Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman

29 reviews

abitofcourage's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Stalking, Domestic abuse, and War

hayleyressler's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-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

4.5

Loved. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: War, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

jessamo19's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Terminal illness, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Infidelity, War, and Alcoholism

james1star's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Read this for my Bookish World Cup (video link: https://youtu.be/hV87o_hJqKI?si=lsQjjW_YXGSWreM-) but if not I’d definitely of DNFd this book.

I don’t think the story or character are anything particularly bad but the writing’s extremely dense and overwritten. We follow soon-to-be-eight year old Elsa via a third person perspective and her relationship with her wacky granny. Their bond is so strong and clearly important for Elsa given an up-and-down family life and bullying in school, he grandmother tells her stories which were nice to start. Not long into the book, we find out granny has cancer and sadly dies but not before instrumenting an adventure for Elsa embark on. Via letters to other characters in the real world, she gets to understand the past lives of her granny and I would say the piecing together of the story was certainly the best part of this book. It was a rewarding reading experience to some extent but… 

…It is just so dense that on the whole I was left very unfulfilled and slightly irritated after finishing this. So much of the book is filled with repetition after repetition of the same messages, names, and in many ways mini plot twists/turns that after a while you do see coming. Backman goes on far too many tangents including mountains of unnecessary detail and storytelling that was okay to start but became extremely monotonous as the book went on. I had a similar issue in reading ‘A Man Called Ove’ but at least in that we were following characters that I cared for (take a moment of appreciation for Sonja) and it wasn’t that bad. But here… ugh I dunno I didn’t find a lot of what occurred all that realistic and I feel the formatting took me out of the story. This could’ve been helped had Backman chose first person POV from Elsa but then again I don’t think he truly grappled with a child’s understanding all that well. 

Overall, this was fine. I liked how things fitted into place but was certainly overwritten. Not the best from Backman. 

Note: no chocolate for dogs! Or much else they give them tbh. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Alcoholism, War, Drug abuse, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Cursing

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

1.0

The only reason I finished this book was because I was foolishly convinced it would get better, and only because it was written by Frederik Backman. I don’t love the protagonist, which is terrible cuz she’s a child and I believe all children should be loved. I was constantly distracted by Britt-Marie because I kept wondering if she is the same character from Britt-Marie was Here (like did she get a new job in between books???). And there were other issues. I’ll stick to his books with characters who are at least in high school.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Grief

lazyowl's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.75

Fredrik Backman is officially my go to for heart-warming and funny stories. He manages to deal with such difficult topics and at the same time make me laugh and feel good after reading. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

kickitupanotch7's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Alcoholism, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, War, and Abandonment

fluture's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-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

4.75

Such a light-hearted and inspiring book. I don't know how to explain my feelings the moment I finished reading this book. This book somehow can be a reminder for us to fully appreciate little things in life and live to the fullest. There's no wrong in questioning stuffs. Everyone carries secrets and pain in their life and they have the right to do what they chose to do—choosing how they cope with it. There's no right nor wrong in this world. Everyone just tried to survive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, and Cursing

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

bookishoptimist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

I really enjoyed this book more than expected.  A journey through the loss of a loved one with a unique twist.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Animal death, Mental illness, Bullying, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

finsleft's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I really can’t think of a way to improve this book. It’s original, heartwarming, entertaining, everything. Easily on my favorite books list. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse