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Book Review of The Deal of a Lifetime

The Deal of a Lifetime
reviewed on + 273 more book reviews


This is a beautiful, meaningful novella, a story told by a father to his son on Christmas Eve. In "The Deal of a Lifetime" a five-year-old girl with cancer is confined to the hospital. In a nearby room is another patient, a very wealthy man, a man who has abandoned his family but by his standards is an important man because in his world, with great wealth comes great worth: "I failed with you," he says of his son. "I tried to make you tough. You ended up kind."

Death visit the cancer ward and the father makes the deal of a lifetime. (No spoilers)

Backman puts so much feeling into such a short novella. His writing is concise and yet so full of meaning.