Content Warnings: Death, Illness (Cancer), Abandonment

Spoiler-Free Review:
I picked this book on a whim during this 24 hour readathon. I’d been desperate to try another Backman book after loving And Every Morning the Way Homes Gets Longer and Longer. But, I was really disappointed by this short novella and how it turned out. It was also a good choice since this book was only 65 pages I think so it didn’t take me long to read at all.

I really loved the themes that Backman tackled especially those relating to death, ilness, and abandonment. I think this is definitely the strongest point of all his works and something he’s really mastered well. He always makes readers think about heavy issues very deeply, giving plenty food for thought in his books which I greatly appreciate.

I especially loved how he goes over how abandoning a child is like disappearing from their life as if you never existed. You really get to dive in and understand this from the perspective of a father who has abandoned his child. In the story, the act of disappearing is given a bit of a magical element making it seem more like an act like death which I thought was an interesting take. Really, this child who by this point is a grown man has been shaped and influenced by other people and it’s like his father never existed in his life which I think was the point with this disappearance theme/plot line.

Another great theme in this book is that of illness and death and especially just how unfair life and death really are. It really talks about how some people always seem to live on while all these other people around them seem to get sick and die. I think the most heartbreaking part was the discussion of sick and dying children, especially those who have some form of cancer. It’s very unfair and unjust that these children who are so young are going through such serious and terrible things. They have so much life left to live and that’s the saddest part of all.

One of the things that really annoyed me about this story was the character development and I especially disliked the main character. He was just so cold, calculating, and mean. I think he was meant to be a highly unlikeable character so I think Backman definitely did a good job with this. I couldn’t stand his character throughout and there really was no growth in him which was frustrating to say the least. Also, what kind of a person are you if you just abandon your child?? Not putting the child up for adoption, but just straight up abandoning/leaving them!


Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
Title: The Deal of a Lifetime
Author: Fredrik Backman
Translator: Alice Menzies
Publisher: Atria Books/Simon and Schuster