Britt-Marie Was Here

Genre: Fiction

This is the story of Britt-Marie, recently separated from her husband, Kent, looking for a job and learning to live a new life in a world that is too fast, too new and too unforgiving of Britt-Marie’s idiosyncrasies. She finds a job as a care-taker of an out of commission community center in Borgue, a town that has fallen prey to the economic down turn. Despite Britt-Marie’s lacking social grace, her obsessive need to clean and her stand-offish behavior, she manages to befriend the locals, the kids that use the yard at the community center to play football (soccer) and the local police officer. Britt-Marie is one of those people who needs to control every moment of her life because that control gives her the stability and safety she so desperately craves. As the story unfolds we learn why. But ultimately what she learns is that sometimes all you need to do is let go of the wheel and let life lead you in the right direction.

I read this one because I loved Backman’s A Man Called Ove so much. While Britt-Marie is not nearly as well-developed or lovable a character as Ove, Backman might have officially become the expert in curmudgeons and socially awkward characters. What does it say about me that I love them all so much?! Well, whatever it be, Britt-Marie’s story is that of learning to find one’s self and learning that when you open yourself up to world, the world sometimes delivers in new and unexpected ways.

p.s. I may or may not have started cleaning my house with bi-carbonate soda because of Britt-Marie!