A review by _pauline
Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

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“

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
the open ending, but it does make sense for the story


character ranking: 
  1. vega
  2. the rat
  3. ben (pirate)
  4. britt-marie
  5. sami
  6. sven
  7. the white dog (SO close to being a ts reference he just chose the wrong colour)
  8. unemployment office girl
  9. somebody, max, the other kids
  10. everybody else
  11. literally anyone
  12. kent (though he did change for the better)

my current ranking of Fredrik Backman’s books:
  1. the winners (5⭐️)
  2. beartown & us against you (5⭐️)
  3. anxious people (5⭐️)
  4. britt-marie was here (4.75⭐️)
  5. 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)
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