A review by ljrinaldi
The Runaways by Ulf Stark

4.0

This is an odd little book about how three generations deal with growing old. The boy, Gottfried Jr. likes his grandfather no matter if he swears and is grumpy or not. That is the way he has always known him, and that is what he is familiar with. His father, on the other hand, can't deal with his father swearing, and with him getting old and dying. He would rather ignore the problem completely.

So, the boy and his grandfather devise an elaborate plan to run away, just for the weekend. And the only clue that this is happening in Sweden is they run away to a country home in the archipelago.

There are some sweet moments, despite the grumpy grandfather, such as when Adam, not his real name, helps drive the get away van. I also enjoyed how the grandfather talked about creating jam, that when the grandmother created the jam, she put a little bit of herself in it.

It is both sad, and sweet, both cute, and cleaver. The family is real, especially the boy and his grandfather, and the story is totally plausible, though the parents are a bit clueless, as parents are in this sort of situation.

I would recommend this book as a great one for reading any time, but also as a way to talk about death and dying.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.