58 pages • 1 hour read
Fredrik Backman, Transl. Henning KochBritt-Marie Was Here
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 21-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary
Bank returns late that night, very drunk. Bank’s dog joins Britt-Marie on the balcony to wait things out. Downstairs, Bank destroys every photo on the wall. The next morning, Britt-Marie cleans the kitchen, feeds the dog, and gives Bank the beer from the pizzeria, but warns her not to drink it immediately. Bank tells her that her father supported the Tottenham soccer team, not Liverpool.
At the pizzeria, Somebody gives Britt-Marie a letter about a coach’s license and registration; Britt-Marie ignores it. Sami and Psycho visit, though Sami notices Britt-Marie’s discomfort with Psycho. Britt-Marie does laundry at the recreation center and leaves Snickers for the rat. She hopes to see Sven, but he doesn’t appear.
Chapter 22 Summary
During soccer practice, representatives from the district soccer association arrive regarding the letter and Britt-Marie’s lack of coaching license. Bank, who is walking by, grumpily commands the representatives to list her as the coach; she has the required license. They argue but comply.
Bank tells the team that she will help coach, but to keep their expectations low. Omar insults her vision and her weight; Bank and her dog trick him into dodging a dummy shot and stepping into a purposely placed puddle of dog urine. By the time Britt-Marie returns with cleaning supplies, the team is happily playing soccer, loudly voicing their existence. Britt-Marie is moved.
After practice, Bank explains the significance of supporting Tottenham: hoping but inevitably being disappointed, much like Bank’s relationship with her father. Later, Britt-Marie slowly begins to accept the good in her life. She answers a knock on the front door, expecting Sven. Instead, it is Kent.
Chapter 23 Summary
After Ingrid’s death, Britt-Marie’s family fell apart. Her father was absent, and her mother grew increasingly critical of Britt-Marie’s life. The brothers next door, Alf and Kent, both courted her. Britt-Marie initially chose Alf, but he cheated on her. Her mother insulted her while she cried and criticized her decision not to go to college in order to support their family. Kent reappeared in her life after her mother’s death.
In Borg, Kent offers Britt-Marie flowers, having located her from her postcard and her bank account withdrawals. He insists that his affair meant nothing. They go on a drive; Britt-Marie is grateful that he can’t see her missing ring because of the bandages on her hand. He, like her mother, insults Borg and towns like it. Returning to Bank’s house, he asks Britt-Marie to come back with him. She agrees to leave the following day and spends the rest of the night packing and sitting on her balcony. The case worker calls, but Britt-Marie doesn’t answer.
Chapter 24 Summary
The next day, as the rat eats the Snickers, Britt-Marie attempts to justify going back to Kent, recalling her previous attempts at job seeking and eventually giving in to Kent’s wishes for a housewife. After she cleans, she watches Kent play soccer with the team. They love him, especially Omar, who has similar entrepreneurial dreams.
Sven arrives and meets Kent. They don’t get along. Sven attempts to assert his authority as a police officer; Kent ignores him until Britt-Marie begs him to listen. Kent condescends Borg. Britt-Marie begins to give up hope for her new life. At dinner, Kent asks about Sven. He wears his wedding ring. Kent agrees to wait until the soccer cup is over before taking Britt-Marie home. Britt-Marie hopes to see Sven out the window.
After soccer practice, Kent drives her and Bank home. Bank has zero interest in Kent’s wealth—or Kent himself—accidentally-on-purpose scraping his BMW with her cane. Britt-Marie learns Kent supports the Manchester United soccer team. Bank is unimpressed.
Chapter 25 Summary
In the morning, Britt-Marie cleans the balcony while Bank makes breakfast. Despite Bank’s obvious disinterest, Britt-Marie attempts to justify returning to Kent. She asks Bank about Manchester United; Bank replies that that team’s supporters are entitled.
Britt-Marie feeds the rat, and then goes to the pizzeria. Sven greets her, but is interrupted by Kent, who gifts Omar with personalized business cards and postures against Sven. When he finally leaves, Sven has shrunk, and Britt-Marie feels displaced.
