Britt-Marie Was Here

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrick Backman
Published May 3, 2016 by Atria
Rating: ★★★★

You see, Britt-Marie does not judge people. No, certainly not. That would be uncivilized.

"Britt-Marie would obviously never consider the woman to be "fat," because Britt-Marie is absolutely not the kind of person who pigeonholes people like that, but it does strike her how wonderful it must be for the woman to go through life so untroubled by her cholesterol levels." 

Again, you see, it's just a matter of their being a wrong way to do things and a correct way. A clean, hygienic way. Unfortunately, and quite baffling to Britt-Marie, no one seems to care for, appreciate, or even notice the correct and clean and hygienic way of doing things. For years, Britt-Marie had dinner ready at six o'clock, as any person not raised by wolves would, and her husband Kent never said a word in thanks. He never commented on her carefully crafted hairstyle or paid attention to her superior use of baking soda. Never complimented her cooking without having to be asked first.

"Britt-Marie doesn't know when their marriage slipped out of her hands. When it became worn and scratched up no matter how many coasters were used." 

Britt-Marie spent so much her life worrying about what other people thought of her, of how scandalous it would be to have someone see an unmade bed or muddy shoes tracking on the floor, only to realize at age 63 that no one's thought about her much at all. And Kent's been having an affair. For the first time in decades, she's on her own and looking for work.

Borg is the type of town the world forgot. It sits along the side of a highway, gutted and turned into ghost town by the financial crisis (a reasoning Britt-Marie doesn't trust because, after all, Kent said the financial crisis was over, and Kent was an entrepreneur). Britt-Marie is sent there to work a temporary position at the recreation center. Soon she finds herself the coach of a rag tag team of soccer youths, despite having no interest in the sport whatsoever. For the first time in her life, Britt-Marie needs to figure out just who Britt-Marie is when she's not living for someone else.

I'm a fan of Fredrik Backman's particular brand of emotional manipulation, and I very much enjoyed this book. It definitely has similarities to A Man Called Ove although it's not as well-done. I think Ove fans will be very much at home with Britt-Marie.