272. Britt-Marie Was Here
Rating: ☆☆☆
Recommended by:
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre: Fiction
324 pages, published May 3, 2016
Reading Format: Audio Book
Summary
When the story begins, Britt-Marie finds herself in a bad place. Her husband Kent has left her and she must find a job and start over. The unemployed office places her in charge of the Recreation Center in the just scraping by town of Borg. Saddled with an obsessive-compulsive personality, Britt-Marie does what she always does: clean and bring order to disorder. Over time, her efforts extend to the kids of Borg, a motley lot who are crazy for football (soccer).
Quotes
“One morning you wake up with more life behind you than in front of you, not being able to understand how it’s happened.”
“At a certain age almost all the questions a person asks him or herself are really just about one thing: how should you live your life?”
“You have to understand that when one is just standing there looking, then just for a second one is ready to jump. If one does it, one dares to do it. But if one waits, it’ll never happen.”
“It’s difficult to know when love blooms; suddenly one day you wake up and it’s in full flower. It works the same way when it wilts—one day it is just too late.”
“Because if we don’t forgive those we love, then what is left? What is love if it’s not loving our lovers even when they don’t deserve it?”
“An unreasonable amount of paperwork is required these days just to be a human being.”
“A human being may not choose her circumstances, but she does choose her actions.”
“A few years turned into more years, and more years turned into all years. Years have a habit of behaving like that.”
“The reason for her love of maps. It’s half worn away, the dot, and the red color is bleached. Yet it’s there, flung down there on the map halfway between the lower left corner and its center, and next to it is written, “You are here.”
“All marriages have their bad sides, because people have weaknesses. If you live with another human being you learn to handle these weaknesses in a variety of ways. For instance, you might take the view that weaknesses are a bit like heavy pieces of furniture, and based on this you must learn to clean around them. To maintain the illusion.”
“My mother worked for the social services all her life. She always said that in the middle of all the crap, in the thick of it all, you always had a sunny story turning up. Which makes it all worthwhile.’ The next words that come are smiling. ‘You’re my sunny story, Britt-Marie.”
Sometimes it’s easier to go on living, not even knowing who you are, when at least you know precisely where you are while you go on not knowing.”
“If you support Tottenham you always give more love than you get back… Tottenham is the worst kind of bad team, because they’re almost good. They always promise that they’re going to be fantastic. They make you hope. So you go on loving them and they carry on finding more and more innovative ways of disappointing you.”
“Human beings are the only animals that smile as a gesture of peace, whereas other animals show their teeth as a threat.”
“All passion is childish. It’s banal and naive. It’s nothing we learn; it’s instinctive, and so it overwhelms us. Overturns us. It bears us away in a flood. All other emotions belong to earth, but passion inhabits the universe. That is the reason why passion is worth something, not for what it gives us but for what it demands we risk. Our dignity. The puzzlement of others and their condescending, shaking heads.”
“I was under the impression that one became a policeman because one believes in rules and regulations.” “I think Sven became a policeman because he believes in justice.”
“You love football because it is instinctive.If a ball comes rolling down the street you give it a punt. You love it for the same reason you fall in love. Because you don’t know how to avoid it.”
My Take
While I enjoyed Britt-Marie Was Here, it is my least favorite of Fredrik Backman’s books that I have read. Much better is A Man Called Ove and Beartown. Nevertheless, Britt-Marie Was Here is worth a read. Backman’s understanding of human nature and what makes us tick is present as is his ability to create a world that feels real and worth spending time in.
