Deborah Craytor
I was introduced to Fredrik Backman in June, 2015, when I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of his second novel, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. As I said in my review, I loved that book and promptly ran out to find his first book, A Man Called Ove, which was also a 5-star read for me. That's two 5-star ratings of the 26 I awarded last year (out of a total of 218 books read) for the same author: pretty impressive! Not surprisingly, then, I was looking for an equally engaging reading experience when I picked up Britt-Marie Was Here. While it was a fine book, it did not measure up to its predecessors. Backman's writing is always lighthearted, which I thoroughly enjoy, but in this case, he slipped over the edge to twee on several occasions. More importantly, though, I started the book already disliking Britt-Marie, who was a minor, but unpleasant, character in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. In that book, she was an obsessive-compulsive doormat of a wife, and she doesn't improve much after separating from her adulterous husband. I have been happily married for 30 years, but my best friend recently divorced under similar circumstances, so I have some secondhand understanding of Britt-Marie's reluctance (or outright inability) to move on. But when she's still refusing tacos because "Kent doesn't eat foreign food" 120 pages later, I've lost what little patience I had. For a book which is supposed to be about Britt-Marie's "transformation," she doesn't seem to change very much. Nevertheless, Britt-Marie Was Here deserves to be read just for Backman's hilarious descriptions of people and places. Among my favorites: "The girl glances at the surface of the desk, which looks as if toddlers have been trying to eat potatoes off it. With pitchforks. In the dark. Borg is a community built along a road. That’s really the kindest possible thing one can say about it. Somebody has one of the worst hairstyles Britt-Marie has ever laid eyes on, as if she’s combed her hair with a terrified animal. People sometimes refer to darkness as something that falls, but in places like Borg it doesn’t just fall, it collapses. It hits the streets like an epidemic." Verdict: Those unfamiliar with Backman's prior works will find Britt-Marie Was Here more enjoyable than existing fans with high (perhaps unreasonably so) expectations, but it's still a fun read. I received a free copy of Britt-Marie Was Here from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
4 people found this review helpful
Michael Robinson
Absolutely delightful! I love that this captures people being people; no fantasy, no unbelievable events. Just people... living, surviving, being there for one another, and learning to be themselves