Reviews with content warning for Child death - A Man Called Ove

Frederick Backman has this wonderful ability to write people as people. People are ridiculous, stupid, vindictive, cruel, and at the same time kind, wonderful, creative, and beautiful. The characters in this book have such a wide range of complexity that Backman managed to write in such compelling ways. Ove is so much more than a grumpy old man. He is deeply scarred by the life be had been put through and upholds this harsh personality as a matter of principle, but also because he sees no reason to be close to anyone anymore.

The switch between past and present gives such a wonderful insight into the character of Ove and what were originally annoying character traits became things I found wonderfully endearing.

Almost every single character turned into someone I became extremely attached to. Especially Ove and Parvaneh. Their adorable budding friendship that turned into a found-family felt so natural and that’s what makes it so beautiful. A grumpy traumatized old man who becomes steadfast friends with a witty and bubbly young woman who sees past his rough exterior.

There are many moments where Ove displays suicidal tendencies. Which I think are written in a way that is realistic. There are no flowery prose describing his agony and no long monologues describing the depths of his turmoil. He just says, “I just want to die.” It’s powerful in its simplicity.

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hkantola11's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-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

3.5

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kmark's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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reubenalbatross's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.5

I feel emotionally wrecked after finishing this. I'm pretty sure I was crying solidly for the last 50 or so pages.

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.

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sakisreads's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted 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? No

4.5

Okay, this was a recommendation from a friend who never usually goes for this genre, so it was a real surprise!

Initially I found Ove to be difficult, but obviously after a while he grew on me and I wanted to give him a huge hug 🥹 I love when Parvaneh came into the story too; I knew her and Ove would make great friends from the very start.

This definitely needs some trigger warnings (TW: suicide attempts). I’ll add it into the content warnings below too.

I would highly recommend this to someone who would like a wholesome tale that will make them cry and laugh, sometimes simultaneously 🥰 Big fan ✨

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