Hardcover, 96 pages
English language
Published Nov. 1, 2016 by Atria Books.
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, and Anxious People comes an exquisitely moving portrait of an elderly man’s struggle to hold on to his most precious memories, and his family’s efforts to care for him even as they must find a way to let go.
With all the same charm of his bestselling full-length novels, here Fredrik Backman once again reveals his unrivaled understanding of human nature and deep compassion for people in difficult circumstances. This is a tiny gem with a message you’ll treasure for a lifetime.
Weaponized sentimentality
What a sad, lovely book! A beautiful look at losing our parents and the process that can happen as we age. Sometimes our bodies go faster than our minds, and sometimes our minds go faster than our bodies. Both options sound scary to me.
I'm convinced I am going to live to be 114, but I don't spend time dwelling on the various ways my body might break down along the journey. I just try to live a (mostly) healthy lifestyle, do good things for the universe, and hopefully that is enough. This story brought home some of my secret fears, though, and it made me tear up a little. Not a ton, because I'm kind of prickly like that, but a few tears were shed. Nothing like A Man Called Ove. Backman got me bad with that one, but this one was emotional, too. Maybe if it was a …
What a sad, lovely book! A beautiful look at losing our parents and the process that can happen as we age. Sometimes our bodies go faster than our minds, and sometimes our minds go faster than our bodies. Both options sound scary to me.
I'm convinced I am going to live to be 114, but I don't spend time dwelling on the various ways my body might break down along the journey. I just try to live a (mostly) healthy lifestyle, do good things for the universe, and hopefully that is enough. This story brought home some of my secret fears, though, and it made me tear up a little. Not a ton, because I'm kind of prickly like that, but a few tears were shed. Nothing like A Man Called Ove. Backman got me bad with that one, but this one was emotional, too. Maybe if it was a full-length novel I would have been ruined by the end, but it was still lovely. Give yourself an hour and read this one. 4 stars.
What a beautiful, sad little book.
