Family matters more than anything

Family matters more than anything, argues Fredrik Backman in his novella And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer. The love and loyalty of family members toward one another will be present when no other love and loyalty may be. Indeed, Backman is so supportive of family that only family members actually appear in the novel.

The two main characters of the novel – Grandpa and Noah – are family. Grandpa considers Noah the light of his life, while Noah admires his grandfather in a way that he admires no one else. Grandpa is so happy with his grandson, and values him so much that he keeps Noah closer than anyone else in his heart and in his mind, and holds Noah’s hand the tightest so that he will not forget Noah. The loss of Grandma, and Grandpa’s own losing...