by Fredrik Backman
There is so much to talk about in A Man Called Ove. The majority of our
members love this novel. Two members did not enjoy this novel due to the
suicidal tendencies of Ove and the poor characterization of Swedish people. One
member brought photos to share of her family in Sweden. The Swedish farmhouse
gave us a great jumping off point to dive into our discussion about Ove.
The humor mixed with the sadness creates a
novel that resonated with our group. Ove is a good person but he sees the world
in one way and you better see it that way too. Ove is grumpy and set in his
ways because he lost Sonja and cannot come to terms with that.
There is such a beautiful love story
between Sonja and Ove. His life was black and white and she was his color. We
can all understand his depression at losing her. We love that Ove fights for Sonja
and anyone being mistreated. On their honeymoon Sonja naps and Ove is fixing up
the town. When Ove stands up to Tom when he was a boy and then as a man shows
his true character.
All of Backman’s characters are so richly
drawn that we feel like we know them. Parvaneh is determined to befriend Ove. We
all love her humor and persistence. Ove’s cat, that he did not want, was more
like a dog. Ove talking to the cat makes us all laugh.
This is one of our favorite books of the
year (for most of us).
