can be. Also, how incredibly funny certain moments and encounters are, especially when things get lost in generational translation :) I think fans of Jenny Offill will love this one, as did I!

Miriam Toews has nailed the art of writing kooky, big-hearted characters whose struggles with mental illness and the spectre of suicide reflect Toews own family's troubles. Despite these themes this is such a heart-warming novel full of empathy and laugh-out-loud moments.
Narrated with hilarious absurdity by nine year old Swiv the daily lives of the three generations her family are compulsive reading. These strong, feisty women, who have suffered through life, fight to live on their own terms. The dialogue is superb and the plotting unpredictable and very entertaining. Highly recommended!
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I hope that my three stars don't put people off reading this book because it is very well written, it just wasn't for me.
It is basically a precocious, but funny eight year old girl writing to her absent father telling him what is happening in their lives.
Swiv lives with her zany grandmother, Elvira and her geriatric, pregnant, actress mother in Toronto Canada, she has been expelled from school and her education is left to her grandmother who has her own unique and sometimes hilarious way of teaching. Swiv is doing her best to keep the family together, to keep her mother calm so that Gord (the name she had given to the unborn baby) is kept safe, she is also trying her best to keep her ailing grandmother breathing.
This is where the author's unique style of writing comes into play, her observation of everyday life is superb, she manages to make the mundane things in life funny, you can feel the uncertainty and the love these women share , it is a heartwarming story with lots of humour, it just meanders along with Swiv's musings but for me it was a bit too long and became a bit "samey", I felt myself wondering how long it would take to finish the book not because I wanted to see how it ended but because I wanted to get to the end.
As I stated before, this book is wonderfully written with wacky characters and plenty of pathos and humour, I am sure that loads of people will love it but it just wasn't for me.
I received a free copy of this book and my review is voluntary.

An amazing heartwarming story about the everyday life of three generations of women in one family. I couldn’t stop reading this book

This novel features three generations of feisty women in Canada, surviving as best they can. It is narrated by young Swiv, aged around ten, who has been excluded from school and is being taught a mixture of folk wisdom, common sense and native wit by her engaging but increasingly decrepit grandmother. Her mother, an actress, is heavily pregnant and rather unpredictable, while her father has left. They scrape along, seemingly never far from disaster, until Swiv’s grandmother decides she wants to visit her nephews in California, and Swiv is sent along to keep an eye on her in what will turn out to be a hair-raising and heart-warming road trip. Funny and sometimes disturbing, this is the story of an unusual family making do with what they have and being there for each other. The star of the show is the irrepressible grandmother Elvira, who refuses to accept limitations, makes friends wherever she goes and triumphs over tragedy, illness and old age. Above all, the love of the characters for each other shines out of every page.

Many thanks to Netgalley/author/publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I have to say I loved this book a lot! A three women, three generation household was always going to be entertaining to read about!

I think my only grip was that Swiv is meant to be a child? She comes across as a lot older and more mid/late teens.

It's entertaining and I actually found myself laughing out loud.

Each family member has their own issues to work through but they all deeply care for each other and and help them deal with their issues.

I throughly enjoyed this and can’t wait for it to be released!

At first I wanted to adopt 9 year old Swiv to rescue her from the chaos and madness! But then I realised she is much loved by her eccentric, traumatised mother and her hilarious and outspoken grandmother! I liked that the novel was set in two parts - at home and then the trip to California. Cleverly written and although Swiv seems older than 9, I loved her tenacity mixed with her vulnerability.

A great read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What an unusual and wonderful read! A feisty and upbeat grandma, a heavily pregnant eccentric mother and a pre teen daughter, who sees the world through their eyes. It’s a scary world, but filled with love and the unexpected. Life offers a wealth of possibilities with such an unconventional family, and we experience it through Swiv’s eyes, sometimes understanding too much, or not enough. There are some truly brilliant one-liners, it’s funny and sad, but always upbeat and perfectly pitched. The characters are so well drawn we can almost see them.

Don’t quite know where I stand with this book: a female three-generation household with a older-than-her-years girl, a histrionic actress mother and a whacky irreverent grandma. The girl’s narrative voice is interesting, meshing together Nan’s philosophies, tiptoeing around her highly-strung, pregnant mother and trying to make sense of her world and calming her own anxieties.
I would have liked the mother to have more depth and the relatives to be either more relevant or omitted, but the grandma I adored.

I found Fight Night really stressful to read as there was an excess of emotions. The story is told by precocious Swiv. She has been suspended from school for fighting and is overwhelmed by family life. Her Grandmother, while loving, never lets an emotion go unexpressed. Her heavily pregnant mother, an actor, spends the whole book railing against the world. Swiv is constantly exposed to inappropriate and adult behaviours. We are constantly told that several family members have committed suicide and the household never feels safe for poor Swiv. That aside, it is blackly funny and Grandma is a brilliant creation, with her stories and her secret languages.

Unfortunately, I was unable to read this book as I was unable to enlarge the print on my mobile.

What a pity!

Good luck with the book.

I really couldn't get on with this book at all. I found it hard to read and never found myself caring about any of the characters. I struggled to reach the end, but wouldn't really recommend it.

Is Swiv meant to be nine? She comes across as a lot older. I thought she must 14 at least, as her vocabulary and nascent interest in the opposite sex do not seem to be right for a nine-year-old.

