Backman, Fredrik. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry: New York, New York, Washington Square Press, 2015. 370.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, by Fredrik Backman, is a fiction novel with the main themes being death and forgiveness.  The adventures of an eight-year-old girl, Elsa, and her crazy grandmother lead to unthoughtful imaginations. Elsa has a rough and confusing life; nobody at school likes her, so Elsa has no friends except for her grandmother.  Granny has an unexplained background with lots of hidden mistakes.  Elsa and Granny created a dream fairytale land where they visit together every night until it all becomes a reality when characters from “Miama’s,” come to protect her from all the dangers lurking in the shadows.  Right before this all happens, Elsa’s granny dies.  Elsa’s heart is broken because her only friend is gone and there are so many questions not answered. Her world comes tumbling down when the main antagonist, Sam, comes wanting to kill her.  She realizes that everyone she loves has a part to play in the fairytale, and she is the savior of them all. Part of Elsa’s journey is to find and give all of her dead granny’s apology letters, to the correct people signed on the front of the letter.

I loved this novel. Fredrik made it so that there was never a boring moment! One of the literary qualities I liked was the third-person narration because I felt like it made the story flow better by using more details about the main character outside of her personal emotions.  I also liked how there was a variety of conflict situations at different times. The conflicts varied from person vs. person, person vs. society, person vs. fate, and person vs. self.  I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading fantasy/mystery genres.