Irma Voth
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| Author | Miriam Toews |
|---|---|
| Original title | Irma Voth |
| Cover artist | Kelly Hill |
| Language | English |
| Published | 2011 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 255 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 794664585 |
| Preceded by | The Flying Troutmans |
| Followed by | All My Puny Sorrows |
Irma Voth is the fifth novel by Canadian author Miriam Toews. The novel, about a Mennonite teenager whose life is transformed when a bohemian film crew comes to her settlement to make a film about Mennonites, was informed by Toews' experience as lead actress in Silent Light, the award-winning film written and directed by Mexican filmmaker, Carlos Reygadas.
In a remote Mennonite colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, nineteen-year-old Irma Voth has been banished to a neighbouring farm by her strict, religious father after secretly marrying a non-Mennonite Mexican. After her new husband soon disappears into the drug trade, Irma tends to the farm alone. Her world is transformed when a bohemian film crew from Mexico City arrives to make a film about Mennonites. Irma, who speaks Plautdietsch (Low German), Spanish and English, is hired by Diego, the film's director, to act as interpreter and to cook for the crew.
As Irma is drawn into the exotic world of the hip, urban filmmakers, she begins to better understand her place in the world, and to envision the possibility of some form of self-determination. She wonders, “How do I behave in this world without following the directions of my father, my husband, or God?” Her thirteen-year-old sister, Aggie, is also emboldened by the presence of the outsiders, and like Irma, comes into dangerous conflict with the local community and her father, who believes that "Art is a lie." When their father's violence escalates, and the secret tragedy that has haunted her family begins to surface, Irma flees with Aggie and her infant sister, Ximena, to Chihuahua City and Acapulco. They eventually go to Mexico City, where the Voth sisters must embrace the ways of the city in order to survive.
Toews has said that many of the scenes and events in Irma Voth are inspired by her experience in filming Silent Light, directed by Carlos Reygadas. Reygadas invited Toews to do a screen test for the role of Esther, a conservative Mennonite wife, after reading her novel, A Complicated Kindness, and seeing her author photo on the back flap. Despite her lack of acting experience, Toews went on to play the role and was later nominated for best actress at Mexico's Ariel Awards for her performance.
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