A Man Called Ove: A Novel

In case you’re one of those few who haven’t heard about this book, here’s what it’s about in a nutshell: a curmudgeonly old man very reluctantly gets to know his "needy" neighbors and the people that refuse to obey the sign that restricts parking in the residential area of his small neighborhood. It’s like the movie Up, only with adults and with much more character and subtle-but-heartwarming style. Take this paragraph, for an example of that:"For more than fifteen minutes he stood waiting for her at the station in his tight-fitting suit and his new-polished shoes. He was skeptical about people who came late. 'If you can’t depend on someone being on time, you shouldn’t trust ’em with anything more important either,' he used to mutter when people came dribbling along with their time cards three or four minutes late, as if this didn’t matter. As if the railway line would just lie there waiting for them in the morning and not have something to do."Every sentence in this book is imbued with characterization and style; every word is a brushstroke in the painting of Ove as not only a curmudgeon, but a survivor of hard things, a principled man, a hard worker, a dedicated Saab driver, and one of those loyal-to-the-death-but-you-wouldn’t-know-it-to-talk-to-him kind of people.And, unlike most adult-genre books, especially ones about old people, there is something interesting or amusing or soulful on almost every page. The pacing and plot weaving are impeccable. It’s truly a treasure to read.

This was a book recommended by a member in my book clue. I struggled to get through a quarter of the book. Another friend told me that "you have to PLOW through it to get the nuggets." Someone can give the page number with the nuggets. No one should have to PLOW through a book to get some good things. Many people like this book. I am not one of them.

Some reviews suggested that this was a special book. Like most readers, we have our individual preferences. I didn't care to make it to the end of the story as I couldn't develop a feel for the character. I understand that there is a redemption of sorts somewhere, but getting to that point was tedious and became a bore.

If you liked the movie Up, or As Good as It Gets, this book is the one for you. Like those stories, this is about a grumpy old man with a hidden heart of gold.But when I purchased it I actually was one of the few people that didn’t know anything about the story. I only bought it because quite a few people from book clubs gave it a positive review.But buying and reading are different things entirely, and it was collecting dust on my bookshelf until the day I posted a picture on social media of books I haven’t read. So many people responded about A Man Called Ove that I was compelled to read.I’m so glad I did. I never laugh out loud with books, but this one made me do it multiple times.Fredrik Backman is a talent. The story under less talented hands would be considered slow, but with humor and very clear imagery, Backman makes you not just see the world from Ove’s perspective, but also feel for the widowed old man.The story is like an onion, the things you know and find funny once peeled layer by layer can bring you tears. I’m not saying this is a tear-jerker, I just found myself so moved that I’d look down at the page trying to understand why I was crying.Not only did I love Ove, but I also loved the supporting characters in his life, Particularly his new pushy neighbor, Parveneh, the stray cat, and his departed wife (who we meet in Ove’s reminisces).The story is not a perfectly structured piece, but it has so many beautiful things going for it that I’m willing to forgive the too-easily resolved climax and the ending that felt like Backman was trying to force the story into a pretty box with a great big bow.It still deserves five stars because of how Backman was able to make me love the cranky old man next door.

I honestly didn't go into this book expecting to like it as much as I did. I have trouble with books where the main character is not someone I particularly like. But, I gave this one a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't help but like the curmudgeon. It's not a deep-thinking book. It's there for entertainment, to make you 'feel' emotions, to transport you to another place and another life. Therefore, I give the book five stars for being exactly what it claims to be--a story about one man and the circle of friends that he makes despite his grouchy personality. I liked the backstory with the wife (even though I thought the author went too far with the tragedy heaped onto this always-optimistic woman). I bought the audio book to listen when I couldn't read and the narrator was flawless. I've heard some pretty bad narrators lately from best-selling books (Miss Peregrine's for example), but this audio book was very well done. I have one gigantic bone to pick with the author. 59 years old is not 89 years old. Fifty-nine years old is when most people are in the apex of careers--before retirement and also having a lot of knowledge and experience to help them in their career fields. The 50-somethings in my office know what an iPad is, how to use computers, have the latest cell phones, and are pretty up on all the new tech gadgets because they are the ones that can afford them! There was no reason why the author couldn't make this a lot more believable by making the main character 79 or older. There was nothing to prevent the backstory being set further back. The whole time I was reading, I had to make myself forget the character was supposed to be 59. For godsakes, the President of the United States is 56!! I wonder why the author chose such a relatively young main character to act like my grandfather would. But, if you can overlook that weird decision, the rest of the story is very well done and very entertaining.

