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A review by billyjepma
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
5.0
Is it possible to read a Fredrik Backman without 1) screaming emotional exclamations at the pages of his books, or 2), crying because the pages of his books both attack and hug you simultaneously? Because if you can read one of his books and succeed in not doing either of those things I don’t think I can fully trust you as a human.
This is only my 2nd Backman novel, and while “Beartown” is technically the better written book, I think I enjoyed this one more. The plot hinges too heavily on coincidence at times, and the pieces all fit together so conveniently that it loses a bit of the grounded realism that made “Beartown” so wickedly effective, but I also don’t care about those things at all because this is an effortlessly charming and emotional story that I loved reading.
Backman’s character work is some of the best out there. He juggles such a large cast of eclectic characters that you almost expect things to fall apart under the weight of so many motivations and backstories. Yet, Backman’s story never even buckles under the pressure. The plot may not be the strongest, but his characters are, and they are more than capable of carrying the excess weight left over by a sometimes-thin plot.
Yeah, this story is a bit more fantastical than “Beartown,” but in a book about an almost-eight-old girl with a knack for fantastical imaginations, it works. This is a fairy-tale without really being a fairy-tale. The world in this novel feels so lived-in and so tangible that it feels like you can step into the book itself and share life with his characters.
Backman’s whimsical, emotive prose takes you through the story like an urgent, but compassionate, friend who grabs your hand and won’t let go until they take you to where they know you need you to be. It makes for the kind of airy, personally affecting reading experience that Backman seems to thrive at, and I love him—and this book—for it.
This is only my 2nd Backman novel, and while “Beartown” is technically the better written book, I think I enjoyed this one more. The plot hinges too heavily on coincidence at times, and the pieces all fit together so conveniently that it loses a bit of the grounded realism that made “Beartown” so wickedly effective, but I also don’t care about those things at all because this is an effortlessly charming and emotional story that I loved reading.
Backman’s character work is some of the best out there. He juggles such a large cast of eclectic characters that you almost expect things to fall apart under the weight of so many motivations and backstories. Yet, Backman’s story never even buckles under the pressure. The plot may not be the strongest, but his characters are, and they are more than capable of carrying the excess weight left over by a sometimes-thin plot.
Yeah, this story is a bit more fantastical than “Beartown,” but in a book about an almost-eight-old girl with a knack for fantastical imaginations, it works. This is a fairy-tale without really being a fairy-tale. The world in this novel feels so lived-in and so tangible that it feels like you can step into the book itself and share life with his characters.
Backman’s whimsical, emotive prose takes you through the story like an urgent, but compassionate, friend who grabs your hand and won’t let go until they take you to where they know you need you to be. It makes for the kind of airy, personally affecting reading experience that Backman seems to thrive at, and I love him—and this book—for it.