Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

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

36 reviews

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

soygirlsupreme'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Violence, and Alcoholism

Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Cancer, and Death

sonygaystation's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Took me a while to read and that's partly because I'm somewhat in a slump, but also partly because this takes a bit to get into. SO worth it when it does and I'm pretty certain at this point that Backman never misses with any of his books. He's so insightful and somehow manages to write a child who acts like a child, even if the things she says sound older at times - what I liked best about Elsa is how much you could see her mom and grandma in her characterization (impressive writing on Backman's part omg). I really felt for Elsa, who's just lonely and lost and struggling to come to terms with the feelings of being left behind. This book is about loss without feeling like there's overwhelming grief, and I think anyone who's lost a grandparent can get something out of this. I remember losing my grandpa to cancer, and while at 18 I was considerably older than Elsa when it happened, it definitely cemented my closeness with my grandma and some of my favourite memories ever are the ones I spent with my grandpa. Out of the four Backman books I've read, this rotates between third and fourth place because there were a lot of characters to keep track of when listening via audiobook and sometimes the fairytale didn't land for me the way I wish it would have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Cancer and Alcoholism

lilcoppertop's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Mental illness

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Pregnancy, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Stalking, Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Ableism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

drusilla_reads's review

emotional funny inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Child death, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, and Alcoholism