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8.01k reviews for:
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Target Club Pick
Fredrik Backman, Fredrik Backman
4.12 AVERAGE
8.01k reviews for:
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Target Club Pick
Fredrik Backman, Fredrik Backman
4.12 AVERAGE
It would take 10,000 eternities to explain how much I loved this book. Mid-way through, I was willing to concede that it is almost as wonderful as Ove and by the end, Elsa and her grandmother had won my heart completely.
The fairytales and grandmother's abhorrent behavior were tough for me to get through at the beginning - I'm not much of a fairy tale person and grandmother seemed like a wholly unlikable person. As the story progresses and you begin to see that the fairy tales are something much more (and thus so was grandmother), the magic of the story really begins.
Fredrik Backman shines at character building and if possible, shines even more at world building. By the end, I felt as though I lived in Elsa's building and could smell the pizza on the Christmas decorations, see the wood shavings in the wardrobe and hear the crunch of the snow. His story telling is simply unmatched. Like with Ove, this is a book that left me confused about whether to laugh or cry more than once (spoiler: this one left me crying more often than Ove) but is suffused with joy and wonder at the human experience even when confronting head on the ugliest things human beings do to each other.
The fairytales and grandmother's abhorrent behavior were tough for me to get through at the beginning - I'm not much of a fairy tale person and grandmother seemed like a wholly unlikable person. As the story progresses and you begin to see that the fairy tales are something much more (and thus so was grandmother), the magic of the story really begins.
Fredrik Backman shines at character building and if possible, shines even more at world building. By the end, I felt as though I lived in Elsa's building and could smell the pizza on the Christmas decorations, see the wood shavings in the wardrobe and hear the crunch of the snow. His story telling is simply unmatched. Like with Ove, this is a book that left me confused about whether to laugh or cry more than once (spoiler: this one left me crying more often than Ove) but is suffused with joy and wonder at the human experience even when confronting head on the ugliest things human beings do to each other.
It feels like a miracle that I finished this book. My mind wandered constantly, and I struggled to finish it, unfortunately. I didn't like or understand all the worlds. I give 2 stars cause there were some nice parts, but this writer is not for me. I apparently gave beartown 1 star, and I don't remember reading it or doing that. That tells me all I need to know.
Elsa is seven years old and almost eight and she think that she has the coolest granny. In fact, she’s a superhero to her and her superpower is storytelling. Others take a very different view of her though, thinking she is either eccentric, but most people to be honest just think she is crazy. The story begins though with her grandmother having just been arrested for throwing animal poo at the police after they had broken into the zoo. She had only done it to try to cheer Elsa up after a really bad day at school. It worked, but Elsa’s mother was really not very happy about picking up her daughter and mother from the police station at 1 am…
Her granny has lots of secrets, one of Elsa’s favourites is the imaginary world of Miamas; in this world, she is taken on lots of quests and adventures and this helps her get over her parent’s separation and subsequent divorce. One day though, she hears another of Granny’s secrets that will rock her safe and happy world. She is left a pile of letters by her Granny that she wants her to take around to friends from the past, each one with a personal message to the recipient as well as sending regards and apologising for past deeds…
As Elsa starts to deliver these letters to people around the block of flats that they share, she begins to realise the connections between everyone around to her Granny.
It is a mix of fantasy and contemporary fiction that seems to work fairly well, though it isn’t always easy to see where the boundaries are and who can see the imaginary creatures that Elsa can see. Elsa seems much more advanced than any seven years old than I have ever known too and I would have liked more of the story leading up to this as her Granny seemed larger than life character. I thought that this was a much better book than his previous book I’d read, A Man Called Ove, which to be perfectly frank I just found annoying.
Her granny has lots of secrets, one of Elsa’s favourites is the imaginary world of Miamas; in this world, she is taken on lots of quests and adventures and this helps her get over her parent’s separation and subsequent divorce. One day though, she hears another of Granny’s secrets that will rock her safe and happy world. She is left a pile of letters by her Granny that she wants her to take around to friends from the past, each one with a personal message to the recipient as well as sending regards and apologising for past deeds…
As Elsa starts to deliver these letters to people around the block of flats that they share, she begins to realise the connections between everyone around to her Granny.
It is a mix of fantasy and contemporary fiction that seems to work fairly well, though it isn’t always easy to see where the boundaries are and who can see the imaginary creatures that Elsa can see. Elsa seems much more advanced than any seven years old than I have ever known too and I would have liked more of the story leading up to this as her Granny seemed larger than life character. I thought that this was a much better book than his previous book I’d read, A Man Called Ove, which to be perfectly frank I just found annoying.
This book came into my life on the exact day I needed it. Its lessons about love, life, death, family, and friendship could NOT have had a more profound impact on me if it tried. I grew to love Elsa, her granny, Alf, Wolfheart, the wurst...honestly, the characters are written so beautifully you truly care about them. Don't let the fairytale world scare you off. It's absolutely brilliant how to the two worlds intertwine. Not surprisingly, it was written by the author of one of my all time favorite books "A Man Called Ove". I'm pretty sure I'm going to read everything this author ever writes...highly highly HIGHLY recommend.
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great one
I loved this book, and loved how it is told from the perspective of a child. Haven’t been disappointed in any of Bachman’s books
I loved this book, and loved how it is told from the perspective of a child. Haven’t been disappointed in any of Bachman’s books
3/5, the first half was more like a 2 last third more like a four i would say.
I really loved reading this book. I loved the relationship between the grandmother and the granddaughter. I loved the idea of a grandmother creating a whole world for her granddaughter to live in. There is an important fantasy element in this book, but the mixture of a fantasy world and the real world didn't bother me at all.
I think this would be a fun parent-child book club book or a family read-aloud book and I plan to return to it someday.
I think this would be a fun parent-child book club book or a family read-aloud book and I plan to return to it someday.
I had a hard time getting in the story but the rest and lessons taught were lovely.