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7.94k reviews for:
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Target Club Pick
Fredrik Backman, Fredrik Backman
4.12 AVERAGE
7.94k reviews for:
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Target Club Pick
Fredrik Backman, Fredrik Backman
4.12 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Slow and a little to fairy taleish for me
I must commend Backman on such wonderful writing once again! If you loved A Man Called Ove then this is the next book for you! I feel not everyone can capture writing in a child’s perspective very well but Backman has does a superb job! The beginning was at first a smidge difficult to catch onto, but after a while I was able to catch on decently fast! This is an emotional, imaginative, heart wrenching read by far! I absolutely love Elsa the main character, for 7 going on 8 she is absolutely so spunky and I love it! Honestly though Backman seems to make you fall in love with each and every character just about, no matter how different each character is either!
I am currently on a Fredrik Backman spree. After reading A Man Called Ove, I have been enjoying his other books as well. Like Ove, this story deals with someone who is still living but is mourning someone who has died. In this case, the survivor is a very precocious seven year old Elsa who is missing her grandmother. Elsa is very different from her peers and because of this has been persecuted by them. Her grandmother was able to deflect a lot of the hurt inflicted upon Elsa by distracting her with fairy tales. After the grandmother dies, she still is able to help Elsa with letters that she wrote before she died. The lines between the made up world of the fairy tales and reality are blurred throughout the story, making it entertaining and also difficult to read.
A story that will catch you off guard with its earnestness. This is a book for anyone who grew up with one foot (or both!) in a fantasy world.
Genre: fiction, humour, fantasy
In a nutshell: 7 year old girl with a creative mind and vivid imagination is given the task of sending regards and apologies from her grandmother.
This is such an adorably hilarious and inappropriate book. At first I started it and disliked it because I didn't like Elsa and I didn't really "get" the story. It took me a while to get into it but once I did, I fell in love. This book is also known as "My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises," probably due to translation... Also, following the next paragraph outlining the plot, the rest is essentially spoilers because it's kind of impossible not to delve into a full review of the book without having spoilers.
Elsa loves going on adventures with her beloved, hysterical, and albeit "not all there" grandmother and causing all sorts of mischief. But her world seems to crumble down around her as her grandmother's dying wish is for Elsa to embark on a difficult quest: to send her apologies to people she believes she has wronged in the past. The characters that Elsa envisioned as monsters, dragons, angels, and a fearsome creature known as the "Wurse" are transformed into the people within her apartment complex. This is a touching story about imagination, undying love, and ultimately growing up through a painful experience.
Like I said, at first I did not like this book. I didn't like Elsa or her grandmother. What 7 year old acts and talks like Elsa? She has the mouth of a sailor and the mind of someone older, maybe in their teenage years, yet she misbehaves at a level that is intolerable and just ridiculous and unnecessary. And what grandmother encourages this kind of swearing in behaviour in someone who hasn't even reached puberty? really. I was also really confused because at the beginning it's very fantasy-filled to the point where it's almost written in another language. Obviously the grandmother has taught Elsa to live in a world of make-believe, but there were names of mystical lands and creatures that were lost to me at first. But I kept on reading. I am so glad I did.
When I finally pieced together that the land of make-believe and the "castle" was actually Elsa's apartment complex and the creatures symbolized people living there, it was really quite wonderful. The characters, their antics, and their personalities all made sense by that point and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about them and putting the pieces together. And that's most of the reason why I gave this book four stars. It's the first book I've read in a long time in which the reader has to do a bit of work and connect the dots. It was truly a fun-filled reading experience.
By the end, I of course fell in love with Elsa and her potty mouth. Some of the characters still seemed a bit off... like what is up with Elsa's dad? He was just so awkward. And George was weird too always wearing jogging clothes and making eggs all the time. Elsa explained him as someone that EVERYONE liked and I didn't understand why at all. But maybe that's just me.
Anyway, this is a really heartwarming book and I really enjoyed it. So you should give it a chance like I did!
In a nutshell: 7 year old girl with a creative mind and vivid imagination is given the task of sending regards and apologies from her grandmother.
This is such an adorably hilarious and inappropriate book. At first I started it and disliked it because I didn't like Elsa and I didn't really "get" the story. It took me a while to get into it but once I did, I fell in love. This book is also known as "My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises," probably due to translation... Also, following the next paragraph outlining the plot, the rest is essentially spoilers because it's kind of impossible not to delve into a full review of the book without having spoilers.
Elsa loves going on adventures with her beloved, hysterical, and albeit "not all there" grandmother and causing all sorts of mischief. But her world seems to crumble down around her as her grandmother's dying wish is for Elsa to embark on a difficult quest: to send her apologies to people she believes she has wronged in the past. The characters that Elsa envisioned as monsters, dragons, angels, and a fearsome creature known as the "Wurse" are transformed into the people within her apartment complex. This is a touching story about imagination, undying love, and ultimately growing up through a painful experience.
Like I said, at first I did not like this book. I didn't like Elsa or her grandmother. What 7 year old acts and talks like Elsa? She has the mouth of a sailor and the mind of someone older, maybe in their teenage years, yet she misbehaves at a level that is intolerable and just ridiculous and unnecessary. And what grandmother encourages this kind of swearing in behaviour in someone who hasn't even reached puberty? really. I was also really confused because at the beginning it's very fantasy-filled to the point where it's almost written in another language. Obviously the grandmother has taught Elsa to live in a world of make-believe, but there were names of mystical lands and creatures that were lost to me at first. But I kept on reading. I am so glad I did.
When I finally pieced together that the land of make-believe and the "castle" was actually Elsa's apartment complex and the creatures symbolized people living there, it was really quite wonderful. The characters, their antics, and their personalities all made sense by that point and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about them and putting the pieces together. And that's most of the reason why I gave this book four stars. It's the first book I've read in a long time in which the reader has to do a bit of work and connect the dots. It was truly a fun-filled reading experience.
By the end, I of course fell in love with Elsa and her potty mouth. Some of the characters still seemed a bit off... like what is up with Elsa's dad? He was just so awkward. And George was weird too always wearing jogging clothes and making eggs all the time. Elsa explained him as someone that EVERYONE liked and I didn't understand why at all. But maybe that's just me.
Anyway, this is a really heartwarming book and I really enjoyed it. So you should give it a chance like I did!
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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:
Yes
Lê-se quase sofregamente, mas fiquei com vontade de o ler de novo, para saborear com mais detalhe. Muito bom.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No