He was a man of black and white. And she was colour. All the colour he had.
A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
About: You can't fool Ove into buying a computer without a keypad. Or paying for parking a minute longer than needed. And what's wrong with paying in cash? Ove lives in a world where people don't even know how to reverse a trailer, and certainly not how to read signs. If people could just leave him alone (cats included) he'd be able to get on with things.
The Good
Ove is a fantastic character. The voice is absolutely perfect. It reads so funny and warm and the writing is great. Ove is the literal Grinch at times and I felt so attached to him, especially in the moments where we're learning about his past. The times with his father and the times with his wife were my favourite parts of the novel. Utterly heart breaking (or heart forming) but so beautifully written. And I think the story had great build up in the beginning - you meet Ove at his grumpiest and there are all these gaps to his life that, piece by piece, are filled to allow you to understand Ove. Oh and the cat. The freaking cat.
The Bad
I think the pace of the novel is a little too slow. I liked how it was paced in the beginning as I was given questions and Ove was a man of mystery. But then the story relies on the charm of the writing and Ove to pull you through the rest of it. And there is a lot of charm so I could see how people might fly through the book, but I found the scenes too repetitive. The same characters popping up to demand the same things, or going to the same places to do very similar things.
The Somewhat Iffy
The other characters in the novel are good, but does rely on the reader suspending their disbelief. Everyone sort of orbits around Ove and their purposes are very much tied up to what he decides to do or not do. When I just focused on Ove, I was transported, but with the side characters I was constantly reminded that I was reading a novel and that Ove was the main character.
Overall
A very sweet, often funny novel about love and loneliness and making sense of the world when it can seem so cruel.
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