Review #5 - My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologies

I think somewhere deep down, within every individual, lies the fear of being too different, changing one self to fit in this puzzle piece that we call the "society". In most cases, we mould ourselves for the society too. And there are those who don't. Enter: Elsa and her Grandmom.

"It's strange how close love and fear live to each other"

I have to admit, the first couple of pages in the book, I genuinely thought the character of Granny was some senile, lunatic who lost her marbles in life, as most oldies are expected to at some point, and hence, she was that "quirky" (or as the book likes to say "perky"). The story telling for Elsa seemed to be fitting to that too. However, as the book progressed, I realised that Fredrik Backman has managed to put these emotions of feeling cheated by all the secrets that adults keep, that not only I, but so many others in the world would've felt at any given point of time, as a child. And not only has he beautifully penned that down, he's also managed to find a superhero, Elsa's Granny, who understands that there is no need to keep secrets from a child. There's just a different way of telling them. And that superpower is storytelling.

"Death's greatest power is not that it can make people die, but that it can make people want to stop living."

It's not a book where things are super fast. You might even feel that the story may start lagging in many places. However, I can guarantee you, all the 340 pages are very much worth the read, and very necessary, to understand each character's progression and development in life, and the need for them in this elaborate fairytale. The characters are extremely relatable, making the book all the more endearing. I mean, the protagonist, an almost eight year old Elsa, is a Harry Potter fan. Need I say more?

"Fear is like cigarettes: the hard thing isn't stopping, it's not starting."

In the times of uncertainty that is coronavirus, I urge you all to read this beautiful, emotional and contemporary book, because you'll be refreshed with all the positivity, and not in a chick flick sort of way, but in a real life sort of way, that the novel will you leave with. I'll be surprised if you don't feel a certain pang of jealousy because of the relationship between Granny and Elsa. And that's a good thing, because this is the sort of relation we should have with kids, be it a sibling, child or grandchild.