A Man Called Ove MP3 CD – Unabridged, July 29, 2014

I liked this book, but about 2/3rds in my eyes were rolling frequently and I had to force myself not to skip ahead. It felt like the author was constantly trying to get the readers to believe Ove had a good heart. I come from a family where most of the men are grumpy like this by their early 30s! Yes they have big hearts “hidden” inside, but society doesn’t care. They avoid or bully people like this. One or two every decade or so, try to get their wives and children away from the abuse they assume they endure, but this is rare. Also, Ove is constantly worried about being scammed out of money (like he was as a teen by a fake insurance salesman) yet lets a stranger live in his house. Very unrealistic but since he’s a homosexual who has just come out and consequently thrown out my his father, we are all supposed to fall in love more with Ove, I hate to sound like Ove, but Pfff. So unrealistic. He openly calls him a bender to his face, even after his neighbor corrects him, yet noone gets angry or violent towards Ove, he’s also a superhero too by the way. He fixes things others can’t fix within minutes. After this book I read reviews of some of the author’s other books and he’s described of having an uncanny ability to understand the human condition. Pff. If this were so, Ove’s pregnant neighbor would have found out his wealth and then became friends with him. Or the author would describe the other neighbors fear of him, but no they all accepted him and were friendly towards him. They all just ignored his comments about their weight, spouse’s stupidity and even let the comments of having unruly children slide. They don’t even question why Ove makes them sit on newspapers in his Saab. Strangely this superhero with personality problems lives among a group of saints who are seldom irritated by his irritating ways. We never know why, the author just seems like we need to believe this is acceptable. This utopia life is in Sweden, yet even with their low homicide rates, free education and free healthcare this neighborhood is void of real human conditions, no wonder new houses are popping up around there everyday! This book is still a good way to unwind at the end of the day, its funny and touching. I look forward to reading more of this authors very fictional work.

Ove is the grumpy old neighbor you don't want in your neighborhood. He complains about everything, insists on people following strict rules, and has no interest in befriending others. When a new family moves in next door, Ove makes it known that he is annoyed by their presence. Little by little, the family and other neighbors worm their way into his life.When I first read this book, I didn't think I would like it. It was a book club pick and I went into it thinking I was going to be bored. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the story moved and by how charming the book was. This was the Fredrik Backman book that I read and I was impressed by his character development. He blew life into each character in the neighborhood and their interactions were amusing and heartwarming. As I re-read this book via audiobook, I was reminded by how special this story was.My favorite parts of the book was when it went back in time to scenes with Ove and his wife. His love for her was tremendous and I thought it was sweet that such a cranky man could have such a big love in his life. Ove had some personal challenges early in his life and it seemed with he met his wife, it was his chance to find happiness. Their life together wasn't a happily ever after in a traditional sense, but their love transcended the struggles that life put them through.This is a book about finding love and friendships despite the curveballs that life throws your way. Although there are tragic elements to it, it will warm your heart.⚠️: death of a loved one, grief, suicidal thoughts & attempts, paralyzing accident, miscarriage, cancer, homophobia

When I first began this story, I wasn't so sure I'd like it. Ove is one grumpy fellow!But then we're shown his life and all the disappointments he's endured. The one guiding light he had was his very overworked father who made it clear to Ove, even while encouraging him to make his own decisions, that honesty and truth made the worth of a man.He grew older and met a woman who '...was all the color in his life'.Although he'd never learned to relax and smell the roses, his wife (who WAS the one light in his life) helped him cope with the things he had a hard time understanding.This book made me laugh and made me cry, and took me through every emotion in the rainbow.I was shocked at his behavior at times (both good and bad, lol) and reminded how we don't always understand the motivations of the way people sometimes behave poorly.Over all, we discover that Ove really does have a good heart, even though he'd never admit it. At times, it's because he sees a wrong and he just has to right it, and other times, he thinks it's what his wife, his light and color, would want him to do.If you begin to read this book and think you won't like it, read a little more before giving up. It's well worth the read.

