My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
I was a huge fan of “A Man Called Ove”and have been wanting to dig into more of Fredrik Backman’s work.
I gotta say…this one did not hook me right away as the other novel I read of his…it took me about a third of the book to really become fully invested and fully interested.
But once I did…(because I have only ever quit two books in my life once I have started them)..
I DID.
Here is the summary:
“Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.
When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.”
I don’t know why it took me so long to get into this story…it had all kinds of interesting, multi layered characters and big things happening in the plot line.
I’d say the beginning goes a tad slow in development…but after that you develop a heart for Granny and her Elsa and all the other people who come alongside them in their journeys.
Granny is the very best kind of grandmother…eccentric, hilarious, fun and mischievous.
Oh and UNIQUE beyond measure… you discover more and more about her uniqueness as the pages turn.
The same can be said of “wise beyond her years” Elsa.
Interesting tidbit:
This is the second book this year I have read where the one of main characters is the same age as my youngest kiddo and had me thinking “Okay he would NEVER understand the words that kid just said” 🤣
You most definitely will need your tissues with this one y’all…but not just for sentimental tears…for tears from laughing as well.
I say definitely give this book a chance.