👶👶👶 My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, by Fredrik Backman

Having absolutely adored A Man Called Ove, I was excited to read this newest novel by Fredrik Backman. Although it was a very charming and imaginative story, it just didn’t seem as genuine as Ove. The character traits were a little more forced, and the situations, a bit more contrived.

However, Elsa’s character was sweet, and the journey her grandmother sent her on was surprising and entertaining. There were certainly some deep messages embedded in the text; however, the novel just didn’t grip me like his first novel did.

For starters, it was a bit convoluted, as far as the correlations between Elsa’s imaginary world, and the real world. So, although there was some indelible wisdom to be gained from this novel, the repetitive fantasy scenes detracted from the message.

Secondly, the author’s concept of age is a bit disconnected. I noticed this in Ove, as he seemed much more like a 80-year-old character than a 59-year-old. However, because the novel was so excellent in so many other aspects, I let that slide. In this novel we meet Elsa, an almost-8-year-old, and her maturity level can’t possibly fit her age, no matter how much Wikipedia she’s read. She struck me more as a very astute 11-year-old.

All in all, it was an amusing novel, but it doesn’t hold a candle to his debut.

Read 3/20/16