T.E. W. (terez93) reviewed on 7/29/2019 + 323 more book reviews

As one of the other reviewers said, there were elements of things I both love and hate about modern fiction in this book: it's a charming modern fairy tale of Elsa, a very precocious seven-but-almost-eight-year-old and her delightfully nutty surgeon-grandmother, her tireless advocate and defender, who dies of cancer, leaving Elsa a trail to follow in the form of letters to all the people in her life to whom she would like to apologize. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this book is that it's creative: it draws on folklore in the style of Pan's Labyrinth, which likewise weaves a colorful tapestry of eccentric characters, but I think the former is darker. Here, there's some light at the end of the tunnel, although there's birth and death, and everything in between. It was a bit difficult for me to get into the land of make-believe here, but the bulk of the story is endearing. It's a bit of a tear-jerker at the end, so be forewarned, but well worth a read.

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