Ayesha

I'm out of words. Getting into it wasn't expecting it to be this, shook me to my core. Didn't realise I was crying until I closed the book. Honestly I don't know where to start..
Perfectly written, the mystery of Isra keeps you hooked till the end. Loved how we see POVs of every women, all three generations and somehow sympathise with all of them, it really is a cycle going on from centuries.
Also told with subtlety but beautifully shown how the genocide affected generations and generations of people, forcing everyone to do things they maybe wouldn't have ever done.
My heart breaks for Isra and her daughters, even for Fareeda? And that's the beauty of the writing.

The ending couldn't have been better, Isra went believing she was finally free and that she saved her daughters and in some way she did ❤️‍🩹

The book made me cry, feel angry at the world and much more, heartbreakingly beautiful ❤️‍🩹

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎, 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎, 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑾𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆.

It started out pretty slow and couldn't grab my interest but man Frederick Backman's writing style is just something else. Sometimes it felt like there were too many stories going on but towards the end I was all in, he has this ability of making you fall in love with every character and I guess not everyone's completely shit or completely non-shit ❤️

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈”