BRITT-MARIE WAS HEREBook Review

Hi everyone, today I'm here to do a
book review of "Britt-Marie Was Here" by Fredrik Backman. I read Fredrik Backman's first novel "A Man Called Ove" a few months ago, and I reviewed it. I
will link it here and in the Description box. And I really enjoyed it.

I thought it was really
sweet and well-written, and it's translated like this one is from the Swedish, and I
thought the translation was good. And so I decided once the publisher reached out
to me to review this book that I would give it a go. So just a disclaimer that the
publisher sent me this in exchange for an honest review, but as always with my
reviews all my thoughts and opinions are my own. And I'm happy to say that
actually I enjoyed this one even more than "A Man Called Ove." I thought this was
such a sweet and heartwarming, kind of sad but wonderful story.

I was pleasantly
surprised by it. This is the story of a woman named Britt-Marie who is a little bit older; she's in her sixties and her life has taken a
course that she was not expecting. Something has happened that has kind of
set her off in a different direction, and she has to go and get a job for the
first time in like decades and move to a new town and she just encounters a lot
of experiences and people that she would not have normally had contact with if
this situation had not occurred. And what happens is she becomes a caretaker of a
recreational facility in a small town in Sweden and she becomes friends with all
these kind of quirky and different characters and it's really about her
exploring this area and this new part of herself that she uncovers in this new
situation in life.

You get little glimpses of her life before the event and
what she was like then and how she's growing and changing through these
interactions and these experiences in the new town. The theme of people's
influences on one another, whether they're big or small and just the daily
occurrences that happen that change you, I love that theme. I love books that explore it.
And I know it's a common theme in a lot of literature, but I just think it's such a
great reminder, and this one does it in such a sweet and touching way. Britt-Marie really
kind of leaves a mark on all these people and they leave a mark on her as well.

So it's just a really touching and sweet story about how much impact we
have on each other's lives whether we recognize it or not. I think the way that
Backman shows her progression but how she's still true to herself at the end is really well done. Britt-Marie is kind of
stubborn, kind of set in her ways, but she learns to loosen up a little bit and to
befriend people she probably would have judged and not been friends with before.
Backman includes a lot of different types of people in his books
without it seeming like he's just checking a box on sort of like the
diversity quota. He does it in a really natural and organic way, that they're
just people, and they're just characters that exist; they're just people that she
meets and they exist in every day life.

And it's really wonderful. I love it for
that. I thought this was a really well written book. The translation is great.
If you didn't tell me it was translated I would have just thought it was written
in English.

There's nothing kind of strange or noticeable about how it's
translated, so props to the translator for doing such a great job. And as you
can tell there are few tabs in here because I marked some passages that
really just struck me. He has this really great way kind of zooming out of the
story for a little bit and contemplating on life, but it's totally in context of
whatever the characters are going through. And they're really moving
passages that I enjoyed a lot and maybe I will read one to you now.

This is taking
place after a little bit of a confrontation between two characters and
it says: "Life is more than the shoes your feet are in, more than the person you are.
It's the togetherness, the parts of yourself in another, memories and walls
and cupboards and drawers with compartments for cutlery, so you know
where everything is." And that makes a lot more sense when you understand Britt-Marie's
character but I also think it just kind of encapsulates the essence of the story
and how it reflects really well on life and love and friendship and loyalty and
these theme that are explored a lot but it does it in kind of a fresh and fun
and sweet and silly kind of way, and I. Enjoyed the book for that even more. So if
you have not read anything by this author, I'm starting to really love his
books, and he has one more that I have not read that I'm excited to get to, and I
would highly recommend this one. I preferred it to "A Man Called Ove" not
to say that "A Man Called Ove" wasn't great-- I also listened to that one on audiobook so I don't know if that changed my perspective at all-- but this one I read and absolutely loved it, so I would highly
recommend this book.

And it came out May 3rd. I hope you guys give it a chance because
I really enjoyed it. If you read this book let me know your
thoughts as always in the comments below. I hope you guys enjoy this review and
that you consider picking up this book.

And I will see you in my next video. Bye!.