A Man Called Ove, takes you to the Swedish town and makes you laugh and cry and sometimes both. The book is about an old man and his journey from his simple childhood to a struggling life. The man who lost his wife, Sonja to cancer, and wants nothing more than to kill himself in peace. First, he keeps getting interrupted by his neighbors and later, he fixes everything right. The trouble is all these people need his help. Ove can’t turn his back and annoy his wife. As he helps the neighbors, he reflects his memories of his time living with Sonja.In the opening scenes, he is yelling at an iPad sales clerk, like an irate elder man who can’t get with times. But when you learn everything that led to it, you’ll find so many connections. Ove has so many levels to him you will lose count trying to guess what he might do in any given situation. His reactions will annoy you, irritate you beyond belief. But gradually you’ll see the stones turning. OVE is a man of order of life. A man of very few relationships, but the very few he loved, he can build an empire for them. He liked to understand, learn and create things by himself. Like what he thought, he could do. The anecdotes and flashbacks spread throughout the story tell us how he came to be the man he is; wonderful yet complex.It’s not what the story is about, but what it leaves with you that makes you love the book.

Uneasy as I am about giving a one star review to a book abandoned after only 40 pages, I do so anyway to alert readers like myself who will be bitterly disappointed by this book. I bought it on bad advice from several friends who knew how much I had enjoyed both episodes of "The hundred years old man who climbed ……" also from Sweden. Talk of chalk and cheese! So far as I got before sheer boredom said "Enough!", this book appears to be the about the shambolic activities and state of mind of a man whose wife has just died and who is (presumably, because he wants to fit a hook to a ceiling) contemplating joining her. We have heard a lot about misunderstandings because of his racial bigotry (he hates anybody not Swedish, especially his nice new Indian neighbours), and have read much of his fastidious and repetitive habits, his ability to reverse a trailer and to indulge in some convoluted parking activities in his Saab to upset a Mercedes driver. Takes one to know one. Sorry guys. I am sure some great epiphany is on the way in which Ove will redeem himself, but I will not be accompanying him on this odyssey. Mainly because if he turns out to be the slightest bit interesting, this will directly contradict what I have endured of him so far. I cannot be bothered to read on, and A Man Called Ove is already in the bin. As readers of my reviews know, I a generous critic, but this one is, for me anyway, a turkey. (PS - I will be 79 next month, and look forward to birthday greetings on FB. Last year I got 75!)

This book is just so lovely, so sad, so touching and so funny that I can't believe it took me so long to get round to reading it. I have never cried so much at a book - nor laughed so much. It's the touching tale of a grumpy miserable man who can't understand modern technology and doesn't want to. He's rude to everyone, intolerant and awful but the book takes the reader along on a journey with Ove that little by little shows us who he is, why he is the way he is and what he becomes.No spoilers but this is the most touching and lovely heart warming book I have ever read - I loved it!!

Mix grumpy old man, OCD, and a desire to join his dead wife in the afterlife – what you get is “a man called Ove”. Ove has a plan to commit suicide and with such clarity of thought and reasoning he has it planned to a tee. Unfortunately for his plans, he is joined by a new family next door and a stray cat, and belligerently finds himself periodically postponing his suicide as he does just one more favour for them.There are many times throughout the book I laughed out loud, especially at Ove’s conviction of how things should be and his tetchiness with those who don’t see things his way. It is also a very sad and heart-warming story as Ove deals with the loss of his wife, loneliness and just how communities can be socially uplifting and rewarding.

After ignoring the hype around this book, as well as some seriously dubious reviews regarding the character being a bigot/racist, which i did NOT find to be the case, i bought it for a quid in kindle deals in July and forgot all about it. Five months later, i gave it a go and read it in one day. It was as compulsive reading as a really compulsive, compulsive thing, on national be more compulsive than usual day.So without spoilers, Ove is a grumpy old rhymes with odd, and with good reason.From an era when pride in a job well done and not blowing your own trumpet, Ove was raised in a house of few words, without much in life, but what he had always seemed to be taken from him.Long story short, he moans, but is a good guy, trying to get by in a worldgonemad. Misunderstood by most, but neverone to not help, as long as he can moan about it.This is my first book from the author, but certainly won't be the last.One of those rare books you mourn it ending, but will read again and again over the years.What you waiting for? Buy it now!