Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

168 reviews

allydee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Car accident, Cancer, and Body shaming

gillzzzo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

Very lighthearted, heartwarming, book. Charming and a lovely read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, and Death

Minor: Car accident, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was almost a DNF for me. I'm glad I finished it, but I honestly did not like it until I was at least 80% of the way through. I simply did not like Ove. I know you're supposed to grow to love him, but I didn't. Maybe that makes me a monster, and I can accept that. His curmudgeonly traits were fine and a little endearing by the end, but sometimes he was flat out mean. I can't get behind that. 

I'm also fairly convinced that Backman has never met a cat before in their entire lives. A cat that licks steering wheels passive aggressively, happily wears socks, and calmly sits on bar stools in cafes they've never been in before was so out of left field. The rest of the book is very realistic, so the cartoon cat threw me in every scene they were in. 

The use of similes to describe every single disgruntled expression this man has ever had in his life drove me mad as well, but that's clearly a personal writing style preference, so to each their own.

The overall message of the book is... nice. And I think it gives the reader a nuanced perspective of what it's like to be a senior that society seems to have given up on. But the road to get there was gritty and uncomfortable. I mean I was rooting for Ove getting what he wanted for the vast majority of the book because it felt like his right to make that decision. At least I appreciated the ending, though. I don't think it's a book I would recommend to friends, but it was different from other books I've read recently, so that made it worth it for me in the end.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Fatphobia, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Cancer, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

mladd28's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia

riordanfan's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Fatphobia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Drug use, Terminal illness, Outing, Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Miscarriage

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

Maybe I would’ve enjoyed this years ago or in a different mindset but I couldn’t get past the amount of white man xenophobia, homophobia, ableism, fat phobia and toxic masculinity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Xenophobia and Fatphobia

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Ableism

maureenlessreen's review against another edition

dark lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I just couldn’t get behind the author trying to make Ove sympathetic.

I get that his life sucked and all that, but he was mostly an asshole! And I’m over the trope of a super grumpy curmudgeon who has a sunshine wife who gets fridged. I rolled my eyes so hard when the doctor said Ove’s heart was too big.

Aside from character and plot, I don’t know if it was the translation or what, but I found the prose sort of unpleasant to read? I had high hopes for this book because I loved Anxious People but it ended up being meh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Grief, and Death

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Misogyny

megwhitlock's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

One of my all time favourite books, that never ceases to make me cry. Beautiful and hopeful and just downright lovely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Suicide, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Infertility and Cancer

Minor: Domestic abuse

Everything is handled in a sensitive and thoughtful way, and nothing is gratuitous.

ila_mae'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

It's the exact story you would expect for a story about a grumpy old man who just lost his wife. Nothing that surprising happens and I could pretty much predict what would happen the entire book.

That being said, I was completely riveted the entire time. I bawled my eyes out at the end, I couldn't wait to see what happened to Ove next and I just wanted him to be happy. I found it beautiful and deep and incredibly sensitive. Every character was super likeable and I was rooting for all of them. I'm so glad I read this and I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Fatphobia and Ableism

Minor: Homophobia

britbreeze's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse, Car accident, Dementia, Homophobia, Fatphobia, and Miscarriage