Title: A Man Called Ove
Author: Fredrik Backman
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Copyright Date: 2014
The first snow day of 2017 was the perfect day to wrap up my first book for the year as well. For the past several weeks I have come to know the cast of A Man Called Ove, and I took the icy road conditions as an excuse to put my professional life on hold in order to say my farewells to this lovely community of Swedes. I’ve learned so much and been reminded of even more. This was a fantastic call to love the unlovable and to show compassion to the callous.
Everyone in his neighborhood of row houses thinks they have Ove all figured out. He’s the typical curmudgeon whose life follows a routine set in stone, whose patience for anything foreign made and trendy is non-existent, and whose affinity with holding the rest of the homeowners on his street to the association rules makes no exceptions. His life is black and white. And don’t even think about selling this Swede any car other than a Saab.
He’s the bitter old man down the road. The one that everyone murmurs about.
But when his new Iranian neighbor and her husband move next door Ove finds himself struggling to maintain his solidarity. For one, her idiot husband can’t drive a U-Haul to save his life. For two, what adult woman is incapable of securing a driver’s license? For three, a shut door does nothing to limit the Iranian from barging into his house like they were something of friends.
Ove had given up. But with the help of the new neighbors, an unsettled feud, and a stray cat Ove realizes that not everyone has given up on him.
This was one of those stories that restores your hope in humanity. It reminds us that we can’t judge a book by its cover and that everyone has a story to tell. I really enjoyed this book. Much like he did in My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Backman heightens your sensitivity to the most villainous characters in our world.
Overseas, Backman is taking the literary world by storm. In America his books are a little slower catching on, but they are worth the read. There is also a foreign movie based on this novel that is capturing the attention of critics.
I’m on the hunt to find it!
The Ameri Brit Mom
The Ameri Brit Mom 