When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén , Alice Menzies (Translator) (audiobook)

 genre: contemporary fiction

Bo is in the sunset of his life.  His solitary days in rural Sweden are broken up by the carers who come by to help him, visits from his son Hans and interactions with his beloved dog, Sixten.  When Hans breaks the news to Bo that he no longer believes Bo can care for Sixten and that he'll need to be re-homed, it's devastating.  And Bo won't stand for it. 

As we view the world from Bo's eyes, the eyes of someone whose body is no longer in his control, we slip back and forth in time as his processes what's happening around him. We learn about his wife and Han's childhood.  We experience Bo's early life with his own father and mother and slowly see the ways that Bo has tried so intentionally to be his own man.

I know that stories that center old men are not usually my cup of tea.  In fact, I usually won't even try them at all unless forced by extenuating circumstances.  But somehow when I read a tiny blurb about this book that had won the Swedish Book of the Year Award and the Adlibris prize for both Debut and Fiction of the Year, I decided it was worth trying.  I am so truly glad that I just gave in to that impulse because today, when I finished listening to this story on my way to work, I was audibly crying my eyes out with the beauty and care of this novel.  Despite some of the harsh circumstances we read about, it is compassionate and grounded.  It makes you think so deeply about aging and regret and generational patterns.  It transports you to a small Swedish town where neighbors watch out for each other and animals are like family.  I saw so much of myself in Bo's musings, as he looks back at how he interacted with his family and realized ways he could have done better - the depth of that pain and the desire to make it right.  He's a cranky old man but oh how he loves his people and his dog with such depth.

I highly recommend the audio - the way this man says the Swedish towns and names made all the difference in my mind as I listened.  This is a five star novel for me, absolutely.