Omar is delighted with the cards, but Vega is so angry that she voluntarily does the dishes. Omar enjoys his budding relationship with Kent but confides that Vega has realized Britt-Marie is leaving. Vega eventually storms out. Somebody offers her beer; Britt-Marie accepts. She doesn’t notice the armed robber until Somebody shields her from his gun.
Chapter 26 Summary
The robber orders Britt-Marie to give him the cash from the register. Britt-Marie repeatedly insists that if he wants money, he has to buy something first. Somebody knocks her over as the gun goes off and breaks a light. Vega and Omar return for Vega’s forgotten jacket; they recognize the robber as Psycho. Psycho is furious—he’d waited to rob the store until they were gone. Fed up, Britt-Marie scolds him for mussing her freshly mopped floor. Psycho runs off. Vega and Omar comfort Britt-Marie. The regulars finally accept her. As Britt-Marie calms, Omar and Vega become progressively concerned as they fail to contact Sami. “When Sami finds out that Psycho pointed a gun at us,” Omar says, “he’ll find him and kill him” (222).
Chapter 27 Summary
Vega and Omar call Sven and Kent, respectively. The men speed over, upset at the “missed opportunity to be [Britt-Marie’s] hero” (223). Instead, they fight with each other over not being there. The brawl escalates until they shatter Somebody’s pizzeria door. Britt-Marie is fed up. She kicks them both out, then goes back to cleaning. Somebody, Vega, and Omar are both amused and awed.
Chapter 28 Summary
Two police officers from the neighboring town come to investigate the robbery. Britt-Marie tells them nothing except that the robber was armed. Frustrated, they leave. Somebody shows her the repaired car, which now has a blue door and has been fixed for a while, a fact Somebody kept secret to stop Britt-Marie from leaving. Britt-Marie tears up her list for the day, something she has never done before.
Britt-Marie accompanies Vega and Omar home; they still can’t reach Sami. Britt-Marie ignores all phone calls from Kent, Sven, and the case worker. The children are so upset that they voluntarily help tidy up after dinner. Bank, her dog, and the team appear for soccer practice. When Sami returns, practice ends. He did not find Psycho. Bank takes the others home after affirming Britt-Marie’s presence at the soccer cup the following day. No one acknowledges Britt-Marie’s planned departure afterward.
Britt-Marie tries to talk Sami out of killing Psycho. Sami assures her he wouldn’t kill his friend but acknowledges that Psycho is in serious trouble and owes bad people money. They go out to the balcony for cigarettes and drinks, and Sami continues his story. Their father was violent, had an alcohol addiction, and assaulted their mother. Psycho (real name Magnus) witnessed Sami try to stop one such attack. Furious because of his own stable background, Magnus defended and sheltered them, winning Sami’s loyalty. Sami’s mother, who died in a car accident, had been a trucker and supported her family on very little money. Sami has taken care of the family ever since but fears the authorities learning the truth. With his criminal record, shady associates, and current unemployment, he can’t get custody of his siblings. Sven knows everything; he believes in justice over the law and keeps their secret. Britt-Marie supports Sami but can’t do much besides clean. She’ll even accept a non-Faxin brand.
Chapters 21-28 Analysis
While Britt-Marie was previously making slow-but-steady progress on her journey toward Self-Actualization and Independence, she wavered due to her painful memories of Kent and Sven’s romantic overtures. The men’s bickering over her and her own insecurities about romance and returning to, or gaining, a partner depict the striking contrast between who Britt-Marie used to be and who she is becoming. While Kent and Sven are both upset that they didn’t get to rescue Britt-Marie from Psycho’s attempted robbery and blame each other, Britt-Marie unintentionally stood up to Psycho. Despite her fear, she also protected him from the police. In this way, although Britt-Marie doesn’t condone Psycho’s actions, she empathizes with him enough to protect him, a choice she would not have made upon her initial arrival at Borg.
