The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
Published 2nd January 2014 by Pan Macmillan
Read in January 2015
The Blurb:
79-year-old Martha Andersson dreams of escaping her care home and robbing a bank.
She has no intention of spending the rest of her days in an armchair and is determined to fund her way to a much more exciting lifestyle. Along with her four oldest friends - otherwise known as the League of Pensioners - Martha decides to rebel against all of the rules imposed upon them. Together, they cause uproar with their antics protesting against early bedtimes and plasticky meals.
As the elderly friends become more daring, they hatch a cunning plan to break out of the dreary care home and land themselves in a far more attractive Stockholm establishment. With the aid of their Zimmer frames, they resolve to stand up for old aged pensioners everywhere - Robin Hood style. And that's when the adventure really takes off...
The Review:
This is a quirky story about five pensioners who decide to turn to a life of crime as they are unhappy with the way they are being treated within the care home. Without realizing, I had laughed my way through this book and was amazed by how witty and cunning the five pensioners could be.
I had fallen in love with the League of Pensioners and felt like they were still learning about the kind of people that they are. I also loved seeing how the friendships between the five pensioners had developed throughout the story as they overcame each problem. However, as much as I had loved to see this friendship grown and the relationships between the characters develop, I found that sometimes the characters weren't always done justice and that it was only the paragraphs and the things that they said or did which made them seem like fun, witty people. I also felt like the relationship between one of the nurses and her boss was used to distract from the plot a little bit.
The character that I loved the most was Brains because he is a creative character who loves to invent things and if I had had a grandfather who I admired and got on with, it would be a character like Brains. I found his inventions unusual yet brilliant because of the way he could adapt things that already existed to suit the needs of the League of Pensioners and the crimes that they would commit. I also found his knowledge of technology fascinating and that he was able to manipulate vehicles and technology so that they wouldn't be suspected or caught in the act.
I enjoyed this book for what may seem like all the wrong reasons. As I had found the crimes complex but clever in the way that they were carried out and it was humorous when things started going wrong because the people who were affected by the crimes became even more puzzled than before. It was a fun read and in a peculiar way it made me consider what my life may be like when I'm a pensioner (if I live that long).
Overall, I found it a fun and quirky read which results in tears of laughter for all the wrong reasons. As witty and as cunning as this book is, please don't take this book too seriously and resort to crimes to make you have a better life. It is just fiction after all. The one lesson that I would take from this book is to work with what you have available and bring out the best in those around you. Friendships should be for life.
Aimee x
Published 2nd January 2014 by Pan Macmillan
Read in January 2015
The Blurb:
79-year-old Martha Andersson dreams of escaping her care home and robbing a bank.
She has no intention of spending the rest of her days in an armchair and is determined to fund her way to a much more exciting lifestyle. Along with her four oldest friends - otherwise known as the League of Pensioners - Martha decides to rebel against all of the rules imposed upon them. Together, they cause uproar with their antics protesting against early bedtimes and plasticky meals.
As the elderly friends become more daring, they hatch a cunning plan to break out of the dreary care home and land themselves in a far more attractive Stockholm establishment. With the aid of their Zimmer frames, they resolve to stand up for old aged pensioners everywhere - Robin Hood style. And that's when the adventure really takes off...
The Review:
This is a quirky story about five pensioners who decide to turn to a life of crime as they are unhappy with the way they are being treated within the care home. Without realizing, I had laughed my way through this book and was amazed by how witty and cunning the five pensioners could be.
I had fallen in love with the League of Pensioners and felt like they were still learning about the kind of people that they are. I also loved seeing how the friendships between the five pensioners had developed throughout the story as they overcame each problem. However, as much as I had loved to see this friendship grown and the relationships between the characters develop, I found that sometimes the characters weren't always done justice and that it was only the paragraphs and the things that they said or did which made them seem like fun, witty people. I also felt like the relationship between one of the nurses and her boss was used to distract from the plot a little bit.
The character that I loved the most was Brains because he is a creative character who loves to invent things and if I had had a grandfather who I admired and got on with, it would be a character like Brains. I found his inventions unusual yet brilliant because of the way he could adapt things that already existed to suit the needs of the League of Pensioners and the crimes that they would commit. I also found his knowledge of technology fascinating and that he was able to manipulate vehicles and technology so that they wouldn't be suspected or caught in the act.
I enjoyed this book for what may seem like all the wrong reasons. As I had found the crimes complex but clever in the way that they were carried out and it was humorous when things started going wrong because the people who were affected by the crimes became even more puzzled than before. It was a fun read and in a peculiar way it made me consider what my life may be like when I'm a pensioner (if I live that long).
Overall, I found it a fun and quirky read which results in tears of laughter for all the wrong reasons. As witty and as cunning as this book is, please don't take this book too seriously and resort to crimes to make you have a better life. It is just fiction after all. The one lesson that I would take from this book is to work with what you have available and bring out the best in those around you. Friendships should be for life.
Aimee x