Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

104 reviews

thestorydoer's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• 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

A Man Called Ove is quite simple. It shows a man who is quite clearly in a lot of pain and proceeds to make you love him and everyone around him to death.

The characters around him are all incredibly memorable and fantastically written with such distinct personality. This is a perfect example of dialogue between modern characters, believable yet straight to the point.

There is no single paragraph in this book without clear purpose, which is fantastic to see as many writers tend to write in tangents in these types of books.

The character of Ove is fascinating because while he seems bitter, you learn more about him and learn not only who he loves, but how he loves them in return. Not only that, but the writing oozes of Ove, almost as if the book were written by him. Taking a story and adapting it's narration to it's focal character while remaining objective in it's representation of events is a real skill and much trickier than it seems.

My only complaint is that I can't write more about it because there, fortunately or unfortunately, is nothing to critique.

My new favourite book and a perfect character study. Flawless, emotional, funny, and beautifully written. 5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Domestic abuse

marie_is_reading's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Dementia, Homophobia, Cancer, and Chronic illness

bookonium's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Domestic abuse and Homophobia

lilikamasha's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Dementia

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Homophobia, and Miscarriage

Minor: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Violence

james1star's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

Agh this book was something. Quick plotline is we follow Ove who is ‘grumpy old man’ who has decided to die after loosing his wife and job but then things put a halt to his plans and Yhh that’s all I’ll say as I don’t want to ruin anything for readers. 

It was so good!! Oh my goodness!! I absolutely loved this story - it was so emotive, sad, happy, sweet, tender, annoying, tense, lovely and just everything. Perfect character analysis which is followed throughout where we start not really liking Ove but as every paragraph goes on you fall in love with him, such a turnaround. And the plethora of side characters are so diverse, lovable, real and have in depth characters analyses too. My favourite character would 100% be Sonja, no doubt about it (unintentional ABBA reference) who was just pure loveliness, the sweetest, most caring and amazing woman with such a positive attitude, wow!! Ove is certainly problematic at points but this just makes him so real and Yhh everything in terms of plot and character studyness was exceptional. 

My only qualm and why I dropped it slightly below the full 5 stars is I didn’t exactly love the writing style, I personally felt there was far too much repetition of names (Ove is written at least every 5 lines on every page for example) and other things, topics and the like but it definitely readable and enjoyable but only a slight issue. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Dementia, Miscarriage, and Bullying

Minor: Car accident, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Racism

itsocchiolism's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Cancer, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Car accident

Minor: Domestic abuse

jaelynna's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Minor: Miscarriage, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Car accident, Grief, and Body shaming

sbar713's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“People had always said that Ove was bitter. But he wasn't bloody bitter. He just didn't go around grinning the whole time.” Ove lives his life by simple rules because that is just the sort of man that he is. 

Don’t drive your car in the residential area.

Don’t drive a French car.

Learn to brew a proper cup of coffee.

Be on time.

…and so forth.

He is surrounded by an eclectic mix of neighbors - The Poser, the Blonde Weed, Mutt, a cat, and soon The Lanky One, his gregarious pregnant wife Parvaneh, and their two children, who back their U-Haul right into Ove’s mailbox while driving in the residential area. 

This book made my heart grow three sizes. It made me laugh. It made me cry. Through a combination of flashbacks and the current sorry, it reminded me that behind every grumpy old man is a lifetime of love, of loss, and of unlikely friends… and that way that we all just try our best to feel useful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Death

natked's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The book has a wholesome vibe of the grumpy old Man vs cheerful people trope. This was executed well and I admit it made me cry a couple of times throughout the book.
And for that it would have deserved 5 stars.
However there are a few things that lower the score.

The way the MC behaves and talks down to people is far beyond what being a grumpy old fashion traditional man can excuse.
There is a ton of fatphobic content which serves no purpose.
The relationship between Pravaneh and Patrick is dreadful and basically emotional abuse.
The book is always on the verge of being outright racist.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia