Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

49 reviews

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely adored this book. I have never read something quite like this, as this is my first Fredrik Backman Book. It was whimsical, enchanting, and very rewarding to read. The characters were complex and flawed which made them all the more lovable. The story is incredibly deep when you get past the many layers of complex storytelling done by the grandmother to conceal the harshness of life. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone struggling with loss or grief because the main character processes those feelings herself. I can’t wait to read A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Animal death, Infidelity, War, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Grief, Addiction, Death of parent, Abandonment, Car accident, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

deepcurvesahead's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Bullying, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, War, Violence, Addiction, Stalking, and Gun violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcohol, and Cancer

radfordmanor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, and Cursing

loony_lucy's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I love the premise and the message of this book but sometimes the execution was a bit off. The pacing for one, and I found issues with a few of the adult characters letting children do certain things. Felt that was rather unrealistic 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Violence

booksnest's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is ultimately about grief and about how we deal with it and how we move on. Following a seven year old main character as she navigates this journey for the first time. 

This writing is just lovely, so many relatable lines that offer hope and reflection to the reader. Credit to Henning Koch for doing such a brilliant job of maintaining the beauty of this book through the art of translation.

This book balanced a made up world with a very real and stark reality and showed how the two knit together in a way I felt was reminiscent of the film Big Fish, which was an aspect I really liked. Although I felt I was waiting for the plot to pick it’s direction for about half of the book, which made it quite slow going for me for quite a while. But once the pacing picked up, I couldn’t put this book down and found myself falling in love with all the characters, even the worse I started off strongly disliking. 

A really beautiful story, with beautiful messages and a really unique and inspiring young lead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death and Cancer

Minor: Car accident

Trigger warnings that could be considered spoilers:

pet and child death

mscalls's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexism, and War

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I think I cried through the entirety of this book. Some were joyful tears, some were heartbreaking tears, and some were ‘oh my gosh this is some of the best writing I have ever read’ tears. “My Grandmother asked me to tell you she’s sorry” follows seven year old Elsa on her journey to cope with grief, but also her journey as she heals, creates meaningful bonds, and most importantly of all, savors an unconditional love for stories. Just like Elsa, this book is different in the best ways, a beautiful exploration of dreamers and believers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

grizzlysnack's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Alcoholism, and Car accident

alessandravaron's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, and War

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Stalking, War, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical content, and Sexism

hilwithonel's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't recommend listening to the audio version while grocery shopping unless you like crying in public.

In true Fredrik Backman fashion, this book gives you a group of characters to love, laugh with, cry with, and watch grow. The story is told through the eyes of an 8 year old girl who loves Harry Potter and fairy tales adding a magical quality. The story was compelling. Each character more special than the next. Each characters storyline intertwined with the others allowing for an interesting, emotional story. If you love Fredrik Backman, I highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Violence, and Domestic abuse