A Man Called Ove

I love e-books. I prefer them. I don't want to get into a whole big thing about how they're so much better than paper books and how you're wrong for disagreeing with me, okay? I will concede that you're entitled to your erroneous opinion. I will also concede one other point: paper books are more huggable. I wanted to hug this book. But a phone doesn't have sufficient ... mass, to make it a gratifying hug. So I had to open the book on the behemoth tablet and hug that. It's just not the same, I'll grant you.

Anyway. If you are a grumpy old man like I have always been, you will love this story. If you have a soft spot for the grumpy old men in your life, you will love this story—and also, thank you. If you have strong opinions about right being right and wrong being wrong, with little wiggle room in between and very, very few, reluctant shades of grey, you will love this story. If you anthropomorphise inanimate objects and pets, you will love this story.

A Man Called Ove is about unexpected and sometimes sadly tenuous connections. It's about integrity and compassion. Most of all, it's about a surprising love and a purposeful life.

It's also about a cat.

started out rough, but as everything came together, i found myself smiling and crying a bit! also laughed out loud in public a few times... lmao

this was a really wholesome, humbling read. the overarching messages of people having more to them than the person they currently present to you and how human kindness can go leagues in the right circumstances were really nice (albeit overly idealistic) to read. the sort of meandering plot builds a lot of intrigue as you learn that there's a rhyme and reason to ove's grumpiness.

but i still won't be going out of my way to make myself personable to every grumpy old white dude lol

This one hit me right in the feels. Having recently lost my mother this story had a poignancy that really hit home, but was beautifully balanced by a gentle and heartfelt humour. The titular Ove is a man who has just lost his wife and his job. He cannot see the point in his life and is trying to find a way to end it, but keeps on getting interrupted by his neighbours. He is a bit gruff and to begin with somewhat unlikeable but as you get to know him you cannot help to soften towards. As he exasperatedly helps his neighbours and decries modern society he starts to find a new set of companions that he thought he had lost.

There are so many aspect of my parents and grandparents hidden in this story. Ove and the rest of the characters end up so relatable that you cannot help but fall in love with them. It brought repeated smiles to my face, despite its hard hitting and personal depths. As far as stories of love and loss go I have never read anything better. I ended up feeling both sad and uplifted at the same time, an impressive feat.

This was a lovely story. It starts out simply amusing and engaging, and then gets ya right in the feels later on, but with enough bristly, rough-edged Ove to balance it out and prevent it from going maudlin.

I guess the basic plot is pretty familiar and tropy (crusty, rigid person reluctantly opens their heart due to wacky acquaintances), but it's executed so beautifully, and has a substantial (even dark) emotional core that keeps it from being merely silly or saccharine.

I listened to the audio book and the performance was great - very well matched with the subject matter.

I usually avoid stories that will make me cry, but this one is totally worth the tears, and doesn't leave you on a down note at all.

I read the first few chapters and put away this book. Around a month later, when a friend shared a beautiful quote from the book, I willed myself into giving it another go. The book grows on you, like Ove.

The quote -
“‘Loving someone is like moving into a house,' Sonja used to say. ‘At first you fall in love with all the new things, amazed every morning that all this belongs to you, as if fearing that someone would suddenly come rushing in through the door to explain that a terrible mistake had been made, you weren't actually supposed to live in a wonderful place like this. Then over the years the walls become weathered, the wood splinters here and there, and you start to love that house not so much because of all its perfection, but rather for its imperfections. You get to know all the nooks and crannies. How to avoid getting the key caught in the lock when it's cold outside. Which of the floorboards flex slightly when one steps on them or exactly how to open the wardrobe doors without them creaking. These are the little secrets that make it your home.'”

The language is quite simple and the concept so straightforward, that it can go on the Books for beginners list. Yet,(although slightly repetitive), it's captivating till the end.

Ove is man who likes things to be a certain way. This inflexible man might rub you the wrong way, in the initial few chapters, but on reading you'll travel through Ove's life in segments; you learn what made him the way he is, what he is capable of, and that he has a really big heart.
As a bonus, you have a severely(yet pleasantly) extroverted pregnant Iranian woman, who pokes Ove out of his hole every now and then, unintentionally saving his life.

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A misunderstood well-meaning man, and technically challenged loving neighbors, create a heartwarming story featuring love, routine, and Saab.

Must read.

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

I found this rather unremarkable considering the rave reviews. The characters are not very developed, especially the minor ones, some of whom are quite one-sidedly stereotypical (a “bent” boy, his bigoted father, an overweight neighbor). And Ove keeps wondering why his wife, Sonja, chose to be with him – I'm not at all sure either. They seem to exist in parallel universes.

The narrative flowed along and was pleasant enough to read, but in the end I was not very satisfied. The repeated suicide attempts were not so pleasant and could be triggering for anybody with suicide trauma. They were played for black comedy, which will be a matter of your taste and tolerance.

One of the best books I've read in a long time. I usually don't get emotional over books, but I did when i finished this one - I just wanted it to keep going and going. It's about life and death, joy and sadness, and it reminded me so much of my own grandfather who passed away this time last year. When I finished it, I just wanted to be able to call him up and thank him for who he was and his influence on me. This is a book I'd give as a gift to any person I know loves to read.