Backman’s books have impressed me time and time again. They never fail. The first book I read by him, My Friends, was so charming that I fell in love with his writing. Then there’s A Man Called Ove, which you might know from its popular movie adaptation, that belong to one of my all-time favorite books. Anxious People and Beartown are also as great as the others. Even his nonfiction, Things My Son Needs to Know About the World.

Wow, writing down all the Backman books I’ve read still surprises me by how many I’ve gotten through.

So, of course, I got curious to explore more of his work. That curiosity sent me digging into his older, lesser-known book: The Deal of a Lifetime and Other Stories.

This is a collection of short stories built around spectrum of human relationships. In The Deal of a Lifetime, a deadbeat dad lies in a hospital bed sorting through his life, and he crosses paths with a little girl who’s battling cancer. I’ll skip the step-by-step recap, partly because the book’s own description already lays out plenty of detail, also the story is really short and delivers a complete arc in very few pages.

Well, the first line of the story hooked me, and I really did enjoy the read while I was inside it. Then it ended, and I sat there blinking at the page, thinking, “that’s it?” As someone who loves Backman’s work, I walked in expecting a good deal more.

Going back to his earlier writing, like this book, was still a treat for me tho, and I could feel how far his writing style has improve since. This is one of his older pieces, which is a big part of its charm, though his recent books land with a punch in every line that this one never quite reaches. It’s a decent little short story that came up short on the emotional grip I count on from a writer of his caliber. So I’d file it as good-to-know reading for any fan curious about where Backman started and how far he’s traveled since.

My Favorite Bits

• A great thought can never be kept on Earth.

• We said very little, because there was too much I wanted to say. That’s always when we fall silent.

---

Author: Fredrik Backman
Publication date: 31 October 2017
Number of pages: 119 pages

---