My Grandmother Send Her Regards and Apologises: An Overdone Backman Novel

Posted On October 25, 2023

Hi Readers! I am back with another review. But, it pained me to write this one, because it’s the first book by Fredrik Backman that I did not enjoy. I have enjoyed A Man Called Ove, Beartown series, Anxious People and And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer. But, this one was not for me. Read to know why.

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove.

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.

~~THOUGHTS~~

“All tales have to end sometime, of course. Some can’t finish soon enough. This one, for example, could feasibly have been rounded off and packed away long ago.”

This quote from the book itself is how I would define my thoughts on the book.

When I think of Fredrik Backman, I think of the stubbornly sweet Ove. I think of the brokenly hopeful Ana. I think of the loneliest empath Benji. I think of the fragile father-son duo of Jim and Jack. I think of the young lovable Noah. I think of the nutty old Britt-Marie. And now, after reading this book, I will think of the adventurous imaginative Granny and her granddaughter Elsa. But that’s the thing. I don’t only remember those characters. I also remember how most of the main characters in all these novels made me feel. I can’t say that for ‘My Grandmother Send Her Regards and Apologises.’ I will only remember how I fell asleep multiple times while reading it, how I wanted to read anything else and how I wanted it to end.

This book is a mix of fantasy mixed with a delicate theme of death and grief. With fantasy, there is an essential need for worldbuilding. So, this being a book close to 400 pages did not have enough time to acquaint readers with the seven lands with all the fantastical Woflhearts and sea angels references strewn around haphazardly. Initially, it felt like ‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ meets ‘Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers’ meets ‘The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared’. All these three books are amazing on their own, but if you chop up pieces of each and try to club them, they don’t fit. And, to top it off the book is supposed to be about ‘the power of storytelling’. This entire fantasy angle was confusing, overdone and unnecessary especially in a Backman Novel. Because, Backman doesn’t need fantasy. All that readers need from him are his words that evoke sentiments to make us cry!

I wanted to feel the loss of a beloved grandparent. I wanted to read about wholesome stories on how Granny had an impact on people in unique and touching ways, which is why she sent letters to them via Elsa. And, she is like any imperfect being, that’s why there are regards and apologies. I wanted Elsa to understand her Granny on a deeper level from all these people after she was gone. This. Just this. Just this would have been enough.

~~CHARACTERS~~

Because I talked about characters earlier, I wanted to have a section dedicated to them. Even though the story’s annoyance is what I will remember, I think I will also remember these flawed characters. Granny, one-of-her-own kind of a woman who was so ambitious and inspirational. I adored brilliant little darling Elsa for her literal as well as emotional intelligence. I loved how confused and stressed Elsa’s Mom was. I Enjoyed reading about Elsa’s tentative father and loved-by-everyone George. I had DNFed ‘Britt-Marie was Here’, but it was fun to read her eccentricities in little doses. Coming down to it, all the characters were lovable and they all had at least one memorable story about them which I cherished.

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~

This book has a rating of over 4 stars across 232k readers. If you have loved Fredrik Backman’s books, then you should read this one too and see if you love it for yourself. If you are not a fan of fantasy and magical realism, then you should not read this book. If you like mildly heartwarming stories, then you should read this book. If you want your next five star read, then this one might be a tricky choice. I really can’t say if you will love it or not, but I hope you make the right choice. I have rated My Grandmother Send Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman, translated by Henning Koch at 2/5 stars!

Until next time,