Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

38 reviews

samuelbrown23's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

I found the book overall enjoyable and simple as this is focus on first person perspective. The neighbors could get annoying, I do agreed with Ova like how acted on their demands. It’s seems that this focus so much on plot moving along that felt like could get lost where you are at in the story since the author going back in forth in the timeline makes easier to forget the setting. Speaking of the setting I wish the author would some time makes remind to reader where and when is Tory taking place. The character definitely has some type of mental health issue: death of parent early age, and lack of social interactions. This book  gives mixed feelings kind felt very comforting and disturb of the character action from attempting to
Commit sucide to heart felt moment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

orchidlilly's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

4.5

A really good exploration of grief and learning to live after it. Ove is both lovable and annoying, which turns at a point to endearing in its own right. The rest of the characters feel very real and individualized, and have a lot of unspoken depth to them. The back and forth between Ove's memories and current life really build his story well and allow the reader to understand why he is the way he is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility, Racism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

molliesampson's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

wept and laughed (out loud!) all the way through this one

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

froggoz13's review against another edition

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

2.5

The writing style and the story just aren't for me. The story got better in the second half of the book, but the plot and jokes and characters are too repetitive and satirical. 

Also why are Jimmy and Mirsad together????

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Violence, and Xenophobia

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Car accident

the fucking white shirts

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was almost a DNF for me. I'm glad I finished it, but I honestly did not like it until I was at least 80% of the way through. I simply did not like Ove. I know you're supposed to grow to love him, but I didn't. Maybe that makes me a monster, and I can accept that. His curmudgeonly traits were fine and a little endearing by the end, but sometimes he was flat out mean. I can't get behind that. 

I'm also fairly convinced that Backman has never met a cat before in their entire lives. A cat that licks steering wheels passive aggressively, happily wears socks, and calmly sits on bar stools in cafes they've never been in before was so out of left field. The rest of the book is very realistic, so the cartoon cat threw me in every scene they were in. 

The use of similes to describe every single disgruntled expression this man has ever had in his life drove me mad as well, but that's clearly a personal writing style preference, so to each their own.

The overall message of the book is... nice. And I think it gives the reader a nuanced perspective of what it's like to be a senior that society seems to have given up on. But the road to get there was gritty and uncomfortable. I mean I was rooting for Ove getting what he wanted for the vast majority of the book because it felt like his right to make that decision. At least I appreciated the ending, though. I don't think it's a book I would recommend to friends, but it was different from other books I've read recently, so that made it worth it for me in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

Maybe I would’ve enjoyed this years ago or in a different mindset but I couldn’t get past the amount of white man xenophobia, homophobia, ableism, fat phobia and toxic masculinity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Fatphobia and Xenophobia

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death, Misogyny, and Death of parent

atobin09's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I wanted to read this before watching the movies (there was one made not long after the book and another with Tom Hanks). Wow. Just wow. I laughed, I cried, I sobbed. Old, crotchety Ove (pronounced Oo-va) very quickly reminds you of that grumpy neighbor everyone has that they still grow to really like, even love. I had a similar neighbor die right before I read this, so it quickly warmed my heart. I will read again often. 
If you want a wonderful audio version, J.K. Simmons IS Ove. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Xenophobia and Injury/Injury detail

mel_j's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This was sad. And hopeful. It made me cry – but still, there are very questionable (xenophobic, mysoginistic, ableist and fatphobic) things uttered by Ove.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

cas_symonds's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Truly amazing. One of my new favorites. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Dementia