Debbie "DJ"'s Reviews > A Man Called Ove

When I began reading A Man Called Ove, I thought what a clever tale of an angry old man. The kind that believes rules and regulations are of utmost importance, that see the world filled with stupid people, and is always right. The way the author describes him and his actions are hilarious, as I have known a few Oves myself. They have their principles!

The only person Ove had and loved dearly, was his wife, Sonja. She has just passed away, and all Ove wants to do is kill himself, but those pesky neighbors keep getting in his way!

I was enjoying all the fun until about the 40% mark, then I started getting angry myself. It is always others who make Ove begrudgingly do the right thing. It was always his wife who made all the excuses for him as a basically non-functioning adult.

There were two items in particular that I really didn't like. The first was his cat, a stray, whom if not for his neighbors he would have let die. The second is a neighbor called Jimmy. Jimmy is overweight, and the constant references to food hanging out of his mouth, and stains on his shirt were just plain rude.

I pressed on even though it was getting tough to read. There was one paragraph near the ending about getting older that touched my heart, but other than that, it was just more of the same.

The author, Fredrik Backman, is a blogger, and this is his first novel. He is a good writer, and I can see how blogs of Ove would be fun, but as a whole book it just didn't work for me...but, I am in the minority!