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charlottefmason's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Cancer, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
mermaidstears's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Child death, Cancer, and Car accident
Minor: Terminal illness and Domestic abuse
laurataylor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Homophobia, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Medical content
katievh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Grief, Death, and Pregnancy
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Death of parent
reads_magee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage
jkononova's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Rare is a book that makes me both laugh and cry, and A Man Called Ove succeeded at both (often and semi-frequently, respectively). I started reading it because I wanted to occupy myself with something light and heartwarming as a break from my heavy courseload this quarter in university, and all the sci-fi and nonfiction and such that were already in progress were not cutting it. I'll say that the plot definitely isn't a "live, laugh, love" brand of wholesome; Backman doesn't shy away from getting into some of the darker parts of life that damage us, be it the misfortunes that bring surface-level cracks or the trauma that shatters us in our entirety. He doesn't lean into the overly saccharine, so every bit of the characters' growth throughout the course of the story and eventual happiness in the closing chapters feels real and earned. (I will say that the epilogue started feeling a little too good to be true at some points, in my opinion. but I was so overwhelmed with emotion at that point to care about "gritty realism" or whatever.)
(As an aside, I'm really curious as to how this book reads in its original Swedish. The language in translated books always feels a bit simple and canned to me, which works great with the lighthearted tone in this case, but I can't help but wonder what the original contains without all the workarounds in regard to slang, politics, etc that they had to include for English speakers. Though I guess I won't know unless I learn to read Swedish fluently, aka never, lol.)
All in all, I'd really recommend to anyone who feels drawn in by the premise!
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Car accident, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Violence
reuben_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is my first time reading Fredrik Backman, and I definitely understand the hype. It was such a real and heartfelt book which I think could bring just about anyone both comfort and emotional turmoil.
There are two reasons I haven't given this book 5 stars. If it weren't for these things, it would definitely be a 5. These are:
- Some pretty blatant fat-shaming/fatphobia. I would understand if this was just in Ove's point of view, as it is in his nature to be offensive about pretty much everything. However, this shaming was also in the main narrative voice. Jimmy - the only plus sized character in the book - was pretty much constantly eating, and described as greasy and no end of other fatphobic stereotypes. No other characters were stereotyped as much as him, and it did make me uncomfortable each time he was described.
- The words 'bent' and 'bender' to describe a gay character were used FAR too often, especially by a (as far as I can tell) straight male author. Again, this was in both Ove's voice and the narrative voice. It served a purpose when Ove was using these words in the beginning, but even after Ove was corrected and told not to use them, he still carried on, with seemingly no other repercussions. And the narrative voice just didn't have to use those words AT ALL. I do concede that these words and their true meaning could have been a little lost during the translation of the book, but I still do not like that they were used like this.
I hope that both of these issues are due to this book being written in 2012, and don't prove a problem in Backman's later works.
Graphic: Child death and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
hwaters95's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Homophobia
Minor: Domestic abuse and Cancer
kkosberg's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Minor: Homophobia and Domestic abuse
abitofcourage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt
Minor: Domestic abuse and Homophobia