Reviews tagging 'War'

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

40 reviews

sunshinekmp's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, and Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and War

uselesspirateraven's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and War

holliscsmith's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

WOW I adore Backman's writing. This was so so good and made me feel more optimistic about humans in general :) I wasn't the biggest fan of the fairy tale plotlines, but it worked well enough, and the character development and relationships more than made up for it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and War

Minor: Violence

moonpotion's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was an absolutely gorgeous read and Backman is becoming a favourite of mine. I sometimes think I'm horribly emotional and sensitive when I read these books, but by the end of it, I realise the beauty in emotion and how the pain hurts but heals. Love love love this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Abandonment, and War

sgoldstine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Violence, and War

alynnhays's review

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

P L O T
Elsa is tasked with distributing apology letters from her late grandmother. The tone is definitely sad, though the story is not about loss but rather about unexpected connections when you get to know someone past face value.

T H E   G O O D   &   T H E   B A D
“It’s been a long time since I had such an amazing reading experience. You almost never do, once you grow up, things are at their peak when you’re a child and then it’s all downhill from there… well… because of the cynicism, I suppose. I just wanted to thank you for reminding me of how things used to be.”

I highlighted several quotes and found the book to be a beautiful story. However, I'm not sure if I could claim I enjoyed it because of the emotional tone. The nostalgic feeling Elsa brought to the story was uplifting, her belief in fantastic ideas and the exciting and creative things her Granny came up with to make her feel special, but it also made me feel sad. It reminded me of the fear of being misunderstood and the fear of losing the few people who truly understand you. There is no doubt that the book was wonderful, but it was also a challenging read emotionally.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, and War

author2223's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism and War

abitofcourage's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Stalking, and War

alienexpert's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

An extremely moving novel discussing the complexity of grief and the stories that live on long after. Elsa is such a spunky kid and her wise yet youthful mind cuts through so much sadness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Cancer and War

sweetandspicy's review

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and War

A very sweet and relatively light-hearted book. The narrator being a child added a fun adventurous dimension. The last quarter or so is when it really picks up and becomes harder to put down. I would recommend to a friend :)