A Man Called Ove, takes you to the Swedish town and makes you laugh and cry and sometimes both. The book is about an old man and his journey from his simple childhood to a struggling life. The man who lost his wife, Sonja to cancer, and wants nothing more than to kill himself in peace. First, he keeps getting interrupted by his neighbors and later, he fixes everything right. The trouble is all these people need his help. Ove can’t turn his back and annoy his wife. As he helps the neighbors, he reflects his memories of his time living with Sonja.In the opening scenes, he is yelling at an iPad sales clerk, like an irate elder man who can’t get with times. But when you learn everything that led to it, you’ll find so many connections. Ove has so many levels to him you will lose count trying to guess what he might do in any given situation. His reactions will annoy you, irritate you beyond belief. But gradually you’ll see the stones turning. OVE is a man of order of life. A man of very few relationships, but the very few he loved, he can build an empire for them. He liked to understand, learn and create things by himself. Like what he thought, he could do. The anecdotes and flashbacks spread throughout the story tell us how he came to be the man he is; wonderful yet complex.It’s not what the story is about, but what it leaves with you that makes you love the book.

Uneasy as I am about giving a one star review to a book abandoned after only 40 pages, I do so anyway to alert readers like myself who will be bitterly disappointed by this book. I bought it on bad advice from several friends who knew how much I had enjoyed both episodes of "The hundred years old man who climbed ……" also from Sweden. Talk of chalk and cheese! So far as I got before sheer boredom said "Enough!", this book appears to be the about the shambolic activities and state of mind of a man whose wife has just died and who is (presumably, because he wants to fit a hook to a ceiling) contemplating joining her. We have heard a lot about misunderstandings because of his racial bigotry (he hates anybody not Swedish, especially his nice new Indian neighbours), and have read much of his fastidious and repetitive habits, his ability to reverse a trailer and to indulge in some convoluted parking activities in his Saab to upset a Mercedes driver. Takes one to know one. Sorry guys. I am sure some great epiphany is on the way in which Ove will redeem himself, but I will not be accompanying him on this odyssey. Mainly because if he turns out to be the slightest bit interesting, this will directly contradict what I have endured of him so far. I cannot be bothered to read on, and A Man Called Ove is already in the bin. As readers of my reviews know, I a generous critic, but this one is, for me anyway, a turkey. (PS - I will be 79 next month, and look forward to birthday greetings on FB. Last year I got 75!)

This book is just so lovely, so sad, so touching and so funny that I can't believe it took me so long to get round to reading it. I have never cried so much at a book - nor laughed so much. It's the touching tale of a grumpy miserable man who can't understand modern technology and doesn't want to. He's rude to everyone, intolerant and awful but the book takes the reader along on a journey with Ove that little by little shows us who he is, why he is the way he is and what he becomes.No spoilers but this is the most touching and lovely heart warming book I have ever read - I loved it!!

⭐️ 5 ⭐️I’m embarrassingly late to the party reading A Man Called Ove so there’s not a lot I can say that hasn’t been already been said countless times.I’ll be honest, it took me a few chapters to really get into, and at first I couldn’t understand what all the hype was about — I’m always fond of an ageing, miserable, moody protagonist but I just wasn’t warming to Ove, and then suddenly everything clicked into place.I loved it! I love the way Backman writes, and the characters he creates are just superb — each one of them so fully fleshed out they almost felt real.It made me laugh, it made me cry and most importantly of all, I fell in love with Ove.This was my first book by Backman, it won’t be the last!Thank you for taking the time to read my review.I hope you found it helpful.

After ignoring the hype around this book, as well as some seriously dubious reviews regarding the character being a bigot/racist, which i did NOT find to be the case, i bought it for a quid in kindle deals in July and forgot all about it. Five months later, i gave it a go and read it in one day. It was as compulsive reading as a really compulsive, compulsive thing, on national be more compulsive than usual day.So without spoilers, Ove is a grumpy old rhymes with odd, and with good reason.From an era when pride in a job well done and not blowing your own trumpet, Ove was raised in a house of few words, without much in life, but what he had always seemed to be taken from him.Long story short, he moans, but is a good guy, trying to get by in a worldgonemad. Misunderstood by most, but neverone to not help, as long as he can moan about it.This is my first book from the author, but certainly won't be the last.One of those rare books you mourn it ending, but will read again and again over the years.What you waiting for? Buy it now!