“Noah holds the old man’s hand, the man who taught  him to fish and to never be afraid of big thoughts and to look at the night’s sky and understand that it’s made of numbers. Mathematics blessed the boy in that sense, because he’s no longer afraid of the thing almost everyone else is terrified of: infinity. Noah loves space because it never ends. It never dies. It’s the one thing in his life which won’t ever leave him.”

Themes:

• Familial structures, particularly the difference between parent-child and grandparent-grandchild relationships
• The idea of a life well spent
• Mathematics, the universe, and how intellect looks different in every individual

I’m beginning to think of Fredrik Backman as an all-time favorite, auto-buy author. Before now, I had only read A Man Called Ove, which I loved. But after reading this novella, I think I can safely say I will adore all of his work.

In Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, Backman explores the toll Alzheimer’s disease takes on both the person experiencing it and those around them. Through Grandpa, Ted, and Noah, the reader is given an intimate glimpse into an illness that is, unfortunately, prominent in our lives today. read more