I love simple stories about normal people doing normal things that somehow capture an essential element of what it means to be human. Books like this. This is such a quiet book about a quiet man called Ove just trying to be left alone.
Ove is an older gentleman. He has recently lost his wife, who was the only person he ever connected with. She gave him not only a reason to live, but a sense of belonging in a world that otherwise seems to make very little sense. As we get to know Ove, we learn that he has a really hard time functioning in society. Not only do social norms flumox him, but he doesn’t understand why people do what they do. He likes things orderly and routines established and followed. He particularly cannot stand when people don’t follow traffic rules.
One day his new neighbours accidentally back over his mailbox. Initially outraged, he cannot stand these new neighbours any more than he liked the old ones. But they keep popping up at the most inopportune moments and requiring him to interact. With people. Sometimes in his own home. He cannot stand any of it. Why can’t they just leave him alone?
Then an odd thing begins to happen. He helps out his neighbours a few times out of a sense of obligation, and weirdly, they seem to begin to care about him. This is new for him, and he doesn’t know how to respond. Over time, they start to wear down his defences, and against his better judgment, he starts to let them in, just a little.
But this little ends up meaning everything. That little bit of a connection to the world gives him a place in it, and being needed by those around him gives him a reason to break out of his solitude. It might be the last thing he wanted, but it turns out to be exactly what he needed.
I loved this book, in large part because I often feel like I can’t connect to the world and the people around me. Part of it is motherhood – that is an isolating role in today’s world. Part of it is covid, which has pushed people apart to varying degrees over the past few years, and is still having a huge effect on those of us who are compromised and still have to be careful. And part of it is being chronically ill, which makes it hard to connect to people who don’t know what it’s like, who often ask insensitive questions or pass judgment on decisions that are being made from a whole different place than the one they live in. For all these (and a few more) reasons, I get feeling out of step and unable to connect. So this felt so real to me, and the happenstance that created connections with the right people at the right time made me feel a sense of hope – that maybe one day I’ll find the right people too.
I feel like this is a book lots of us could use right now. The last few years have been rough, in various ways, for pretty much everyone. We are all a little soul weary, and I think we all could use a little hope. This book delivers on that, with a side of human decency and kindness. It’s exactly what the doctor ordered, and I am so glad I picked it up when I did. If you’re looking for a read that’s got a whole lot of heart and that will pair well with a warm, cosy blanket and a hot cup of tea, this is the one.
A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.
Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?
Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations. – Goodreads
Book Title: A Man Called Ove
Author: Fredrik Backman
Series: No
Edition: Hardback/Audiobook
Published By: Atria Books
Released: July 15, 2014
Genre: Fiction, Solitude, Loss, Found Family
Pages: 337
Date Read: September 2-8, 2022
Rating: 8/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.37/5 (861,341 ratings)
5 thoughts on “THE SUNDAY REVIEW | A MAN CALLED OVE – FREDRIK BACKMAN”