my grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry

What a beautiful story of how family history builds bonds and how stories of that history can heal. This grandmother-granddaughter relationship is amazingly touching. The mother daughter relationships are honest. The way differences, disabilities and emotional distress is handled is pure. The father - daughter relationship is heartbreaking and healing. I loved this book.

As children we live on fairy tales. They tend to be the first stories we’re told, our first insights into the world of make believe. It’s no different for Elsa. But what Elsa doesn’t know is that the fairy tales her grandmother tells her are more than just stories, and that there are truths behind the fantasy. Elsa’s grandmother is eccentric and out spoken, never afraid to say what’s on her mind or do what she wants, even at the age of 87. Many people would describe her as “perky”. To Elsa, that is just granny. Every night, Elsa and her grandmother travel to the Land-of-Almost-Awake where they go on adventures and meet all different kinds of people. When her grandmother dies, Elsa is sent to deliver letters from her grandmother to the other members of the house. Within the letters is a simple message: I’m sorry. For what, Elsa does not know. Nor does she know why her grandmother made her promise not to hate her after Elsa learns who she was before she became a grandmother. One way or another, Elsa is determined to learn the answers to these mysteries. Similar to A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman’s My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry made me experience the gamut of human emotions. Backman has a way of making a reader laugh out loud with one sentence and then reduce them to tears in the next. The writing is clear and concise, and the story was well paced, keeping the reader intrigued with no lulls in the plot. I would say there is nothing that I didn’t like about this book. Once I began to read it, I did not want to stop, but when I had to I was constantly thinking about it. I even recommended it to at least two people before I was even finished reading it. Backman incorporated stories about the lives of the other members of the house disguised as fairy tales to help move the plot along, giving the reader information about characters before you know that that’s who it was about. There were several points in the story where I caught on and it was the greatest to feel that “Ah ha!” moment. It was satisfying to be shown the backgrounds of different characters in such a creative way, and I really appreciated how it was done. Although the stories are not similar, the way the fairy tales were used reminded of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert—another amazing book that made my heart sing. After reading and falling in love with My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, I am determined to read all of Fredrick Backman’s books, and I hope that I can convince other readers to do the same.

Backman expertly weaves together the details of this realistic fairy tale with his characteristic wittiness, humor, and insight into the wide range of human behaviors. A considerable amount of language, but the sense of whimsy and depth of heart make it a lovable story.

I didn't love this book. Probably mostly because the fantasy part of the story and the real part of the story kept getting intertwined. Little Elsa has a very eccentric, but lovable Granny that tells her all sorts of stories based in the Land-of-Almost-Awake. They are strange and fanciful stories of places with all sorts of weird names, but as the book progresses, the reader sees that these stories are loosely based on Granny's own life. When Granny dies, Elsa is sent on a treasure hunt to find all these people (they turn out to all be in their apartment building) who were part of Granny's earlier life. That part was fairly interesting, learning about all the characters that were only briefly mentioned in the beginning of the book and how they relate to Granny and to each other. But the fairy tale part takes up too much of the story, in my opinion. And there are lots of Harry Potter references, so if you aren't a big Harry Potter fan (I'm not) they are a bit confusing. So, for people who love fairy tales and magic and figuring how it all goes together in real life, you will probably like this book. I prefer more realistic fiction, so I didn't find it all that terrific like some reviewers did. Also, as I have a 7 year old and teach kids close to that age, I found Elsa and her thought processes to be pretty unrealistic. And the "wurse", who turns out to be a dog doesn't seem very realistic either. Elsa feeds the wurse basically only chocolate and ice cream, yet somehow he survives and thrives on that diet. Pretty far-fetched. But if you don't mind unrealistic fiction, go for it. I personally expected more from all the rave reviews and was disappointed.

He does again. Another story of fascinating but very real people that I grow to love, dialogue that is rich with truth and articulates the hope and joy buried deep within our hearts. "I want to understand everything that is important to you" is just what we want to say to people we love,and desire to have someone say to us. Fredrik exercises my heart, my tears shed in appreciation for the joyfullness, and my laugh out loud muscle.

It was a good book! But there's some filler chapters that made it kinda boring and drawn out for me in places. The story was good though, all in all it was a good read and I'd recommend it.

I always read books from the library but this one I bought after I finished it. Yes, I loved it that much and am confident I will read it again and again. In fact, I immediately started re-reading it after it ended, something I never do. “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry” is the story of a precocious seven year old girl named Elsa and her slightly wacky and eccentric grandmother who creates the make-believe “Land of Almost Awake.” This world consists of a multitude of fairytales which help connect Elsa and her grandmother as well as Elsa and her neighbors. Elsa is “different” and this imaginary world helps her cope. This quote helps to show how Elsa learns about the power of being different “All fairy stories take their life from the fact of being different. ‘Only different people change the world,’ Granny used to say. ‘No one normal has ever changed a crapping thing.” The fairytales ultimately connects all the people that live around Elsa. She gets to know each one of them and their fairytale via letters her grandmother leaves for her in a treasure hunt of sorts after Granny passes away. “At first when Elsa’s Granny started telling her stories from Miamas, they only seemed like disconnected fairy tales without a context, told by someone who needed her head examined. It took years before Elsa understood that they belonged together All really good stories work like this.” The creativity and imagination contained within the pages is captivating as well as entertaining and the writing is superb. “Elsa is the sort of child who learned early in life that it’s easier to make your way if you get to choose your own soundtrack.” I enjoyed reading this book and laughed many times and felt sad on a few pages. I loved getting to know Elsa and the fairytales that connect her world. I now want to read every book by Frederick Backman and plan to do just that!

It made my heart break and full of joy and love all at the same time. Mothers, daughters, grandmothers, framily. Friends who become family. I don’t know if this review will even make sense - you just have to read it. With an open mind and heart from the view of an 8 year old.

Loved A Man Called Ove. Came back to get more books by Backman. This one is easily one of my favourite books I’ve read this year!

Loved it - was a gift for Mum

When it arrived it was quite dirty and though the person who sent it could've mention that and so I was a bit dissapointed but I decided to give it a good clean up myself and im pretty satisfied now. Definitly doesn't look new but honestly the inside is what truly matters and it that regard it was in good conditions

Great

Well written and a wonderful story about a girl coming to grips with reality