Reviews with content warning for Suicide - A Man Called Ove

Overall charming story about a multilayered man who at face comes off as a jerk, but has a warm heart. I get the impression that he may be autistic, or alternatively, has strong coping mechanisms to a challenging hand life has dealt him. Backman paints him with incredible depth. The theme of grief and getting in touch with emotions runs deeply through this book.

Only negative thing to note is I could not help but notice there seems to be a non negligible smattering of fat phobic descriptions that ultimately detracted a little from my experience.

Neutral thing to note is that suicide is an incredibly serious topic. Backman in general writes in a cheeky, occasionally wry manner that offers levity to serious topics. I do think that in some ways suicide is taken lightly and that warrants a trigger warning on the topic.

Content Warnings

rachaellid's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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savywoods's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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emilyjamison14's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This was an objectively good book - good plot points/twists, wonderful character development, and fantastic writing. I do think this book gets marketed as a super wholesome/heartwarming book and I disagree.

The main plot point is about Ove attempting suicide, and this is meant to be funny somehow. No one ever checks in how Ove is doing mentally, and there’s really nothing life-affirming in my opinion, especially with his death at the end.

I partially listened to the audiobook narrated by J.K. Simmons which is a GREAT narration.

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emiliegrace's review against another edition

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funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Oh how I absolutely fell in love with this grumpy old sod. Backman has done it again, an incredibly heartwarming and tear jerking story with endless insight into what it means to be human.

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riannamarie's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Okay so this was just a little bit heart-warming. I lived in Norway for a year and whenever I read/watch any form of media from a Scandanavian country it makes me feel at home. Koselig is a Norwegian word that doesn't have a direct English translation. It is a feeling of cosiness, contentment and warmth. It evokes feelings of intimacy and finding joy in the little things in life. Somehow this book manages to be koselig, heart-wrenching and hopeful all at the same time.

The book is about Ove who is a 59 year old gentlemen who is often perceived as a grumpy old man but there is much more to him beneath the surface than what the outside world perceives. Underneath his grumpy facade is deep loneliness and profound grief. You slowly grow to love Ove as his layers are peeled back throughout the story. The way you warm to him as the reader mirrors how the people in Ove's neighbourhood warm to him throughout the book as they transform from strangers to valued friends.

The descriptions of Ove's relationship with Sonia were beautifully described. Their love and the emptiness Ove feels upon the loss warmed my heart but also brought me to tears. This book explored what it meant to mourn someone you love and what it means to mourn the part of yourself that only they could bring out of you.

It is not a 5 star read for me purely based on the fact that it never pulled me in to the point where I couldn't put it down. Everytime I picked it up I thoroughly enjoyed the experience but I wasn't obsessed. This is probably because it is a story of comically mundane happenings in a neighbourhood, with artfully crafted characters. I will certainly be reading other books by Fredrik Backman.

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rachs_booknook's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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