“”A Man Called Ove” is a heartwarming and humorous novel about a grumpy and solitary man named Ove who has given up on life after the death of his beloved wife. The book explores Ove’s life and the events that have led him to become the curmudgeonly person he is today. Despite his rough exterior, Ove is a man of routine and order who is fiercely loyal to those he cares about. He has a deep love for his late wife, Sonja, and struggles to come to terms with her absence. As Ove navigates his grief, he becomes involved in the lives of his neighbors, including a pregnant woman named Parvaneh and her family, a young couple who move in next door, and a stray cat who seems to have taken up residence in his house. Through these interactions, Ove begins to see the value in human connection and begins to open up to those around him.” – Description from ChatOn.
Fredrik Backman is a king of making characters. By the outside, Ove being your typical grumpy old man who complains about his neighborhood problems, you are probably like how could I ever feel and love a character like that? That is probably what most readers are thinking when they see the cover of this book. Backman does it though, he makes you root for these characters that most authors would never even think about writing whole novels on. The Swede is a master at character work.
As this novel does take place in Sweden, there were some cultural differences that I had to get used to at first. I am amazed that they could make a film of this taking place in Pittsburgh because so many of these plot events I feel like could not take place in America. It is always eye opening at getting to see what everyday life is like in another country.
While reading the writing of Backman, it is never lyrical, poetic, or what most people would call beautiful. It isn’t. It is actually quite blunt. I did skim through some of the prose just to get to the spoken dialogue because a lot of the inner thoughts were repetitive. However, I will say some paragraphs or sentences that are presented really make you sit back and think about what was just stated.
There are plenty of themes in ‘A Man Called Ove’ that are not often written about in books, let alone talked about in life. I think fear of the unknown causes such a thing. The main theme that I am going to write about here is that of aging. Age is a beautiful thing because not everyone gets to grow old, people who are old have had plenty of life experiences and therefore knowledge to pass on to others. Old people should not just be pushed aside and forgotten, they were young once too and might have that grumpy personality from said experiences in life. You should not judge someone on their looks or whatever the first impression might be on meeting. There is something to be learned from all people that you meet, from three-year-olds to senior citizens, every life has value, and everyone has something that you can learn from. These themes are so rarely talked about but need to be more.
Fredrik Backman is a king of making characters. Backman does it though, he makes you root for these characters that most authors would never even think about writing whole novels on. As this novel does take place in Sweden, there were some cultural differences that I had to get used to at first. It is always eye opening at getting to see what everyday life is like in another country. While reading the writing of Backman, it is never lyrical, poetic, or what most people would call beautiful. However, I will say some paragraphs or sentences that are presented really make you sit back and think about what was just stated. There are plenty of themes in ‘A Man Called Ove’ that are not often written about in books, let alone talked about in life. These themes are so rarely talked about but need to be more. I loved this book, but it is not a new favorite.
4 out 5 stars.
Izzy Reads 