
I read this novel yesterday in one day, I just loved it!
Some of the quotes from the novel:
“At a certain age almost all the questions a person asks him or herself are really just about one thing: how should you live your life?”
“One morning you wake up with more life behind you than in front of you, not being able to understand how it’s happened.”
“You have to understand that when one is just standing there looking, then just for a second one is ready to jump. If one does it, one dares to do it. But if one waits, it’ll never happen.”
“A few years turned into more years, and more years turned into all years. Years have a habit of behaving like that.”
“A human being may not choose her circumstances, but she does choose her actions”
Just like me, Britt-Marie never had children. And she found part of her happiness in engaging in other people's children.*
My favourite part of the book is when a kid asks her if she had ever been in Paris.
Britt-Marie replied that she had always wanted to go but she never went.
The kid wanted to know why she doesn't go now.
She replied that now she is too old.
And the kid asks: "How old is Paris?"
Whenever I will think I am too old for something, I will ask myself this question!
*The teenage boy with whom I have been learning German for the last two years just got back his final German test. He scored 75 % . I am very happy! Additional benefit of teaching this boy: with him I realized why the success of their children mean so much to their parents. This boy isn't even mine and I am very happy for him!