BookTube Review • My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry

My second ever video review is for a novel that I absolutely loved, and that book is My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry. Written by Fredrik Backman and translated by Henning Koch, this is the story of a girl named Elsa, whose only real friend is her grandmother. When her grandmother dies, she entrusts Elsa with a mission worthy only of the bravest knight: to deliver letters of apology to certain individuals she knows. It sounds like a real simple story, but it is incredible, you guys. It really hit me in the heart! Before you check out my video, here are the two reasons I think you need to read My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry.

First, I love the cast of characters so darn much! It's such a fascinating combination of individuals all with very strongly defined personalities who happen to be connected through their place of residence and their proximity to main character Elsa. I thought Backman did a really good job making them all very nuanced and distinct, and also lovable in spite of their faults. Elsa, of course, stole my heart immediately; she's smart and funny, perceptive and brave, and I absolutely loved her (and would totally be her friend).

Second, The novel possesses a really interesting narrative structure, combining whimsy and reality in a seamless way. It was really clever to do this because even though this is actually an adult novel, it is still being told from the perspective of a seven-almost-eight-year-old. It makes sense that Elsa lives with one foot in reality, and one in a land of the imagination, and I absolutely loved both parts of the story.

I'm including my video here as well so you can watch it! And in the video description, there's actually a link to a giveaway for a copy of this novel, so you may want to enter that too. Thanks in advance for checking it out!

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
Publisher: Atria Books | Publication Date: June 16, 2015
Source: Paperback received from the publisher for participating in BookTube Tours

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.