My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

Washington Square Press

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Fredrik Backman
2016

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 misfits, 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."

The Good
I loved this book.

Although it took me a little time to get into the story, especially when so many characters became involved, I absolutely loved it.  I enjoyed the authentic--sometimes explosive, sometimes heartbreaking, but always genuine--emotions in this book; I enjoyed the oddity of it; I enjoyed the threads of danger and adventure woven into the story; I enjoyed Backman's storytelling, reading about Wolfheart and the Wurse; I even enjoyed Britt Marie (and that's saying something).

Admittedly, I loved the whole thing.

In his novel, Backman will show you the worst side of people:  drugs, alcohol, social and behavioral problems, grief, bullying, and more--so much more that it will break your heart.  He'll show you things that are hard to see; however, he'll balance these things with humor and insight and heartwarming moments of compassion.

I would call his novel bittersweet, because it so closely mirrors life.  It shows you the difficult side of human nature, all the struggles that weigh us down on a daily basis; however, it shows you the sweeter things in life, like best friends and wonderful mothers and good stories and loyalty and, wonder of wonders, laughter.  Sometimes, life isn't always good, but this book makes you feel like things will get better in the end.

Overall, I loved reading My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry.  I especially liked the characters:  they're so different.  Each with his or her own history that changes them, makes them a unique personality--and yet they're all tied together by the thread of Elsa's grandmother.  She brings them together in an oddball quest to deliver letters, to apologize for the wrongs in her life and rectify the things she can no longer fix.

But Elsa, I think, was my favorite.

She's a smart, headstrong little girl.  She's read the Harry Potter series numerous times, she's proficient in her grandmother's "secret language," and she's a frequent purveyor of Wikipedia, an avid researcher of the mundane and the obscure.  She's such a unique personality, I couldn't help liking her--and, of course, her crazy, paintball-gun-wielding grandmother.  They give the novel a unique flavor that truly makes it one-of-a-kind.

The Bad
No complaints.

The Ugly
Losing a loved one always hurts.  For poor Elsa, she's faced with a doubly great loss:  she loses her grandmother, her best friend, and all the magical stories of Miamas.  It's truly heart-breaking.