Tina Reads All the Books

Author: Fredrik Backman

Rating: 5 stars

Book Blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, and Anxious People comes an exquisitely moving portrait of an elderly man’s struggle to hold on to his most precious memories, and his family’s efforts to care for him even as they must find a way to let go.

With all the same charm of his bestselling full-length novels, here Fredrik Backman once again reveals his unrivaled understanding of human nature and deep compassion for people in difficult circumstances. This is a tiny gem with a message you’ll treasure for a lifetime.

This was beautiful, moving, sad and will stay with you long after you read it.

I had tried to read Backman’s work before when I got Beartown from the library and I just couldn’t get into it. Here, I got what all the hype was about. The writing was captivating. I highlighted so many passages.

For example, when the Grandpa is explaining to his grandson how he fell in love with his wife:

“How did you fall in love with her?” the boy asks.

…

“She got lost in my heart, I think. Couldn’t find her way out. Your grandma always had a terrible sense of direction. She could get lost on an escalator.”

I didn’t cry… until the very end. There was a beautiful response the father said to the grandson on what they could do for the grandfather as the dementia set in. And it gut punched me with its empathy and just… well read it. This is not long at 70+ pages.

This made me want to try to read another one of Backman’s novels.

Highly recommend!