Almost-eight-year-old Elsa likes Harry Potter and the X-Men and looking up new words on Wikipedia. Her best friend is her granny who likes arguing with people, breaking into the zoo, shooting the neighbors with paint balls, and telling Elsa fairy tales about the Land-of-Almost-Awake. When her granny dies, she leaves Elsa a treasure hunt delivering letters to each of the tenants in their apartment building, telling them she's sorry for her many wrongs. Elsa learns about her granny's past as she learns the tenants' stories which inspired the Land-of-Almost-Awake.
The voice made this book. Elsa is a believable, precocious almost-eight-year-old, and that's reflected in the prose. I was never annoyed with her, even though sometimes she was a little shit, and that kind of balance takes skill.
She was born on Boxing Day seven years ago (almost eight). The same day some German scientists recorded the strongest-ever emission of gamma radiation from a magnetar over the earth. Admittedly Elsa doesn't know what a magnetar is, but it's some kind of neutron star. And it sounds a little like "Megatron," which is the name of the evil one in Transformers, which is what simpletons who don't read enough quality literature call "a children's program." In actual fact the Transformers are robots, but if you look at it academically they could also be counted as super heroes. Elsa is very keen on both Transformers and neutron stars, and she imagines that "emission of gamma radiation" would look a bit like that time Granny spilled Fanta on Elsa's iPhone and tried to dry it out in the toaster.The book also shows a quality, dynamic relationship between Elsa and her mum. They bicker like mothers and daughters do, especially considering they are both mourning. But they still hug and snuggle and have important conversations, without having to have a conversation about forgiving each other, because of course they forgive each other. The affection and the anger flow in and out because these kinds of changes in mood happen all the time. It's impressive that Backman struck that balance too: between having characters show different sides of themselves while still having them identifiable and not out of character.
Elsa has sweet, mailable relationships with her dad and her step-dad and the other tenants in the apartment as well. I just liked her and her mum best.
The interconnectedness of the tenants is neat. Everyone in the building already knows all these stories that Elsa's learning, but they just don't talk about them because they're painful or obvious, and so Elsa never knew. I've had that experience. I know the dirty laundry for all the groups I'm in (my family and friends and colleagues), but it's always surprising when an outsider comes in and you have to spell it all out for them.
Offhand comments made about Elsa or Elsa's mum resonate with me as well. Elsa's headmaster blames her for getting bullied, saying she needs to learn to play well with others and that boys will be boys. People throughout the book tell Elsa's mum, who's pregnant (with Elsa's future half-brother or half-sister, who Elsa has named "Halfie), that she should think of the baby when she gets upset or that she shouldn't drink coffee and shouldn't spend so much time at work. These microagressions are presented perfectly. Elsa's mum clenches her jaw and breathes deeply, and doesn't snap or correct people. Granny launches into a rage at the headmaster, saying exactly what I'm thinking and embarrassing everyone. And Elsa internalizes it all, only half understanding that they're hurtful.
I didn't know going into this that it was translated from Swedish, so I got confused and had to look it up when Elsa starts talking about her favorite words in English. So, for your reading benefit: This is translated from Swedish.
***
Next week: Wink Poppy Midnight, YA American Gothic by April Genevieve Tucholke.
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