Wednesday 11 April 2018

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman




I am just so glad I decided to read this book.  I loved A Man Called Ove but couldn't get into Beartown at all.

The book is written from inside Britt-Marie (a 63 year old lady) – and her voice is so authentic and fresh.  She might be called an eccentric in England but I guess some people would say she was an obsessive compulsive.

There were many very funny incidents in the book and some really sad ones too – have a hankie handy…. If you are an unmitigated cynic or intolerant of quirkiness, this book is not for you.

I must congratulate the translator from the original Swedish into English – only once did I notice any oddness as a result of translation and that wasn't his fault – a bit character spoke in English and Britt-Marie pretended not to understand.

There is a bit of football (soccer) in the book which was entirely necessary for the story up until almost the end where I found it a bit overdone.  Don't let this put you off – a very small issue with a wonderful book otherwise.

3 comments:

  1. Can't wait to read this. It's been on my wish list for a while. I loved A man called Ove and also Beartown. Loved them both. It took a while to get into Beartown, but once I did, I was hooked until the end.

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  2. I think I received an e-copy of this to review at one point but never did ... will have to check it out. Thanks for the review.

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  3. I really loved this book and Ove, but I've not yet tried Beartown. I've both heard that it's very different and very similar in different reviews, so we'll see!

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