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Britt-Marie Was Here, Fredrik Backman
If you fell in love with Ove in Backman’s “A Man Called Ove”, because of his basic humanity in spite of his
hard edges, you will adore “Britt-Marie Was Here”. In spite of her rigidity and need to adhere compulsively
to rules, her inner softness and tenderness will shine through because the author is very skilled in describing
life at its core. His dry wit will mitigate the distressing events in the book so that although it is not a laugh out
loud story, it will surely, often, offer the reader a chuckle and a smile.
Who is Britt-Marie? She is the antithesis of the liberated woman. She is an old-fashioned, naïve, very tidy lady
with demanding scruples and an excessive love of lists that she feels compelled to follow to the letter. For her
entire life she has been dependent on her husband, Kent, and before that on her family. She is a woman with
little sense of humor, with little knowledge of the outside world, and with few social skills. She is an expert
when it comes to taking care of a household, husband, and children, not necessarily her own, and also in
entertaining her husband’s business clients. Otherwise, she is ill-prepared for the real world outside her
home. Who is Britt-Marie? She is a woman betrayed. Her husband, Kent, had a heart attack which led to her
discovery of his mistress. She is distraught, humiliated and shocked. For the first time in her life, she makes
an independent move which leads to her finally finding her true self. She leaves and takes a room at a hostel.
When we meet her, she is in an unemployment office harassing the employee who cannot seem to provide
her with an immediate position. Britt-Marie is called a nag-bag by many and she lives up to the reputation.
After all, on the list, one of many she has made, she has written “find employment”, and she ticks off the
items on it as they get completed. Although she has never worked outside the home, and is told she has no
work experience, she insists that working at home was a job, a concept that should make many a woman
smile. Exasperated by her persistence, the unemployment office employee offers her a three week position
in a town that is dying due to the financial crisis that has hit the world, only it has hit harder in this town of
Borg. She is appointed as the caretaker of their recreation center. She immediately returns to the hostel she
is staying at, packs her things and heads straight to Borg to begin her new life where she sets about cleaning
up the place, for she is nothing if not organized, nothing if not a creature of habit, but first, out of habit, she
demands certain cleaning products. She wants Faxin, and only Faxin will do. It is the product she has always
used to clean her windows, it is the only one she will use! She wants baking soda, too, which she always uses
to clean everything, clothes, furniture, mattresses, and refrigerators!
Britt Marie is an expert at spouting left-handed compliments which she believes are not insulting, just
truthful. Although she often says things in very impolitic ways, sometimes those she addresses are actually
confused by her statements and then so amused by her innocence that they are not insulted. For instance,
she might tell someone he was brave to wear such an unpleasant looking tie, or she might inquire why a child
is not in school in a most cryptic, indirect way, especially when one of the children, a “fixer” of sorts, offers to
get her the items she needs, although they are not sold in the store. They seem to have “fallen off a truck”
somewhere.
There are a variety of quirky characters: Psycho, a young man who is psycho, Bank who is not blind, but
insists she is only sight impaired, Sean, the Sheriff who is lonely like Britt, Britt-Marie’s husband Kent who is a
male chauvinist, Somebody, a woman who rolls around her restaurant in her wheelchair barking orders in
less than the king’s English, and Vega, Omar and Sami, the oldest at 20, who are siblings trying to survive.
They all form relationships that will mutually enhance their lives.