I have been a very bad reviewer in 2021. I have been an amazing reader, with a list longer than any year I can remember. But sitting down to review has not been easy for me. I thought maybe I would try writing “bundles” of reviews, putting similar items together and knocking a few paragraphs out. Lets see how that goes.
In order of least liked, to most:
The Prince and the Troll. Blurb:
It’s fate when a man accidentally drops his phone off the bridge. It’s fortune when it’s retrieved by a friendly shape sloshing in the muck underneath. From that day forward, as they share a coffee every morning, an unlikely friendship blooms. Considering the reality for the man above, where life seems perfect, and that of the sharp-witted creature below, how forever after can a happy ending be?
I’m honestly not even sure what was going on here. A guy (we find out his name is Adam) drops his phone off of a bridge while he’s walking to work, and it is retrieved by a nice female troll, who happens to live in the muck beneath. They have a nice talk, and he starts to visit very day while walking to work and brings her fancy Starbucks drinks.
There’s a lot of allegory going on here. The water under the bridge is drying up, and the troll (and all of the other living things beneath the bridge) is drying up along with it. The ROAD over the bridge is to blame. Adam works on the ROAD, bringing progress to his world, while taking away from hers.
They drink a lot (A LOT. How much money does Adam spend at Starbucks?) of fancy coffee drinks while they talk and there are wizards and crows and I really don’t even know.
The story has the traditional Rowell fun banter, but it was heavier (see above: ALLEGORY) than I was expecting. Usually, when I finish a Rowell book/story, I want more. But this time, I was ok with it being done.
Second story: The Deal of a Lifetime. Blurb:
A father and a son are seeing each other for the first time in years. The father has a story to share before it’s too late. He tells his son about a courageous little girl lying in a hospital bed a few miles away. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.
As he talks about this plucky little girl, the father also reveals more about himself: his triumphs in business, his failures as a parent, his past regrets, his hopes for the future.
Now, on a cold winter’s night, the father has been given an unexpected chance to do something remarkable that could change the destiny of a little girl he hardly knows. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he must find out what his own life has actually been worth, and only his son can reveal that answer.
I can’t think of anything by Fredrik Backman that I haven’t enjoyed. This was short and satisfying. (Bonus points for excellent narration from Santino Fontana).
A short snippet of life about a man who wasted his life obsessed with his career and money, while ignoring his wife and son. When he is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he starts to realize that perhaps there were better ways he could have lived his life. In the same hospital ward, there is a little girl, also with terminal cancer, who lives the life she still has only to make others happy.
The man comes in contact with a grim-reaper stand-in (the woman in the grey sweater), who offers him a deal…his life for the little girl’s life. And not just his life, but his entire existence. His son would not be his son. He would never know this man, would never have been disappointed by him, but still…they were father and son, and to completely disappear from the entire world’s memory is not something the man takes lightly.
As usual, with all of the Backman I’ve read, the characters are real, vibrant, honest people. Their lives are sometimes messy, but there is almost always a happy ending. This was a little less amusing that most of the Backman I’m familiar with (although, I would hardly call the Bear Town books hilarious), but it was poignant and emotional, and I recommend it.
My favorite of the three was If the Fates Allow, the brand new short story from Rainbow Rowell. Blurb:
Social distancing came easily to Reagan. Maybe a little too easily. She’s always liked people better from afar. But Reagan doesn’t want her grandpa to be alone for Christmas this year—he’s already spent too much time on his own in 2020. So she heads back to her hometown with a dish of holiday Jell-O salad, hoping they can have a little normalcy. Hoping it will be safe…
She isn’t expecting to run into the boy next door. Mason is all grown up now. He’s considerate. He’s funny. He doesn’t mind how prickly Reagan is—he maybe even likes it. And it makes Reagan feel like her defenses are falling. She needs her defenses, doesn’t she? In a time when six feet is close enough, how long can they keep their distance?
A COVID Christmas story featuring Reagan from Fangirl? YES, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
Reagan was one of my favorite things about Fangirl. I loved her brashness and her unlikely friendship with Cath. Here we see how Reagan’s life has gone since she graduated from college (and we also get a snippet of what’s up with Cath and Levi). She works as an accountant and owns a house. She has few friends and has recently lost her beloved grandmother.
And then, COVID. Reagan locks down at home, unlike most of her family and friends. But she doesn’t want her grandfather to be alone for Christmas, so she quarantines for two weeks, masks up, and goes to his house for dinner, with her grandmother’s famous Jell-O salad in tow.
I could have read 900 pages about Reagan and COVID. About how mad she was at her family who didn’t distance or vaccinate, about how Mason was afraid of her in high school, and about what exactly goes into various Jell-O salads.
I spent a good deal of time googling recipes last night, and while I’m not in a hurry to try the green one she brings for Christmas 2020, I would for sure try the pretzel one she eats in 2021.
I Lost on Jeopardy 