Book Review: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
4/5 ⭐️
"You only need one ray of light to chase all the shadows away."
I learned two things after reading this book. First of all his name is pronounced as "ooh-veh" and second, I think Swedish novels really do have the tendency to begin their novels in a slow paced manner. They save all the emotions for last.
It took a while for me to finish the book and right after, I proceeded to watch the movie. Yes, it was made into a movie in 2015 in case you didn't know, which is how I got to know the correct pronunciation to Ove's name.
Ove is simply a grouchy old man. After his wife passed away and lost his job, he took matters into his own hands and decided to take his own life away. But his plans of doing so is always interrupted by his new neighbors, a pregnant Iranian woman, her two children and her incompetent husband - as Ove would describe him.
The author seamlessly stitches Ove's life story, giving us an insight into how he became the man he is while interjecting a series of events that would postpone his attempt to try and kill himself. I love how there's one character throughout the book who stood patiently by Ove and who believed he was a good man even though he walked around the neighborhood without a smile on his face. We don't have those kinds of people nowadays. There's also a short lgbt segment in the book which I appreciated a lot.
After I finished the book, I closed my eyes and couldn't help but shed a tear. Mostly happy tears. Because in the end, even though his wife was gone and even though he thought there would be no more life after her, a family found him, and he found his little family too.
A very heartwarming read that I hope will remind you to be kind to whoever you come across with.
As for the movie, it did have minor tweaks here and there but if I hadn't read the book, I would have been bored watching it. There were some details that I think should have been added to the film. I highly recommend reading it first before because the book definitely had more impact.
