A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”- A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman

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.

One of the things I'm looking forward to in life is being a stodgy old curmudgeonly kind of person. Someone who complains about the youths of today and goes on about how this new fangled technology is destroying our society and talks constantly about "back in my day". I'm already kind of like that. Which is why I think I related to Ove way more than a girl my age should relate to a 59 year old man who's very set in his ways. I think I'm in need of a manic pixie dream boy. Does John Green have a hotline or a bat signal or something?

The real star of this book was Ove himself. I know there are other characters, like the family that moved in and Rune and Anita, but they (well, with the exception of Rune and Anita) dimmed in comparison to Ove. I have a feeling that in a few months, I would forget their names completely but will still remember him to a T. He's such a great character, the kind of person whose bitter, but deep down inside loves so deeply. He's the kind of character that is rarely the center of a work of fiction, his place usually reserved as the grumpy-yet-endearing granddad of some teenage character. His relationship with his Sonja was also perfect. I loved the flashbacks of their life together, and the lack of her presence was felt acutely throughout the novel.

The first half of this book was far funnier than the last half. The last half was good, don't get me wrong, but it paled in comparison, in my opinion, which is one of the reasons why this book didn't get a full 9/10. Still, the ending was perfect, if a bit rushed feeling, and had me swallowing back tears. Even if it did end a bit too pat for me. My only other complaints are that the writing was a bit too bloggish at times, with all caps, multiple exclamation points, and of course the dreaded interrobang. But those are nitpicks.

So do I recommend it? Obviously. How can I not? It's sweet, funny, and utterly heartwarming. Don't let the presence of the translation scare you, either. This book is one of the best translated books I've ever read- you honestly can't tell that it was ever written in a different language. I kind of wish I read Swedish, just so I could compare the two. If you see it, you should definitely pick it up. I'm curious to check out more of Backman's work- if it's anything like this, I'm sure it will be fantastic.

8.5-9 out of 10