Book Review: A Man Called Ove (Five Stars)

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is a phenomenal and touching tale of a grumpy, stubborn, and prototypical middle-aged man just wanting to be reunited with his deceased wife. It’s comical, relatable and a sad story—which also carries many humanistic elements that enables readers to strongly connect and identify with the main character. This was a book that I truly enjoyed and it has become one of the best reads I have read in 2017, thus far.

Ove is a fifty-nine year-old Swedish man, who has strict principles and a short temper. He spends his days following an austere routine of checking if his entire neighborhood is abiding the association rules and visiting his wife’s, Sonja’s, grave. Ove dislikes many things, and has no shame in pointing them out on the spot. To many people, Ove is staunch and a “bitter” neighbor. Despite what Ove may display on the outside, Ove carries a story of both sadness and hardships.

But since the tragic loss of his one love, Ove has given entirely up on life. Yes, Ove just wants to end it all. Unfortunately and fortunately for Ove, a boisterous family moves into the neighborhood across the street from Ove, and things start to both shake and change Ove’s life completely—but all for the better. With these new neighbors, brings an abundant amount of changes like an unkempt stray cat as a pet and growing friendships that all seem to disrupt his routine—which Ove just hates. But with these new changes, Ove starts to grow a warmer heart and starts to accept the world that he lives in today, which for a while, he was so against.

I cried and I laughed, but I laughed more than I cried. Backman did a wonderful job when writing this story. Every chapter and every line just felt natural. The sarcasm that comes out of Ove and his grumpy façade in general, made this book humorous. I fell in love with old Ove, despite how bad-tempered he is at times. Nothing was dragged on, there wasn’t a dull moment, and every chapter brought in new information about Ove’s past—thus allowing readers to understand the character more in-depth and on an emotional level. There is no other way to explain how great this story was and is—you just have to read it for yourself. I look forward to reading many more of Backman’s stories. He is creative and writes beautifully—I loved how he narrated the tale of Ove and about the many characters’ that seem to interrupt Ove’s life. It is a five-star rating all the way!

Furthermore, I think at some level we all understand the feelings of loss and grief. And for those who have had lost a loved one, we all know the difficulty of carrying on with life without that one person who made life sweet, precious and wonderful. That is what this story is mainly about—it is about a man who can’t bear to live without the one person who made life simply pure, beautiful and magical. To Ove, life didn’t seem worth living without Sonja. Why carry on with life without having that special someone live it with you? But the characters’ that come and interrupt Ove’s life makes him realize that there are some things that are worth living for. In the end, Ove finds a cause and a reason to live.

x, Kayla