Book Recommendation – The Deal of a Lifetime

If you are looking for a quick read to help you meet your reading goal for the year, I’ve got one. This one has a slight holiday theme and it will make you think. If that sounds interesting, check out The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman.

This was one of the rare books that I was compelled to write a Goodreads review about. First, let me share the Goodreads synopsis:

A father and a son are seeing each other for the first time in years. The father has a story to share before it’s too late. He tells his son about a courageous little girl lying in a hospital bed a few miles away. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.

As he talks about this plucky little girl, the father also reveals more about himself: his triumphs in business, his failures as a parent, his past regrets, his hopes for the future.

Now, on a cold winter’s night, the father has been given an unexpected chance to do something remarkable that could change the destiny of a little girl he hardly knows. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he must find out what his own life has actually been worth, and only his son can reveal that answer.

With humor and compassion, Fredrik Backman’s The Deal of a Lifetime reminds us that life is a fleeting gift, and our legacy rests in how we share that gift with others.

Here now is my Goodreads review:

In reading some of the other reviews of this book, I was surprised at them.  Many of them speak of how good the concept of the story is.  Others complain that this should have been expanded into a full novel.  Some held back a five star rating simply because of those things.

One review spoke of how Backman’s books always made them laugh or cry and this one did not.  They said that it did make them think, but it “lacked” that emotional element. I have to disagree.

When I was a radio personality I was once told that success came from connecting with the listener.  “If you make them laugh, make them cry, make them angry, or simply make them think – then you have entertained them.  Then you have connected with them.” This works the same way with books.  I have yet to read a Backman book that did not entertain me.

This story is perfect the way it is.  You get enough information about the characters and the situation to get what you were intended to get.  Would it hit you differently or deeper if parts were expanded?  Perhaps.  However, for something so simple to still “pack a punch,” says a lot about the story and the writer.

Maybe I connected more with this because of my own situation.  I’m divorced and remarried with children from both marriages.  I still have a relationship with my older children, but at times I can tell they struggle at times with the situation.  There are a lot of feelings that are being dealt with.

Any time that a relationship is ended, whether it be a friendship or a marriage, there will be “What if” questions.  It is a given, but life in general is also filled with them, too.  As we age and look back, there are always things that we wonder about.  “What will my legacy be? How will I be remembered? Did I do enough?”

This book made me ask those questions about myself. It may do the same for you.  It is worth the read.