A Man Called Ove
The global bestselling phenomenon
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4.5 • 754 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
The million-copy bestselling phenomenon: a funny, moving, uplifting tale of love and community that will leave you with a spring in your step.
'Warm, funny, and almost unbearably moving' Daily Mail
'Delightful . . . the perfect holiday read'
Evening Standard
Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - joggers, neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly and shop assistants who talk in code.
But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?
In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible . . .
'Hilarious and heart-breaking'
Stylist
'Rescued all those men who constantly mean to read novels but never get round to it'
Spectator Books of the Year
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Pretty much everything annoys Ove, a 55-year-old who’s been pushed into early retirement—including Japanese cars, cappuccino, tall people, and cats. But when a lanky man driving a trailer attached to a hybrid crashes into Ove’s immaculate flowerbed and mailbox, his worldview is turned upside down. Like The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, this debut by Fredrik Backman—a word-of-mouth hit in Sweden—is a zany tribute to old-fashioned values. In spite of its bone-dry humor and curmudgeonly rants about modern phenomena like facial hair and jogging, A Man Called Ove is a nostalgic (albeit unconventional) love story with unforgettable characters.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this Swedish bestseller, Ove is a lovably miserable neighborhood curmudgeon think a cross between Up's Carl Fredricksen and Parks and Recreation's Ron Swanson who spends his days inspecting his community and criticizing others, judging each by how closely he follows rules and his choice of automobile (Ove cannot reason with BMW drivers). After his handicapped wife dies and he is forced to retire from his job, Ove decides he's ready to leave the world behind. But every time he tries to off himself, he's interrupted first by his new neighbor, the pregnant Parvaneh; then by Parvaneh's clumsy husband, Patrick; Anita, the wife of Ove's former best friend; Jimmy, Ove's overweight neighbor; Adrian, the neighborhood mailman; and finally a mangy feline Ove calls "Cat Annoyance." Ove continuously pushes his demise from one day to the next, and, as time passes, these characters slowly weave themselves into his life, offering Ove a chance at rebirth. The debut novel from journalist Backman is a fuzzy crowd-pleaser that serves up laughs to accompany a thoughtful reflection on loss and love. Though Ove's antics occasionally feel repetitive, the author writes with winning charm.
Customer Reviews
Loved it
Masterful expression of how the combination of agency and love creates a path that imbues life with virtue and meaning
Broke my heart
Perfect story to cry about it and remember for a long time
Ove: funny and sad
A lovely and funny baa el about a grumpy, taciturn and loving man and his relationships. Delightful, funny and moving. Sometimes the writing is a bit repetitive in describing his character.