And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella Audio CD – Unabridged, November 1, 2016

As beautiful, wise, and touching as everything else Backman has written. He is a master or moving insights.

A very sweet short story. Beautiful, simple, and moving. The second one I've read by this author. I will definitely keep reading more works by Fredrik Backman.

I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's Disease. The feelings evoked by this short story are absolutely right on. It's the longest goodbye, losing someone before you actually lose them.

I beg of you. Please, please read this novella. It's amazing.First, I think I'm just going to come out and say it because I'm ready to commit. Fredrik Backman has become my favorite author. It's taking a great deal of restraint not to devour everything he has ever written in one fell swoop. Delayed gratification has never been my thing. I picked this one on a whim because I needed a quick diversion from some heavier reading materials. I had no idea what I was in for.I listened to the audiobook, and it was excellent. I loved the narrator. It was short - only about an hour long. When it ended, I sat in my car for about ten minutes trying to catch my breath and stop the tears from spilling out of my eyes. It's hard to describe what this story actually is. It's not really a story per se; it's more of a lengthy description of that place between life and death, and of an elderly man struggling to hold onto his memories. It's sort of a lengthy inner monologue. Backman said it best in his introduction - he's the kind of person who needs to get all of his thoughts on paper in order to make sense of them. Apparently, he never intended to publish this, but here we are.If I get too wordy here, my review will be longer than the novella itself. Normally I'd list my favorite quotes, but there are too many to keep track of. Truly, this story affected me so profoundly that as soon as I finished the audiobook, I bought a hard copy just so I can hold it in my hands and reread it every so often. I think this book struck a chord with me because it's about the struggle to hold on when it’s time to let go. As a parent, I constantly worry that I'm not paying close enough attention. Blink, and they're crawling. Blink, and they're walking. Blink, and they're going away to college and leaving you with an empty nest and an empty heart.Every year on their birthdays, I write each of my children a letter in a plain black journal. I plan to give it to them when they're older - maybe when they go to college, maybe when they have kids of their own. It was a tradition I started when I realized that there are so many tiny, seemingly insignificant moments in their lives that I will never be able to hold onto. But each moment is so perfect that I never want to forget. I want to remember how my son was so chubby that it looked like he constantly wore rubber bands around his wrists. I want to remember how my daughter, at six months old, had the laugh of an 80 year old pack-a-day smoker. There are a thousand little moments every day, and I can’t keep them all, no matter how hard I try. This short but powerful story is about the heartbreaking reality that at some point, we have to let go of the memories, the regrets, the traditions, and ultimately each other. It’s powerful and beautifully written.Just read it. Please. It's perfect.

I really enjoyed reading this short story, a bit of laughter and a bit of tears. Reminds you of what life is about.

I have loved every book of Fredrik Backman's I have read. However, it takes me awhile to find my way in his stories. I just didn't have the time to do so in this novella.

How do you say good-bye to someone who isn’t physically going anywhere? When you know you are going to lose your memory, what do you say to the people you love, those who are at the center of those memories? And when someone you love is likely not to remember you soon, what do you say right now that will mean something? This short, touching novella by the author of the bestseller A Man Called Ove is the story of three generations coming to terms with the loss of memory. It centers on conversations and shared experiences between a boy and his grandfather as they confront the fact that before long, there will be no shared memories as the grandfather progressively loses his. It also takes place partly in the grandfather’s mind, a place to which he retreats in order to dwell in his memories for a time.There is fear, there is anger, there is regret, and yet there is some hope at the edges of the sadness and foreboding. Not hope for a medical breakthrough or a miraculous turnaround, but hope in the resilience of love. “It’s an awful thing to miss someone who’s still here.” That’s Grandpa talking to his grandson Noah, encouraging him to “leave me and not look back. Live your life.” This should happen “once your good-bye is perfect.” In a way, that’s what he and Noah are doing: practicing and perfecting their good-bye, knowing that it will come before either of them is really ready, made all the more painful by the fact that they will still be able to see one another. “Are we here to learn how to say good-bye, Grandpa?” “Yes, Noahnoah. I’m afraid we are.” Perfect your good-byes. Express them with love every day. Because you never know. There is a lesson here that we would all do well to learn, given the swiftness with which our loved ones can be taken from us. Or the slowness.

Unbearably sad sprinkled with joy. It hit all sorts of sad triggers for me but I am glad I read it.