I visited my best friend from high school, Carrie, over the summer. My son is her godson and he was to stay with her in Seattle to attend a jazz camp for a week. Carrie and I went to jazz camp together when we were kids, so it seemed especially appropriate. She lent me a wonderful book: My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry. Fredrik Backman, the author, originally wrote it in his native language, Swedish. There were some fun reminders of that throughout the story when the reader is informed that the protagonist spoke some phrases in English, like her favorite English phrase "No shit, Sherlock". Of course it's all in English for me and my English version.
I was initially skeptical that a seven-year-old (almost eight!) would be able to carry a story that would keep me interested, but I was definitely held rapt. Some favorite lines:
Page 11: Because all seven-year-olds deserve superhereoes.
Page 22: Elsa is the sort of child who learned early in life that it's easier to make your own way if you get to choose your own soundtrack.
Page 36: The room in the hospital smells as bad and feels as cold as hospital rooms tend to when it is barely above freezing outside and someone has hid beer bottles under her pillow and opened a window to try to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke.
Page 45: Having a grandmother is like having an army. This is a grandchild's ultimate privilege: knowing that someone is on your side, always, whatever the details. Even when you are wrong. Especially then, in fact.
Page 66: They sit there in the sort of silent eternity that only mothers and daughters can build up between themselves.
Page 80: People who have never been hunted always seem to think there's a reason for it. "They wouldn't do it without a cause, would they?" As if that's how oppression works.
Page 150: Mum puts her hand on Elsa's hand and inhales deeply from the point where they are touching, as if trying to fill her lungs with Elsa. As mums do with daughters who grow up too fast.
Page 276: Elsa doesn't believe in Santa, but she has a lot of faith in people who do believe in him. She used to write letters to Santa every Christmas, not just wish lists but whole letters. They weren't very much about Christmas, mainly about politics. Because Elsa mostly felt that Santa wasn't involving himself enough in social questions, and believed he needed to be informed about that, in the midst of the floods of greedy letters that she knew he must be receiving from all the other children every year. Someone had to take a bit of responsibility.
Carrie got me hooked! I'm looking forward to reading Backman's A Man Called Ove. A great writer.
