Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

19 reviews

yuna's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

Sad but heartwarming, or is heartwarming but sad? A little of a rough start for me because Ove's grumpy old man-ness, while sort of played for laughs, is rife with every -ist and -ism you can think of. He's super intolerant. A customer service-facing job's worst nightmare. 

Throughout the course of the story you learn why/how he is the way he is, and a  lot of it is wonderful. I really liked the structure of this book and how the backstory unfolds with the present. His relationship with Sonja is so tender and lovely, and the slow creation of a found family in the present is great. Translation work was very good--it read very fluidly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

A few CW notes: so much suicidal ideation in this book. Homophobia, xenophobia (that Ove only sort of softens on. He grows to be more understanding/accepting in a lot of ways, but there's a layer of ingrained xenophobia he never truly gets over), and both overt and casual fatphobia. Minor animal cruelty.

letsavoidadulting's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Very well-written but makes jokes out of things I don’t find funny, including

suicide and animal abuse

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death

vniasf's review against another edition

I am extremely sensitive when it comes to animal abuse, I get anxiety attacks from it. When it happened the first time in the book I thought it was also the last, I even ripped the pages out. However, there was more abuse and I could not take it. (Yes, I did forget to read the content warnings because I did not know where they were.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Racism, Pregnancy, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Miscarriage

fujo_cat's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

I definitely had high expectations... That were not totally met. While I did not love Ove at the beginning, I certainly did not find the neighborhood family's stubbornness and behavior very nice. It feels very forceful and I was even taking Ove's side, just wishing for him to leave the lady lmao In the end, the whole plot felt a bit empty and I did not feel much for the cast... At least it wasn't bad enough that I'd drop it haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Blood, Antisemitism, Animal death, and Violence

bitterseason's review against another edition

emotional funny sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Cursing, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, and Violence

cianarae's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Car accident, Terminal illness, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

Minor: Animal death, Ableism, Alcohol, Cancer, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

antoniaodernein's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Terminal illness, Medical content, Fatphobia, Cancer, Animal death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Body shaming, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury

shannanigans92's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Ableism

Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Homophobia

Minor: Violence, Infertility, Animal death, and Blood

booksandel's review against another edition

emotional 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

 I have to be honest, this book jumped up my tbr list because it came highly recommended by a close friend and boy am I glad I chose to read this right now.

Sometimes a book lands in your lap by some miracle at the perfect moment in your life. This was one of those times. I struggle to think of a better moment in my life to handle the intense and almost unbearable discussion of grief and love and living.

Was it perfect? No. The blatant and unnecessary fatphobia in this was irritating to say the least and I had a few other small things that didn't totally work for me (the timeline was too fast and too slow at the same time and this needs to stop being marketed as humorous because it is decidedly NOT funny. At best, it's charming and endearing.) But that does not mean that its emotional impact and true mastery of the craft of writing doesn't merit it five stars. There were moments wherein I was overwhelmed by the beautiful prose in the darkest moments of this book and that precision is a testament to Backman's skill.

Easily takes its place in my top books of the year already and I do not see it being bumped from that list. And Backman is now cemented in my mind as an author whose entire works I cannot wait to devour.

(though I think I can wait because idk if I'm ready to cry my eyes out again too soon) 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Animal death

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, and Terminal illness