My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Despite how sad I am at having to write this, I did not finish this book. I love, love, love the author so much – and I tried so hard to enjoy the story and keep going. Unfortunately, there were just too many things I didn’t like, and couldn’t move beyond.
The stuff I did like – our young protagonist, she was written really well. Her understanding of things, and the thought processes were amazing. Her mother, and even step-father, were written well too.
I liked the sense of the housing, where she lived, and where her grandmother lived. It was described so that I knew exactly how everything fit together.
I didn’t like the Britt-Marie of this story, she was grating and annoying, which made me question my like of her own novel (which I did like, but not if she was as annoying as in this story). I didn’t like the constant referral to Miamas, and all the characters in it – a little bit was alright, but after awhile, it was too much and I was too confused.
I also didn’t connect with Granny, who was great in her outrageous qualities, but then too extreme.
I liked a lot about the writing, and I loved the neighbour, but I wasn’t able to get beyond the fantasy-land and real life merging together in a confusing fairy-tale language.
This wasn’t for me, but I would absolutely recommend any of the other books written by Fredrik Backman!
Ally Jane 