by Fredrik Backman

A Contemporary, 2019 by Simon and Schuster, 336 Pages 

What I Didn’t Like:

• Content warning: suicidal thoughts, grief, cancer.
• Many of the conversations are hard to wade through. Characters in this story are, sometimes intentionally, being (or playing) stupid. That’s part of the lesson in the book. However, it can be difficult to get through a conversation when you have people behaving like this. Almost painful, in fact.
• Some unanswered questions. Personally, I like when endings leave some things to the imagination. This one left a few things open. Keep that in mind if you prefer to have all the answers.

What I Did Like:

• Excellent opening. As is becoming typical for Backman, you’re sucked in by the mystery painted early on. An intriguing scene is set but there are things you don’t know. It draws you right into the book to find the answers. 
• Big themes and lessons. This book forces you to confront some biases and deal with some big life lessons as all the best contemporary books do. It’s beautifully written and delivers those lessons in a great way. 
• Realistic and relatable. The characters, even when they’re making poor choices, are relatable and realistic. You can almost imagine this is really happening somewhere. 

Who Should Read This One:

• Fans of contemporary stories that enjoy real lessons and good discussions starters along with a little bit of mystery will adore this one. This would be a FANTASTIC read for a book club as there are a lot of points to discuss throughout the reading. 

My Rating: 4 Stars