Fredrik Backman

A curmudgeon hides a terrible personal loss beneath a cranky and short-tempered exterior while clashing with new neighbors, a boisterous family whose chattiness and habits lead to unexpected friendship.

A Novel

A Man Called Ove

Cara 🤍

I just wanted to know what it felt like to be someone you look at

Lauren R

"I just wanted to know what it felt like to be someone you look at." 

Whatever the case, he had eaten in advance so he could afford to let her order whatever she wanted from the menu, 

Ove had never been asked how he lived before he met her. But if anyone had asked him, he would have answered that he didn't.

And then there was no more peace and quiet for Ove.

She often said that "all roads lead to something you were always predestined to do." And for her, perhaps, it was something. But for Ove it was someone.

Julia

And she was colour. All the colour he had.

It's been six months since she died. But Ove still inspects the whole house twice a day to feel the radiators and check that she hasn't sneakily turned up the heating. 

The sales assistant looks down at the counter in a way that seems to reveal a fiercly yet barely contolled desire to begin clawing his own face.

tuna

The doorbell rings again. Ove turns around and stares at the bell as if it should be ashamed of itself.

Nandita Joshi 

So there were certainly people who thought that feelings could not be judged by looking at cars. But they were wrong. 

It's really only a question of the speed of his reactions whether she walks through him or past him.

And that laughter of hers, which, for the rest of his life, would make him feel as if someone was running around barefoot on the inside of his breast. 

People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.

On this street no one took the trouble to get up any earlier than they had to. 

Alina

Maybe their sorrow over children that never came should have brought the two men closer. But sorrow is unreliable in that way. When people don’t share it there’s a good chance that it will drive them apart instead.

“She’s the only teacher I ever had who didn’t think I was thick as a plank,” he mumbles, almost choking on his emotion. “She got me reading that . . . Shakespeare, you know. I didn’t know I could even read, sort of thing. She got me reading the most hard-core thick book an’ all. It felt really shit when I heard she died, you know.”

Ove doesn’t answer. The youth looks down at the ground. Shrugs.

He’s silent. And then they both stand there, the fifty-nine-year-old and the teenager, a few yards apart, kicking at the snow. As if they were kicking a memory back and forth, a memory of a woman who insisted on seeing more potential in certain men than they saw in themselves. Neither of them knows what to do with their shared experience.

He’s been longing for it for a long time now. The end. He misses her so much that sometimes he can’t bear existing in his own body. It would be the only rational thing, just sitting here until the fumes lull both him and the cat to sleep and bring this to an end.

But then he looks at the cat. And he turns off the engine.

But if anyone had asked, he would have told them that he never lived before he met her. And not after either.

You miss the strangest things when you lose someone. Little things. Smiles. The way she turned over in her sleep. Even repainting a room for her.

It’s been six months since she died. But Ove still inspects the whole house twice a day to feel the radiators and check that she hasn’t sneakily turned up the heating.

Read the New York Times bestseller that has taken the world by storm In this "charming debut" (People) from one of Sweden's most successful authors, 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. A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Fredrik Backman's novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. "If there was an award for 'Most Charming Book of the Year, ' this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down" (Booklist, starred review).

Francesca 

And she was colour. All the coulor he had.

This book simultaneously had me laughing out loud and crying. I would put it in my top ten honestly! 

Kass

I can’t believe I DNF’d this book but I’m so happy that I picked it back up. A Man Called Ove is my new personality.

🥔

Such a beautiful, funny, emotional brilliant book. So pleased I read it and would recommend it. It's just so different and so good.

Sarah Chauvidon

i cant stop crying this book is so beautiful i cant even express how much this book made me FEEL aaaaaa just heartbreaking

Maureen

“But if anyone had asked, he would have told them that he never lived before he met her. And not after either.”

***

3.5 stars. I will always be too soft for old people’s stories. Ove is the most devoted husband I’ve ever come across in a book, and I love that despite his brusque and cold exterior, the man’s all-encompassing love for his wife never changes. I mostly stayed for the development of their love story rather than narrative that ran alongside it. Overall, I expected something toward the end— and it would have changed my rating to 4 stars. Nevertheless, a heartwarming read about devotion, principles, and unlikely friendships.

Svetlana 

Ove deserves whole world, everyone leave him alone

Kirsten Kim

have never cried so hard in my life i think i popped a blood vessel

always so much heart 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

karina

always so much heart 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

a reread but i love it every time

This was so good. It has been a while since I have read contemporary fiction and I made the right choice with this book. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me feel every emotion deeply. It has become one of my favourites.

Julie Twist

I was recommended this book by a friend, otherwise I doubt I would have ever picked it up. As you would expect, it's about a man called Ove. Ove is a grumpy man with strong principles (most notably that you can't drive in the residential area!) and a strict routine first thing in the morning. The book tells the story of Ove's life and the people he encounters. Some of them nice, some of them not so nice, but he deals with them in his own way and doesn't suffer fools gladly. You start out thinking Ove is a grump, but by the end of the book you will love him....

Kiran Aftab

I didn’t think I would be able to sympathize with a grumpy old man as the main character for the novel BUT OH BOY WE GOT THERE. I ended up tearing up too many times while reading this book and at the end of it, I straight up started BAWLING. The novel was overall well put together and now I’m very intrigued to read other works by the same author.

Chris Dailey

Charming but utlimately boring story about a misunderstood curmudgeon that recently lost his wife and tries and fails to kill himself but is rescued emotionally by his community. Bluntly, sometimes successfully, pulls on the heart strings. The story is obvious but can be effective in parts.

Emily Burns

As a librarian working amongst librarians, I am very lucky to receive great book recommendations on a sometimes daily basis. The problem is that my reading list gets long, and I can rarely get to every book that I want to read. That is why it is strange that the very day I was told to read A Man Called Ove, I started the audiobook. Four days and eight hours of listening later, and it is finished. I am so glad that this book was recommended to me. The story is heartwarming and familiar, probably because Ove reminds me so strongly of the old man from Disney's movie Up. It is a beautiful tale of redemption that will make you smile and cry. If you're looking for a summer read that will lift you up, you've found your title.

ploral

It is mostly a good book and makes you think, it’s just a bit slow and uneventful at times near the beginning.

Evie Dean

This was a beautiful life story. Got very deep. I cried a lot more than i thought i was. A very emotion provoking story. I cried until i had no tears left. Laughed while crying. Even got angry at parts. I want to watch the film but its gonna be hard to capture the book in a film.  

Mary Lawrence

This book had me crying in my car as I drove home listening to it. Give Ove a chance, even if he might be a little grumpy for your taste. You may just grow to care for him.

Amira 

Maybe I wasn’t in the correct reading mindset but this was so boring

Caroline

Hannah Yoon

I had no idea what kind of book I was getting into, but I fell in love. By the end, I was in tears. Backman does a wonderful job of drawing you into Ove's past and present life. Highly recommend.

god.... the ending made me cry :( love this book so much

Zahra

A pleasant and heart-warming story. An absolute page-turner from the very first page.

Tracy K

Critiquing this novel without reading it in its entirety renders the message it conveys pointless. You can't learn to love Ove before you have already hated him.

A Man Called Ove A Novel

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