It's the story of a grandpa and grandson - and their shared love of mathematics and how grandpa tries to define what is happening to him while wrestling with the fear of memories beginning to fade.

this is the love that everyone dreams of having and it’s just the most beautiful kind. the story keeps the beauty alive the whole way through. it never loses it’s touch. I have had this on my ‘wish list’ at the library for a couple of years. Yes, years! While I could have put the book on a hold, the wait time was so long, I decided to put other books, with a shorter wait time on hold first, which left this treasure languishing on my list for far too long. He always wants to know everything about school, but not like other adults, who only want to know if Noah is behaving. Grandpa wants to know if school is behaving. The author originally wrote this tale for himself; it was not going to be published. Thankfully, he eventually decided to share it with the world. This is a piece that everyone should read. Most highly recommended.

Retailers:

I never meant for you to read it, to be quite honest. I wrote it just because I was trying to sort out my own thoughts, and I’m the kind of person who needs to see what I’m thinking on paper to make sense of it. But it turned into a small tale of how I’m dealing with slowly losing the greatest minds I know, about missing someone who is still here, and how I wanted to explain it all to my children. I’m letting it go now, for what it’s worth. Offers a peek into what it must feel like for a person who has Alzheimer’s and for the family as well—the fear and love of it all. A man and his grandson sit on a bench in a town square. Nearly every day, the old man leads Noah somewhere, and they exchange jokes and enjoy an easy companionship. A love of family and mathematics unites them. Now, Grandpa takes the opportunity to share stories with Noah, often about Grandma, departed from this world long ago. He knows his own world is growing smaller and dimmer by the day. His mind is closing in, and he won’t be here much longer. He will need Noah to help him remember Grandma once that happens, for he can’t bear the thought of losing what little he has left of her. The way it’s written just makes you so absorbed and it just resonated deep within me because I have a weakness for memories and/or people losing them. This story is essentially about this grandpa that has alzheimer's and his grandson.

Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day. The square is strange but also familiar, full of the odds and ends that have made up their lives: Grandpa's work desk, the stuffed dragon that Grandpa once gave to Noah, the sweet-smelling hyacinths that Grandma loved to grow in her garden. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer is a story about how much we need people in our lives. How important family is. And how everything gets a little bit better when you don’t have to go through it alone. I also loved how much his late wife was still present in his brain. His whole life was so influenced by her that even now he has her voice in his head, and he still consults her about how to explain things to Noah or remember something important. Even when everything else is failing, she’s still there for him. As they wait together on the bench, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife, what it was like to lose her. She's as real to him now as the first day he met her, but he dreads the day when he won't remember her. While many other books which dealt with Grandparents' death.....Let's just say it was not dealt with properly

Fredrik Backman

How do you help your loved ones with something that petrifies and demoralizes them, but is out of your control?

The novella shows us multiple generations of a family interacting with each other. Do you believe that the behaviors of one generation are necessarily repeated in the ones that come after? How is Ted different from his father? How is Noah different from his? What makes some people repeat the same mistakes their parents made, while others are able to break free from the past? It was so brief they are all memorable. Equally powerful when the grandfather recounts how much he misses his wife, as well as when Noah is the one supporting his grandfather.This is a story that holds a very dear place in my heart! It's following a father/grandfather who is loosing his memory, and how he and his family are dealing with this loss. And Every Morning… is a farewell of a man to this life, people he loves the most and even his memories. And I don’t think any one of us can truly understand how excruciatingly difficult it must be to say goodbye to yourself. To everything that made you – you. Actually it’s so short that reviewing it feels weird - like if I write a couple more paragraphs my word count will probably exceed the text, although that likely wouldn’t be the first time #longwinded - but nobody besides possibly Riri or Fred is reading anyway, so. There’s a hospital room at the end of a life where someone, right in the middle of the floor, has pitched a green tent. A person wakes up inside it, breathless and afraid, not knowing where he is. A young man sitting next to him whispers: And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer tells a heartwarming tale of Grandpa, his son, Ted, and his grandson, Noah. Grandpa and Ted have never had a close relationship, but their shared love for Noah brings them together. Grandpa and Noah often sit together and discuss Mathematics, which they share a love for. Grandpa tells Noah about his past, especially meeting Grandma and the life they shared together. Grandpa warns Noah that the square in his mind is getting smaller every day and soon they must learn to say goodbye to each other.