And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: a Novella by Fredrik Backman, translated by Alice Menzies
This short novel tells the story of a close relationship between a grandfather and his grandson Noah as the older man begins to lose his memory. The two have common interests including mathematics, fishing, and visits in an old beached boat the grandfather used an an office. One of the things they do is go on trips. Noah would close his eyes and Grandpa would take him somewhere, sometimes on foot, sometimes by bus, sometimes out in the boat. Noah then takes a map and a compass and works out how to get home.
As the book begins Noah is waking up, sitting on a bench in a square with the sun rising. This time there aren't coordinates and Noah doesn't know where they are, but he doesn't want to admit it. When he hears his grandfather say 'the square got smaller overnight again,' he first looks at his grandpa questioningly and the does what he's been trained to do and takes in his surroundings carefully.
The two have a lot of special memories and little jokes between them, and eventually we see other people, a young girl who ages into a woman; and Ted, a man with a beard who is the father of Noah.
As the conversations come and go, we begin to sense where they are, and this is confirmed through their words. We also see the larger picture of where the grandfather is, and what is happening.
This is a story that touches the reader and is very relatable.
I wanted to share this book with someone special in my own life, and maybe I will.
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