Title:  The Deal of a Lifetime

Author:  Fredrik Backman

Genre: Fantasy / Short Story

Year Published: 2017

Number of Pages: 65 pages

Date Read: 12/9/2017

Publisher: Atria Books   

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 15+ (Themes of Death and Parental Abandonment)

“The only thing of value on Earth is time. One second will always be a second, there’s no negotiating with that.” 

Now, I have been hearing so many good things about Fredrik Backman’s works for a while, especially “A Man Called Ove” and “Bear Town.” Even though I haven’t read either book yet (do not worry, that day will come), I still managed to stumble upon one of his books called “The Deal of a Lifetime” and man, was I totally blown away by this book!

The story starts out with a father telling his son the story about how he met a little girl in the hospital, who has cancer and about how he had actually taken a life away from someone. Well, that is not the full story: it turns out that the father had a dark past where he abandoned his wife and son for a life of fame and fortune many years ago. But, when the father ended up in the hospital and he find out that the little girl who was in the hospital because of her cancer, might not live long enough to experience life, the father decides that he must do something to ensure that the little girl survives, even if it means sacrificing his own life!

Wow! This book is simply amazing for one short novella! Fredrik Backman has done an excellent job at writing this story as I was seriously hoping that the father in the story would find some way to help out the little girl who has cancer, while trying to appreciate the importance of life and family. I loved the fact that Fredrik Backman focused on developing the father character in the book as it shows that the father went from thoughtlessly abandoning his family to pursue a life of fame and fortune to trying to sacrifice his own happiness to ensure that the little girl survives and it made me really connect to his character throughout the story. Despite the fact that this novel is extremely short (only sixty-five pages long) Fredrik Backman did a great job at writing out a full story about a father’s journey to becoming a more selfless person and it felt like the story really fleshed out the father’s character.

The only problem I had with this book is that the narrative tends to get a bit confusing at times, especially with the fact that the father is telling the story, but he is also telling the story to his son. Because of this, the story tends jump from the father’s point of view to the son’s point of view at the drop of a hat and it could confuse some readers about what is really happening in the story.

Overall, “The Deal of a Lifetime” is a truly fantastic story about redemption and learning about the importance of family and happiness that fans of Fredrik Backman’s works will enjoy!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog