Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

96 reviews

staceyinthesticks's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death, and Grief

Minor: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Car accident

anastashamarie's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

☕ Never mind me, just casually sobbing over here. 

🐈 I had a long wait to get this one from the library, but honestly, I'm just going to go buy it (and probably the rest of Backman's bibliography) because this book hit me in a way nothing has since I was a teenager reading John Green. 

🏘️ This is an existentialist masterpiece. The writing is so simple yet so impactful. The characterizations of the whole cast are so well-rounded. It's heartbreaking and uplifting and just generally just so human. It's full of love and sorrow and so much hope. One of those stories that I think is going to stick with me forever. 

🖍️ Now, if you'll excuse me while I go back to crying my eyes out. We can talk more about it later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Fatphobia, Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Infertility, and Misogyny

iwishihadmoretimetoread's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Ableism

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Cancer, and Miscarriage

emperor_e's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty

daylights's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, and Homophobia

fangirl44618's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Suicide attempt, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

brianavoss123's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Chronic illness

ericaw212's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

everytime i read a book by fredrik backman it is my new favorite book. didn’t make me cry as much as others by him but still perfect

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Dementia

Minor: Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Cancer, Gun violence, Homophobia, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

Ove is the kind of cantankerous old man you can’t help but love. He hangs on to his beliefs even when others challenge him and is a good man, even though he gripes about everyone else’s incompetence. This novel is a lesson in grief and love and how we choose to go on with life even when it feels like it’s crumbling down around us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Cancer, Death of parent, Homophobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Death, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Miscarriage

ada_henry's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing 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

Either Frederik Backman is a god, or he sold his soul to the devil, because the level of talent he has is otherworldly.

Almost exactly a year ago, I read My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. I laughed, I cried, and it became my favorite book. Fast-forward a year, and there I was at 11:15 last night sobbing my eyes out over another one of Backman's novels: A Man Called Ove.

I fell in love with Ove's grumpy demeanor and mundane life within the first few pages, but nearly every other chapter delivered a heartbreaking plot twist or memory from Ove's life that put a somber spin on the book.

Ove was so incredibly well-written. He was completely opposite of Elsa from MGAMTTYSS, but Backman nailed both characters. The supporting cast, especially the seven-year-old next door, were all so real and multi-dimensional. The Cat Annoyance was a particular favorite of mine.

This novel was both funny and heartbreaking, succinct yet, in a way, poetic. I loved the chapter titles. I loved Ove's grumpiness. I loved the way he learned to love again.

As with MGAMTTYSS, I cried twice while reading this book. Once in the middle, when Parvaneh's daughter, Nasanin, made Ove a drawing where everyone was in black-and-white, but he was in color. It was so touching because Ove previously stated that his late wife, Sonja, was the color in his world, and now Ove had become someone else's color. I also sobbed for about ten minutes at the end of this book. I was still crying long after I finished it, which is pretty much a first. I'm not sure if I've ever read a book that made me cry more, other than Paper Wishes two or three years ago.

The ending, while sad, was perfect. I'm a sucker for circular endings, and while this wasn't a perfect circle, it was close enough to make me start crying all over again. If I could give this book more than five stars, I would.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal cruelty