Any Family Guy fans here? Brian Griffin (the dog) is an aspiring author who writes the hackiest crap ever (his debut novel was titled “Faster Than The Speed of Love”!). Reading Fredrik Backman’s The Deal of a Lifetime was like reading what I imagine one of Brian’s books would be: beyond contrived, comedically sentimental and clumsily manipulative.
The framing device is a letter from a dying father on a cancer ward to his estranged son. I won’t say any more because that’d reveal the whole farcical tale but it involves regret, Life Lessons, and a five year old girl at death’s door. Oh and Death. Who’s, y’know, a person. Oh, the originality!
I didn’t buy the businessman’s transformation at the end given how his character was written up to that point, I wasn’t moved by the corny affectations of the Hallmark-esque story and I thought the whole thing was cloying, transparent and cheap. A tacky story for that tackiest of seasons, Christmas - here’s a better deal for you: don’t read this rubbish!
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