Reviews tagging 'Child death'

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

19 reviews

james1star's review against another edition

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

karwc's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Minor: Terminal illness, Death of parent, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Cancer, Physical abuse, Infertility, and Car accident

corriejn's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, Cancer, Pregnancy, Stalking, Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Child death, Death, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, and War

Minor: Sexism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Infidelity

you don't get 5 stars if the dog dies

madisonfrank's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Animal death, Grief, Death, Pregnancy, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Violence, War, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

cheekypearson's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

I love Fredrik Backman and his insight into the human condition. He does a wonderful job of knitting these characters together and bringing their complexity to life. I found Elsa to be harder to identify with-maybe all the references to HP through me off-but the book had me in tears at the end. 

A+ writing-people just want to be seen. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

Nothing is overwhelming or explicit but it is moving and a history with some of the topics might cause them to be triggering.

annaem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Bullying

Minor: Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Child death, Violence, and Cancer

harriebo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Death, War, and Violence

radfordmanor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, and Cursing

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

4.5

I think I cried through the entirety of this book. Some were joyful tears, some were heartbreaking tears, and some were ‘oh my gosh this is some of the best writing I have ever read’ tears. “My Grandmother asked me to tell you she’s sorry” follows seven year old Elsa on her journey to cope with grief, but also her journey as she heals, creates meaningful bonds, and most importantly of all, savors an unconditional love for stories. Just like Elsa, this book is different in the best ways, a beautiful exploration of dreamers and believers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

grizzlysnack's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Alcoholism, and Car accident