Not a bad book

After rereading Cannibal, I haven’t done much “fun” reading. The more time that passes means the more assignments build up, and less time we have do them! I recently found the book My Grandmother Asked me to Tell you She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman underneath my bed (I assure you this is not usually the place I store my books). I have no recollection of buying this book or being given this books, but it appeared! Maybe that was a sign I should read it. The cover and back of the book blurb intrigued me. The cover depicts a little girl and a dog looking out into the street. The book is about a girl who lost her grandmother and is tasked with giving away her grandmother’s letter, though once she starts giving the letters she is put into a world of adventure.

Before I started reading, I checked out the book’s goodreads rating (because what else is there to do?) and it got a solid four stars. Though when reading the comments, I soon found out people either loved the book or wasn’t its biggest fan, there was really no in between. Lots of people were confused by the plots, while others fell completely in love with the plot and relationship between the girl and her grandmother. As Luffy (a goodreads reviewer who gave this book a high rating of  four starts) says, “There have been moments when I didn't want to take the book and read. But then there have been instances where I couldn't put the book down”. I came into this book not knowing what to believe, because although it got high ratings, I feel like the comments didn’t really give off the four-star vibe.  

I only read the first chapter and I thought it was cute, which is an odd way to describe a book. One could tell the relationship between the seven-year-old granddaughter (Elsa) and grandmother is very special. The grandmother breaks into a zoo in order to make Elsa forget about the bullies at school. I think the ending of chapter 1 was very wholesome in that sense that the grandmother would do anything to try and protect Elsa. I also think the first chapter does a good job of setting up the book and the tone that the book carries. There is a lot of humor and references to Harry Potter, superheroes (because the grandma is considered a superhero to Elsa), and secret languages. It feels as though it is being told from the perspective of a seven-year-old, even though the narrator is in 3rd person. 

Though I didn’t hate this book by any means, I feel as though it didn’t fully hook me. You know the feeling when you read a book and you just can’t put it down. You stay up half the night reading it, ignoring all of your other responsibilities, because the book was just that captivating. I didn’t feel that way with this book. I don’t think it is a bad book, I just don’t think it fully hooked me.