“When mother-in-law becomes monster-in-law. A delightful mockery of our digital life, and our daily life… I won’t reveal if there will be reconciliation. The suspense around it makes the novel worth reading in itself. But so does the way the underlying themes are handled… Everything is portrayed in a nuanced, intelligent way, with humor and warmth. Even our time’s overarching political issues around climate and sustainability have a natural place, by different people’s attitudes becoming part of the ‘game’. Without being obtrusive or contrived. This is Line Baugstø’s best novel so far… It could make a fantastic film.”
5/6 stars, Vigdis Moe Skarstein, Adresseavisen
“Baugstø takes the reader on a hilarious journey where social media and reality collide in a glorious mess. What happens when a mature woman throws all caution to the wind and lets all gruffness and angry thoughts run free on social media? It makes for a good book. And there’s a lot more going on in this fine little novel by Line Baugstø: many layers beneath a heated surface… the novel is well-crafted and well-written. Baugstø has clearly taken joyful delight in creating the plot… It’s an easy read, yet also sophisticated with dark and light humor and gravity”
5/6 stars, Guri Hjeltnes, VG
“The grandmother from hell. Mommy bloggers get what’s coming to them in a refreshing feel-bad novel… It’s easy to caricature self-absorbed and naive young girls who make a living photographing their own navels. Line Baugstø does it with verve and a sore indignation… It’s fun. It’s smartly executed… Several hysterically embarrassing scenes set a whole movie going in your head. That’s a mark of quality for an entertainment novel.”
5/6 stars, Anne Cathrine Straume, NRK
“Entertaining and enjoyable. Baugstø has simply managed to create a slightly intolerable and direct character that readers still have to root for a little bit. Because beneath it all lies a little seriousness, a message about elderly women and their right to sometimes just speak straight from the gut … Baugstø manages the art of perfectly balancing between humor and seriousness, and she creates a character one can identify with, even if one is not an upcoming 65-year-old grandmother. Because sometimes it just boils over.”
5/6 stars, Mai Lene Fløysvik Hæåk, Stavanger Aftenblad
“I believe there are many grandparents out there who in dark moments have thoughts like Mona’s. After accommodating others for more than sixty years, a reckoning is understandable, Mona’s fury is at the same time justified and deliciously unreasonable… It undoubtedly feels refreshing and liberating to read about this devil-may-care, ageing grandmother who refuses to play along.”
Ida Vågsether, Morgenbladet
“Brilliant … Evil Grandma is not just a fascinating portrait of a woman, it is a portrait of our time, of the roles we assign each other, of the blessings and curses of the net and screens. It says a lot of wise and above all funny things about being human here and now… The novel is exquisitely well put together.”
Emil Otto Syvertsen, Sørlandsbok
