not a single false note

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: This is a beautiful story.  It goes something like this: First, there was Claude.  But Claude felt that being a boy wasn't quite right.  So around the start of kindergarten, Claude started wearing dresses.  Sometimes this was a big deal (for other people), sometimes it wasn't.  Claude (and Claude's parents) were just figuring it out as they went along (with the help of a very quirky (in the best way) guru cum therapist).  Not long after, Claude became Poppy, and later, the family decided that it was best if no-one knew that Poppy was ever anything but.  Secrets are hard to keep, though, and Frankel doesn't pull her punches on the consequences.

I can't speak to how well Frankel gets inside the head of a young child struggling to figure out whether they are boy, girl, both, or neither, or the head of the parents who only want to love and support that child (although that was easier for me).  What I can say is that Frankel's portrayal of Poppy and Poppy's parents, siblings, and grandmother is nuanced and both heartwrenching and heartwarming.  This book made me laugh and cry and everything in between.

PS. I actually listened to this book, and I highly recommend the audio version.  Gabra Zackman, the narrator does an amazing job giving life to the voice of each character.

a Knight of Miamas

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Read 20 in 2020 Challenge category: book with an animal on the cover
Review: Elsa is a very (very!) precocious almost-eight-year-old, with a very (very) strong attachment to her Granny. Because Elsa doesn't fit in at school, she and Granny spend a lot of time together, often in the Land-of-Almost-Awake, a fairy-tale realm that Granny has created and that Elsa knows inside and out. In the Land-of-Almost-Awake, everyone is different, and no-one needs to think about being "normal". Elsa is a Knight in Miamas, one of the kingdoms in the Land-of-Almost-Awake, and Granny knows that Elsa will soon need to use all of the bravery that a Knight carries within.

For Granny has cancer, although Elsa never hears her use that word out loud, and when Granny dies, Elsa is left bereft, and more than a little bit angry as she realizes that Granny kept lots of secrets from her. Elsa's about to find out a lot more about who Granny was before she was "Granny" though, as she undertakes the quest Granny has set out for her. She is to deliver a series of letters to the other residents of their building, in which Granny asks forgiveness for her various failings. As Elsa completes her quest, she comes to see the connections among her neighbors and between each one and her grandmother, and begins to see the origins of Granny's tales of the Land-of-Almost-Awake.

Elsa's journey is both heartbreaking and heartwarming as she struggles toward a fuller picture of the world around her. Although nothing actually fantastical happens, this story has, in some ways, the dreamy quality of a fairy tale, although in others, it is bitingly real. I wanted to be Elsa's companion on her treasure hunt, to help her and protect her, and to experience the journey for myself! Fortunately, Elsa had protectors, and Backman's writing is so vivid that I did sometimes feel as though I were there.

Some reviewers have said, and I can't say I disagree altogether, that Elsa was somewhat too precocious. Perhaps, although it's also been pointed out that, because Elsa was shunned at school, all of her interactions were with adults, with does have a certain effect on a smart child. I would also agree with those who point out that this book requires some suspension of disbelief for more than one thing (that dog eats an awful lot of chocolate...), but that it's all more than worth it to be able to come along for Elsa's journey.