by Mikki Shiu

THE STORY

79-year-old Martha Anderson 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 life-style. 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 an uproar with their antics: protesting against early bedtimes and plastic meals. As the elderly friends become more daring, their activities escalate and they come up with a cunning plan to break out of the 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 . . Read reviews: Goodreads

WHAT I LIKED

I was initially attracted to this book because of its creative cover and very long but cute title. This is another Swedish book that I have read (the first one was The Girl Who Save The King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson). What interests me about Swedish books are the kilometric titles, artistic book covers and comedic story line or genre, in general. (Maybe I’ll research and make a review about it on why their books are mostly in this pattern!)

I love how every chapter of this book made me laugh. The idea of elderly people doing such things is entertaining to think about—breaking all the rules and being rebellious in their advanced years makes the story interesting. When I reached reading midway, I couldn’t put it down because it was so exciting and engaging. I even felt a mix of suspense and thrill in some parts, especially where they were on the brink of getting caught doing the crimes they so carefully planned.

tl;dr

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catherine Ingelman-Sundberg is well-written and easy to read. The author portrayed the characters so well and descriptively—as a cool and renegade group of grandpas and grandmas—and it helped me identify the distinct qualities of the five main characters in the story. ☁