Amazing slice of life. The tapestry of interwoven lives in small towns. The hidden and shared pains of everyday life. The immersion of Backman's writing. Even knowing, for more than half the book, what was coming, the pain of the ending was immense. I felt so deeply for the towns and the characters, I was wracked with tears. I hadn't realized, when I checked out the book, that it was the third in a trilogy. The book still hit me that hard.

The denoument is sweet and painful and brings you a little away from the depth of it. It is still relatively realistic, though, so it's not all sunshine and roses. It is what fits the story, though, and I love it for that.

I know this is disjointed and not always even in complete sentences. I'm just sitting in the deep pain of the ending.