Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Britt-Marie Var Här by Fredrik Backman

30 reviews

defiantturtle's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

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_pauline's review against another edition

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funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

This combines elements from a man called ove (main character), beartown (small town/village setting, sports, characters) & anxious people (funny,
robbery
), but I don’t think it’s boring or repetitive even if you’ve read his other books.

it went from “low stakes story with a premise & MC similar to ove“ to “simultaneously heart wrenching & funny“ to
“you did not seriously just kill off one of my favourite characters“

Britt-Marie finds it extremely impolite for Somebody to interrupt her in the midst of dying.

'I was waiting here for you to stop looking deceased. Got hungry, you know, so I had a bit of lunch' 

Some people had pulled Britt-Marie out of the car; she doesn't know who, but she knows that her mother, silently furious, never forgave them for saving the wrong daughter. Maybe Britt-Marie didn't forgive them either. Because they saved the life of a person who from that day devoted herself to just walking around being afraid of dying and lying there stinking.

Next to the plate she put a note, written neatly in ink: 'Out on a date. Or a meeting. Or whatever it's called nowadays. No need to put away your plate when you have finished, it's no trouble at all for me.' She wanted to write something about how she hoped the rat would find someone else to share its dinner with, because she did not feel the rat deserved to eat alone. Loneliness is a waste of both rats and people. But her common sense ordered her not to get involved in the rat's personal choices about social relationships, so she left it at that.

'If something happens to me can you promise you'll look out for Omar and Vega and make sure they're all right? Can you promise me you'll find good people to look after them?'  …
He has made her promise that she won't sit up all night waiting for his car to come back. But she does it anyway.

I‘m not sure how to feel about
the open ending, but it does make sense for the story


character ranking: 
  1. vega
  2. the rat
  3. ben (pirate)
  4. britt-marie
  5. sami
  6. sven
  7. the white dog (SO close to being a ts reference he just chose the wrong colour)
  8. unemployment office girl
  9. somebody, max, the other kids
  10. everybody else
  11. literally anyone
  12. kent (though he did change for the better)

my current ranking of Fredrik Backman’s books:
  1. the winners (5⭐️)
  2. beartown & us against you (5⭐️)
  3. anxious people (5⭐️)
  4. britt-marie was here (4.75⭐️)
  5. a man called ove (4⭐️)

If you want to get an impression of his sense of humour, watch the  speech he gave at the Simon & Schuster centennial (Fredrik Backman on Creative Anxiety and Procrastination)
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calicornmoore's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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musicthatis's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

4.5

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baileyes's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

4.25

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pastlifetragedy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

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sandysmith's review against another edition

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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

4.25

I do like a Fredrik Backman book. Britt-Marie has Ove like tendencies. She has OCD, cleans as a coping mechanism, and says what's on her mind, and she has no filter. She is a 63 year old who unexpectedly moves to Borg, a small village where she is the caretaker for the community centre, that is scheduled to be demolished.  She becomes the children's football coach. Another one that creeps up on you makes you think, thought provoking funny, sad and is unbelievably wholesome. Great stuff
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martapsalvado's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad slow-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

2.75

If I had a nickel for every time I disliked a Fredrik Backman book about a grumpy elderly person who finds the importance of community, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. 

To be fair, I didn't totally dislike this book. During the first half I was considering DNFing, mainly because it was very repetitive, but for some reason I didn't and I don't regret it. I had a weird relationship with this book- I liked the author's humour and the message that he was trying to convey and found some really good passages, but didn't love the plot, nor cared that much about the characters.That said, the second half of the book was a little more fast-paced and it became more interesting and less repetitive (or did I just start skimming through the repetitions? 👀). 

I understand why so many readers love Backman's stories, but maybe they're just not for me.
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candiemarsh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

4.0

This was a nicely paced read. I'd say it's a "feel good" book, with some emotional moments. Great character development; the characters grow to be more lovable as you go on with the story. It's the kind of read that isn't too heavy but at the same time makes you reflect.
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sheryl_macca's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-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

5.0

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