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A review by azdesert_bookworm
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I love, love, love this book! I read Anxious People by Backman about a year and a half ago and absolutely loved that one, so I don’t really know why I let this one sit on my shelf as long as I did.
Ove is a brilliantly created and developed character. He is a grumpy, angry, rigid, curmudgeon of a man. It was so developed and almost over the top that I could help laugh and feel sorry for him all at once.
Through a chronological progression beginning when his new boisterous and outgoing neighbors move in, mixed with flashbacks from his youth through just before he meets his new neighbors, we learn how and why Ove is who he is. This story of his life is one of pain, challenges, love and purpose.
This is a sorry of grief and depression, because Ove suffers deeply. After the passing of his wife, he has lost purpose. When he is forced into early retirement, he has lost routine. He is lost, lonely, bitter and all it takes is one off-the-wall family who completely overlooks the rudeness to give him purpose again.
I was on a roller coaster of emotion throughout the entire book, and I couldn’t put it down. Like I mentioned there were scenes that were so ridiculous in how he acts and what he thinks that I could help but laugh and shake my head at him, but there were moments that I had tears in my eyes.
Ove mixed with the secondary characters has his found family. Parvaneh and her husband, Patrick and their 2 (soon to be 3) children move in right at the moment Ove needed them the most.
This was just an amazing book. When a book can make you laugh and cry and have all the feels, you know you have found a winner.
I have quite a bit more to say in my full review: https://thebookshelf.substack.com/p/book-review-a-man-called-ove-by-fredrik
Ove is a brilliantly created and developed character. He is a grumpy, angry, rigid, curmudgeon of a man. It was so developed and almost over the top that I could help laugh and feel sorry for him all at once.
Through a chronological progression beginning when his new boisterous and outgoing neighbors move in, mixed with flashbacks from his youth through just before he meets his new neighbors, we learn how and why Ove is who he is. This story of his life is one of pain, challenges, love and purpose.
This is a sorry of grief and depression, because Ove suffers deeply. After the passing of his wife, he has lost purpose. When he is forced into early retirement, he has lost routine. He is lost, lonely, bitter and all it takes is one off-the-wall family who completely overlooks the rudeness to give him purpose again.
I was on a roller coaster of emotion throughout the entire book, and I couldn’t put it down. Like I mentioned there were scenes that were so ridiculous in how he acts and what he thinks that I could help but laugh and shake my head at him, but there were moments that I had tears in my eyes.
Ove mixed with the secondary characters has his found family. Parvaneh and her husband, Patrick and their 2 (soon to be 3) children move in right at the moment Ove needed them the most.
This was just an amazing book. When a book can make you laugh and cry and have all the feels, you know you have found a winner.
I have quite a bit more to say in my full review: https://thebookshelf.substack.com/p/book-review-a-man-called-ove-by-fredrik