Despite this anomaly (if it is one, and she's not actually meant to be older) this is a magnificent book. It careens along, taking the reader with it, and there's very little let-up. It's entertaining and often laugh out loud funny. It also paints a picture of a family (of three females) who, though each has her own problems, appear to care for each other. Presented as a letter from Swiv to her absent father, it also includes recorded conversations, things her mother and grandmother have written, and details of many bizarre events. It's anarchic and wild but it has a great heart.

Loved it.

Thanks for letting me read this in advance. If you want a summer read style which is fun and romantic this is for you. I really enjoyed it

This is a glorious, fizzing novel about three generations of women. It’s narrated by nine-year-old Swiv, who has been suspended, again, for fighting at school and is being looked after at home by her grandma while her pregnant actor mum, Mooshie is working. Swiv has a wonderfully believable voice, sometimes funny, sometimes anxious, that blends her grandma’s turns of phrase with her own youthful understanding. There are so many lovely passages about their day to day:
“Grandma’s leg really hurts right below the knee and she doesn’t know why, it’s a new thing. She checked to make sure she had enough bullets in her purse so she can go out to play cards all day with her friends. When she swallows her pills she pretends they’re tiny soldiers sent off to fight the pain and sometimes she holds them up and says to them, thank you for your service, lest we forget, and then she swallows them and says play ball!”
Swiv is a worrier but to be fair does have plenty to fret about. Grandma is seriously ill and Swiv is entrusted with managing her medication and care. Her dad has disappeared (one of Swiv’s home-school tasks is to write her absent father a letter which forms the basis of the narration), and her aunt and grandpa both killed themselves leaving her worried about her mother’s sanity. Mooshie is often angry or upset and has demons to battle, but Grandma provides a lot of love and laughter. She has such verve for life yet doesn’t hide the sadness either. She urges Swiv to always fight. In fact, she teaches us all how to approach life with laughter even when in pain.

The novel is in two parts – part one at home and part two a trip away so grandma can visit her cousins. All three female characters are great, although Mooshie remains at a distance to the reader, but the men are mainly absent though their impact looms large. Toews is always amazing at finding the funny in the sad. She unearths it like life’s treasure. This is what you must do, she says, breathe, live, laugh. You don’t need to be familiar with Toews's own life and previous books to enjoy this, but it’s helpful to know that the Mennonite community Grandma consistently references (but doesn’t name) is the same one that Toews came from and rejected. And Toews’s father and sister died by suicide. (All my Puny Sorrows is incredible.)

“…what makes a tragedy bearable and unbearable is the same thing – which is that life goes on.”

It’s a joy to read this bittersweet story. There’s not much plot, the trip to Fresno is a bit of a caper, and it all races along, much like life. But Swiv and Grandma are superb characters and spending time in their company is beautifully life-affirming.

I blitzed through this book over the weekend as I just could not get enough. Light and witty I enjoyed every second. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Miriam Toews’ Fight Night takes the form of a letter written by nine-year-old Swiv to her father who her grandmother has told her is off fighting fascists.

Swiv lives with her mother and grandmother in Toronto, eagerly awaiting the birth of her sibing . Suspended from school for fighting again, she’s currently following an eccentric home-schooling curriculum. Swiv lives in a constant state of anxiety. When she’s out and about embarrassment takes over as Grandma strikes up uninhibited conversations with everyone they meet. About halfway through, Grandma decides it’s time to see her nephews in California, taking Swiv with her, ten days which opens Swiv’s eyes to all manner of things.

Child narrators are notoriously difficult to pull off, painfully clunky if mishandled, but Swiv is instantly engaging as she recounts Grandma’s antics. The novel fizzes with energy and wit but there’s a soberness about it with Swiv’s often tragic family history woven through her narrative. Elvira is a wonderful character, colourful and vivid, determined that her granddaughter will grow up a fighter equipped to face the world, I tend to shy away from the description comic novel but this really is laugh-out-loud funny. A tragicomedy, then, that’ll have you rooting for Swiv to its end.

If you're looking for something to kick a reading slump or if you just want a fun, romantic book to sweep you off your feet this summer: look no further. This was such a good book. To be read by the beach or in the garden. Let this story take you away for a few hours of reading bliss.

Swiv is 9 years old and has just been suspended from school for "one too many fights". Now she is homeschooled by her heavily-pregnant and emotionally volatile mother and her eccentric grandmother. As she navigates life Swiv narrates her adventures to her absent father.

Miriam Toews really can write. Fight Night covers the themes central to many of her works, mental illness, religious fundamentalism and the affect of patriarchy on women. Her characters are spectacular. At once larger-than-life and utterly believable. The three generations of women in this story will warm and break your heart. Swiv is a wonderful narrator. Precocious, as child-narrators are by necessity, she never loses believability as a child with caring responsibilities and a life that has made her wise beyond her years. The dialogue between the three is finely tuned, each voice distinct and yet committed by the perceptions and narrations of Swiv. This format delivers the novels funniest and most heartbreaking moments and Toews can switch from one mod to the other with just a few expertly selected words.

Central to it all is the impossible, imperfect, unbreakable bond of love between the members of this family, including the unborn "Gord". Swiv's mother is whirlwind, sweeping in and out for rehearsals, her mood swinging erratically from introspection to "scorched earth" fury. Elvira is afraid of nothing, is nobody but herself and laughs at everything. In the face of these powerful, dysfunctional adults, Swiv's anxiety beats below the surface of her narrative, the fear that as much as they love her, the women in her life will leave her. It's a book as tender as a bruise, achingly sad and brilliantly funny, full of wisdom and compassion. "Joy, said Grandma, is resistance", it takes work and determination

Amazing read, touching and memorable.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.