My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises book review

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman, Henning Koch
Published by Sceptre Books on June 4, 2015
Pages: 340
Goodreads

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy, standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus-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 letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and totally ordinary old crones, but also to the truth about fairytales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises was my first Backman novel and it blew me away. I loved learning about Elsa and her family and the way that she viewed the world. I think this novel really handles grief and how family matters work really well. It was an emotional rollercoaster and something I wasn’t expecting, I am extremely looking forward to reading all the other books in his repertoire especially if they are half as good as this one!

The characters in My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises were the real highlight of the book. Seven-year-old Elsa was the perfect narrator. I loved her and her outlook on life, Backman truly contains the spirit of a young child who is dealing with a lot. I think the way that she deals with her added intelligence and the lack of understanding was beautifully done, it was a great dynamic that was explored brilliantly through the story and plotline. The way that the true nature of those surrounding her was really well done and well hidden through the different language and her way of looking at the world. I was a massive fan. I would genuinely love to read more books about Elsa and her outlook on life.

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises broke me in all the best ways. I don’t know how to describe my love for this book without gushing all the way through this review. I think the fantasy elements of this story were what brought me in and hooked me into the dynamics of the family. It really showcased the brilliant writing that this book is full off, I still cannot get over how much I loved the elements in this book and how they all came together and created such a brilliant experience. I cannot express how many best bits were part of this book but it is definitely one of my favourites.

I don’t think there were any worst bits in My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises, the only thing that stopped this book being a 5-star read would be the fact that the end was a little confusing. I still wasn’t clear on who was who and what the reason for everything happening was. I understand that it’s because we’re viewing the story through Elsa’s point of view and that impacts the information that we receive but it did taint the ending for me a little.

This book was a triumph, I don’t know what I was expecting when I started reading but it wasn’t the emotional rollercoaster that this book took me on. There were definitely moments where I wasn’t sure what was going on or what the point of the story was but the ending and the feeling I was left with was well worth it.

I loved this book SO much! Have you read this or any of Backman’s other work? What did you think? Let me know!