“Told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as [OVE] . . . It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
“Sorrow and loss are constant, but if we all had to go through our lives carrying them the whole time, we wouldn’t be able to stand it….So in the end we just pack it into bags and find somewhere to leave it”
Seven-year-old Elsa is a girl like no other. How many children do you know of that can recite all Harry Potter books by heart? How many seven-year-olds have such a vast vocabulary and ar as witty? And above all, how many children have a Granny like hers?
Elsa’s granny is her very best, and only, friend. The magical person that takes her to fantastic adventures. They even have their very own world, the Land of Almost Awake. In Elsa’s complicated life, Granny is the light that makes the differences. However, even the best of grandmothers have things they need to apologize for, and Elsa will embark on a journey of discovery, while fulfilling her promise to send her Granny’s apologies to various people.
A book not to be missed, this is a wonderful story that will make you laugh, cry, then laugh again. Constantly holding your attention, Backman’s latest creation is a book that all daughters, mothers and grandmothers should absolutely read! A book about motherly love, it will certainly make you think about your own relationshp with your mother, but also a book about loss, and the different ways in which people cope with it. This is a story that will help you understand that cruelty and coldness are sometimes the mask of pain. After all, in Backman’s own words, “Not all monsters were born this way…Some were made monsters out of sorrow”.
Reviewed by:
Loanna Tatari
Added 4th September 2017
