vbptak's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Very enjoyable book. DNF the first time I read it, but picked it up again and read it in 3 days. Made me laugh so many times. Will probably read this again. 

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karwc's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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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finnifinn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Just a great book about love and imagination

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ridesthesun's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad 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

4.75

Oh this was just gorgeous đŸ„șđŸ„ș this narrative style is so well done; everything is tied together and only reveiled a layer at a time, but the reader is lead through the revelations so gently that it feels like you're living along with the characters, finding things out and making sense of the world right alongside Elsa. Community and hope and family and forgiveness đŸ„ș

No one's all shit, and no one's all not-shit 

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corriejn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

A sweet and charming story of loss, friendship, imagination, trauma, and family. 

The last book I'd read by this author was "Beartown" and this one is wildly different, which speaks to his versatility.

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hmetwade's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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embla_v's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful

3.75

En ganska bra bok som jag lĂ€st pga skolan. 

Boken handlar om en 7-Ă„ring vars mormor dör vilket leder till att flickan skickas ut pĂ„ en skattjakt. En jakt efter sanningen om alla hon kĂ€nner och framförallt om sin mormor. 

Rekommenderar till all som gillar Backman böcker. 

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cassie7e's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I didn't love this book and I'm not totally sure what I didn't like about it. It seemed to try to make up for the dark parts with sweetness that came across as saccharine instead. I did appreciate how the fairytales and real world stories interwove.

Since I've soured on JKR the constant references to Harry Potter don't feel quite so whimsical and heartwarming.

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missknown's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The sweetest book I've ever read. Told from the perspective of a almost 8 year old girl, Elsa, who just lost her grandmother and best friend, and now as to learn how to deal with all her emotions. The narrator takes the simple view of the world from a child perspective to tell a Christmas tale of loss, love, friendship, and above all else the power of imagination.
Most of the characters, if not all, can be frightening, challenging or straight obnoxious. Although the author manages to transform those same characters into likable people. Explores their past and stories, making them more human, making the reader see they are in fact good people that occasionally do shitty things.
Despite the harshness of some stories and the topics it explores, like grief, the book is very humorous. The light-hearted view of the world from Elsa's perspective and the chaotic energy of Elsa's grandmother, there is plenty of funny moments to break an otherwise very melancholic narrative. 

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qiqiwooo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

I really enjoyed this book overall, the characters are extremely loveable and it’s wonderful to see how they change as the book progresses. I feel like this book talked about many more serious topics than I first expected? I finished it in 2 sittings ~3 and a half hours altogether

I think the further I read the more I grew to love the other characters and the more I grew to dislike the main character ?? She gets frustrating and also doesn’t seem to fit her age of 7 (nearly 8) years old  (elsa stop feeding chocolate to the “dog” and referring to your neighbour as “the monster”) 

Also the aimless referencing to “miasma” got really confusing after a while and I felt like I couldn’t really tell what was really happening?? It made it harder to read and made me go “oh huh ??” a bunch of times

Anyways, it was a good experience and whilst I dont regret reading it the ending felt well, not very ended?? Which I dont tend to enjoy greatly, especially since a lot of the characters are kind of left with issues that I wish were explored more
a good example being w/ wolfheart someone please help the poor boy what ?? is he just going to be left with his definetely unhealthy obsessive compulsions whatt

also as relationships are explored in the stories I wish there were more experiences actually between the characters ?? I love alf

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