You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
This was a heartwarming story with a British audiobook reader, so obviously that is all you need in life.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Really sweet story - a bit cheesy at parts, but a great vacay/beach read
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
This was lovely story about found family.
I will say the start of the book (around 14% in I did audio) completely gutted me. There should have been a trigger warning at the start of the book. Especially as I was reading it a year out to saying goodbye to my sweet boy. I also came across the somber chapter as I was getting ready for work and had to redo my makeup all over. Lol. But afterwards and the the found family began and Albert came into is true self surrounded by so much much love. I’d like to think Gracie had a way of making this happen in heaven.
I’m curious to see what the sequel will be about and look forward to reading to it in the future.
I will say the start of the book (around 14% in I did audio) completely gutted me. There should have been a trigger warning at the start of the book. Especially as I was reading it a year out to saying goodbye to my sweet boy. I also came across the somber chapter as I was getting ready for work and had to redo my makeup all over. Lol. But afterwards and the the found family began and Albert came into is true self surrounded by so much much love. I’d like to think Gracie had a way of making this happen in heaven.
I’m curious to see what the sequel will be about and look forward to reading to it in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
***These are my random thoughts after finishing the book. Some of the thoughts are an overall review of the book, or any questions/feelings that nagged at me throughout. There will almost definitely be spoilers. Read at your own risk.*** ‐----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 stars
Felt like a dessert that's just a littllleee bit too sweet but you also know exactly what you ordered
Wish the story with George could've been fleshed out a bit more
Wish everything didn't go SO smoothly
Could've definitely been shorter
Gracie :(
3 stars
Felt like a dessert that's just a littllleee bit too sweet but you also know exactly what you ordered
Wish the story with George could've been fleshed out a bit more
Wish everything didn't go SO smoothly
Could've definitely been shorter
Gracie :(
A lot of folks have compared this book to a Fredrik Bachman book, with specific parallels drawn to A Man Called Ove. While the comparison is not NOT valid, it’s a little off the mark because while Ove is a curmudgeon, Albert is…Albert is almost not present in his life. He goes out of his way to be superficially pleasant to everyone, but extricates himself immediately with a wave and a smile, exclaiming some variation on a theme of “these letters won’t deliver themselves!” But when it comes down to it, Albert is very much alone, a state that he has convinced himself he prefers. He doesn’t want to know people. He doesn’t want friends. He is seemingly content in a very solitary existence. He lives his life like he is almost on the verge of fading out of it, like he is present only in the most literal sense. He is almost a non-person.
Albert is gay, which is a phrase that he has never said out loud. He was raised in a time when being queer led to beatings, incarceration or worse. He was raised by a police officer father, whose cruelty toward Albert and George, the boy that 16-year-old Albert loved, was truly horrific. As Albert reflects on his forced retirement from the Post Office, he comes across a surprising cache of letters from his love, letters seemingly inexplicably saved by Albert’s distant mother.
The letters prompt Albert to make changes in his life, prompt him to try and find George, and along the way, prompt him to try…being friendly. To try to open himself up to the possibility that he might not have to live his entire life alone.
The book is kind, and heartwarming. Albert is not so much afraid of knowing others as he is of being known, and when he is known and seen and loved anyway, the change in him is palpable. Where he feared judgement, there is only acceptance. Where Albert was once alone, he finds an entire community aching to befriend him.
I thought that the book was a little slow, and I found that I could not read it for more than an hour or so at a time, before I was looking for something a little zippier. However, I returned to Albert day over day, because I did come to enjoy our time together. It’s a gentle book, full of hope, full of love. It might not be for everyone—it requires a bit of a commitment, a bit of stick-to-it-iveness. But ultimately I found it to be completely worth it.
Albert is gay, which is a phrase that he has never said out loud. He was raised in a time when being queer led to beatings, incarceration or worse. He was raised by a police officer father, whose cruelty toward Albert and George, the boy that 16-year-old Albert loved, was truly horrific. As Albert reflects on his forced retirement from the Post Office, he comes across a surprising cache of letters from his love, letters seemingly inexplicably saved by Albert’s distant mother.
The letters prompt Albert to make changes in his life, prompt him to try and find George, and along the way, prompt him to try…being friendly. To try to open himself up to the possibility that he might not have to live his entire life alone.
The book is kind, and heartwarming. Albert is not so much afraid of knowing others as he is of being known, and when he is known and seen and loved anyway, the change in him is palpable. Where he feared judgement, there is only acceptance. Where Albert was once alone, he finds an entire community aching to befriend him.
I thought that the book was a little slow, and I found that I could not read it for more than an hour or so at a time, before I was looking for something a little zippier. However, I returned to Albert day over day, because I did come to enjoy our time together. It’s a gentle book, full of hope, full of love. It might not be for everyone—it requires a bit of a commitment, a bit of stick-to-it-iveness. But ultimately I found it to be completely worth it.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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:
Complicated
Cute, a little too tidy for me but a cute feel good story.
I listened to this at exactly the right time in my life. It’s not a foundationally fantastic or life-changing book, but it was SO SWEET and that was exactly what I needed.