Britt-Marie was here

After the first couple of chapters, I fully expected a tale of a grumpy old woman softening over time, similar to Ove, you must understand. That’s not what Britt-Marie ended up being.

Her story was a lot sadder than that. A story of a woman without purpose who's been taken for granted and ignored for her 60+ years, and the run down town for her to belong. Britt-Marie isn’t some grumpy old woman, she just has to find the confidence to follow her own thoughts away from the people that never “needed” her.

Britt-Marie is a joy to follow throughout. Her little quirks like the way she says what she thinks, for better or for worse, with all the sincerity that she thinks it comes across as. The way she sticks to her lists and methods and ideals throughout and these aren’t treated as a flaw to be fixed but rather just a part of her.

I definitely was not expecting it to turn into such a sport focused story, with a lot of the situations throughout surrounding football but I am by not means disappointed. There’s some classic Backman tear jerker moments at times that landed well and I finished the book thoroughly loving everyone in that town (especially Sami, but not Kent).