Kent and Sven, meanwhile, embody Social Class as Othering, a theme exacerbated by Kent’s arrival. Kent, Fredrik, and Sven embody the varying levels of contempt between the city, the town, and Borg. Kent is the city man: wealthy, entitled, and condescending—despite his outsider status, he claims the pizzeria by taking off his shoes and putting his feet on the furniture. Fredrik, meanwhile, represents the town—wealthier than Borg, but a lacking imitation of the city folk he tries to emulate. Despite their privileges, neither man is happy. Sven, however, is mostly content with his life—he doesn’t mind his modest salary and feels fulfilled enough with his work and his village that he can focus on bettering himself creatively through the many classes he takes. For Sven, perfection is not the same requirement it is for Kent and Fredrik; the experience is what matters most. In this way, Sven is a model for Britt-Marie’s quest for self-actualization, but she shies from him, feeling unprepared for both his acceptance of himself and of her. However, Sven is sensitive to Kent’s criticisms because of Britt-Marie. While he remains content about himself inside, in his desire to impress her, Sven evaluates himself through society’s eyes and finds himself lacking compared to Kent. Like many privileged oppressors with power, Kent takes advantage of this and disparages him. This reflects the tension between the three places—Borg can openly hate the neighboring town, because the town and the town council caused Borg’s suffering. However, the city is an unattainable dream for Borg and only inflicts self-loathing in comparison. For the town, the city inspires envy. However, for the city, the town isn’t worth mentioning and Borg less so, encapsulated by Kent’s offhand insult that Borg really is “sheer mediocrity.”
Britt-Marie undergoes several traumatic events in this section, reinforcing The Cycle of Trauma, Coping, Hope, and Resilience. The robbery is a short-term, albeit life-endangering, trauma, but it has relatively few effects on her compared to Kent’s return. Kent’s reappearance triggers the painful past that she hoped to leave behind, exacerbating the backslide in her progress toward independence as she agrees to bend to his wishes and become his neglected wife in the city. For Vega and Omar, however, their trauma is exacerbated differently. Though they fear Psycho, they fear the consequences of his actions more. They depend on Sami to be parents, older brother, and protector; however, they fear the fatal consequences of his protection and, like Britt-Marie, must suddenly contemplate the possibility of facing the rest of their lives alone if something happens to Sami. This highlights the cyclical nature of trauma once more, specifically how it can be passed down like inheritance.
However, just as trauma can be inherited, so, too, can coping mechanisms. Britt-Marie continues to clean when stressed, such as after the robbery and after she throws Kent and Sven out of the pizzeria for fighting. Vega, who hates cleaning, and Omar, who forgets about it, voluntarily clean to distract themselves from Sami’s disappearance. Vega also cleans to demonstrate her unhappiness that Britt-Marie plans to leave Borg. Finally, Sami’s admission to Britt-Marie about the full extent of their family’s trauma changes Britt-Marie’s worldview once again, to the point that she finally feels ready to try brands other than Faxin: “Under present circumstances I could see myself making do with any old brand,” she tells him (239), signaling that although she still resists change out of habit, she has become the accepting person she previously proclaimed herself to be.
Balconies reprise their role as safe spaces; this time, rather than serving as spaces for joy, they become spaces for truth. Sami tells Britt-Marie his past and his fears on his balcony, and every time Britt-Marie ponders going home with Kent, she sits on her balcony to think. When Bank destroys her soccer memories, Britt-Marie hears the destruction from her balcony as well. In each case, Britt-Marie must face a difficult truth about herself or about those she cares about—trauma, her unhappy marriage, broken dreams. However, unlike the Britt-Marie from earlier chapters, she no longer brushes problems under the rug. They are difficult to acknowledge, but she is learning to face challenges head-on.
Finally, while soccer still represents hope, the focus turns to the effects of the loss of hope and the resilience in the face of obstacles. Liverpool, a team known for surprise recovery during matches, is a favorite in Borg due to the parallels between Borg and the team. At this point in the metaphorical game, the tide seems to be against them: The soccer council’s representatives seek any excuse to keep Borg from playing, resulting in Bank’s assumption of the coaching role. At the same time, Bank struggles with her own issues, preferring to destroy memories of her past as a soccer star rather than face the fact that her vision and bad knee prevent her from ever playing again. Becoming the soccer coach allows her to at least remain involved with the game, and even with low vision, she can still best a full-sighted Omar when he insults her. Sven, meanwhile, begins to give up Britt-Marie because of his perceived inferiority to Kent, and Britt-Marie mourns her perceived loss of the community and agency she’s gained; when the soccer cup ends, so does her solace. In this way, hope proves to be a double-edged sword—it raises up the characters, but its loss is devastating.
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