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jl27's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It's Backman, he's Backman-ing with this one for sure. Not his best, but still solid.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, and Death of parent
angorarabbit's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
TLDR: Exceeded expectations. It is better than the blurb suggests.
Three chapters in I was sure this was another male author’s attempt at writing a funny-middle-aged-lady story. Including funny characters like you find in funny little villages. Another chapter was enough to convince me to stick around a while and see what happened. Slowly you learn about what brought Britt-Marie to this point in her life. Slowly you learn that the funny village people have had not so funny lives. There are profound thoughts about grief folded into the funny bits.
Three chapters in I was sure this was another male author’s attempt at writing a funny-middle-aged-lady story. Including funny characters like you find in funny little villages. Another chapter was enough to convince me to stick around a while and see what happened. Slowly you learn about what brought Britt-Marie to this point in her life. Slowly you learn that the funny village people have had not so funny lives. There are profound thoughts about grief folded into the funny bits.
Against my will I started to smile and then giggle with Britt-Marie. At the end I had an acute allergy attack that required the use of a not insignificant amount of paper handkerchiefs. Mr Backman has learned that a feel good ending needs tragedy to spice the joy and he wrote it in the perfect way..
Mr Backman gets points for his portrayal of women at different places in their lives and for not allowing his male characters to overshadow them. He also gets points for a boy wanting his hair to look nice with his date with another boy the perfect normal thing that it is; and his portrayal of Beck and Somebody’s struggles with disabilities and their importance to their community. Fiction has improved over the decades in its portrayal of the lgbtqaa* community but it is still rare for me to read a book with a character with disabilities for some reason of other.
I wish Britt-Marie, Vega, and Omar all the good in their fictional world. But something in me hopes that Kent continues to visit Borg to play soccer. And maybe afterwards stops at the pizza place/car mechanic/post office/ bodega to watch the game and have a beer with Sven. There is a lot the two of them could learn from each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, and Medical content
defiantturtle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity and Death of parent
_pauline's review against another edition
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
This combines elements from a man called ove (main character), beartown (small town/village setting, sports, characters) & anxious people (funny writing, robbery ), but I don’t think it’s boring or repetitive even if you’ve read his other books.
it went from “low stakes story with a premise & MC similar to ove“ to “simultaneously heart wrenching & funny“ to“you did not seriously just kill off one of my favourite characters“
it went from “low stakes story with a premise & MC similar to ove“ to “simultaneously heart wrenching & funny“ to
Britt-Marie finds it extremely impolite for Somebody to interrupt her in the midst of dying.
'I was waiting here for you to stop looking deceased. Got hungry, you know, so I had a bit of lunch'
Some people had pulled Britt-Marie out of the car; she doesn't know who, but she knows that her mother, silently furious, never forgave them for saving the wrong daughter. Maybe Britt-Marie didn't forgive them either.
Next to the plate she put a note, written neatly in ink: 'Out on a date. Or a meeting. Or whatever it's called nowadays. No need to put away your plate when you have finished, it's no trouble at all for me.' She wanted to write something about how she hoped the rat would find someone else to share its dinner with, because she did not feel the rat deserved to eat alone. Loneliness is a waste of both rats and people. But her common sense ordered her not to get involved in the rat's personal choices about social relationships, so she left it at that.
'If something happens to me can you promise you'll look out for Omar and Vega and make sure they're all right? Can you promise me you'll find good people to look after them?' …
He has made her promise that she won't sit up all night waiting for his car to come back. But she does it anyway.
I‘m not sure how to feel about
character ranking:
- vega
- the rat
- ben (pirate)
- britt-marie
- sami
- sven
- the white dog (SO close to being a ts reference he just chose the wrong colour)
- unemployment office girl
- somebody, max, the other kids
- everybody else
- literally anyone
- kent (though he did change for the better)
my current ranking of Fredrik Backman’s books:
- the winners (5⭐️)
- beartown & us against you (5⭐️)
- anxious people (5⭐️)
- britt-marie was here (4.75⭐️)
- a man called ove (4⭐️)
If you want to get an impression of his sense of humour, watch the speech he gave at the Simon & Schuster centennial (Fredrik Backman on Creative Anxiety and Procrastination)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit and Car accident
pastlifetragedy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism
sandysmith's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I do like a Fredrik Backman book. Britt-Marie has Ove like tendencies. She has OCD, cleans as a coping mechanism, and says what's on her mind, and she has no filter. She is a 63 year old who unexpectedly moves to Borg, a small village where she is the caretaker for the community centre, that is scheduled to be demolished. She becomes the children's football coach. Another one that creeps up on you makes you think, thought provoking funny, sad and is unbelievably wholesome. Great stuff
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Grief
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Violence, and Death of parent
bookish_slagathor's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book gave me some serious emotional whiplash.
One chapter I was smiling, next I was bawling my eyes out, confusing the hell out of my fiancée and my cats.
This was my first venture into Backman’s books and I can already feel that I will have a wonderfully toxic relationship with his books where he makes me smile, laugh, promising a wonderful but somewhat bittersweet time and then unexpectedly stabs me in the heart repeatedly.
And I will keep coming back, wanting more.
Backman’s prose is truly something else. I can’t say if this is true of him in general, so anyone who has read several of his works feel free to add your two Swedish kronas, but he takes mundane people and pretty depressing concepts and uses utterly absurd humor to make it seem less… well, depressing as hell.
The only reason why I didn’t give it five stars is the somewhat open ending, which in general I am not a fan of.
Still, definitely a book I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone okay with being hurt by words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, and Alcohol
Minor: Emotional abuse
trekkifulshay's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Death
tinytrashqueen's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Infidelity
ericaw212's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
i love all of fredrik backman’s books but this was not his best one. it felt like a combination of all his other books and it took too long before britt-marie became likeable
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, and Vomit