Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - A Man Called Ove

Maybe I’m heartless, but this book unfortunately did not emotionally wreck me like I hoped it would. Don’t get me wrong, it was very sweet, but all I did was think “aww, that’s nice” instead of bawling my eyes out like other readers.

I think the book was just a bit too slow-paced throughout for my taste, and because of that, I found it hard to stay engaged.

I also found Ove’s (and, let’s face it, the author’s) comments about women and fat people to be pretty offensive at times. The reader would have still found Ove to be just as curmudgeonly if he hadn’t been so misogynistic and fatphobic. Ove is homophobic and xenophobic too. These comments were much more connected to the story, but they could’ve been handled more delicately or even omitted entirely.

Finally, I found Ove’s age to be very odd. His character would have made more sense to me if he were 70 rather than 59. My own father is 60, and it just felt weird to read about a grumpy curmudgeon who was a year younger than my dad when I don’t view my dad that way at all.

Content Warnings

yuna's review against another edition

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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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lisatz's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

4.0

einfach ein Buch zum Wohlfühlen. Einfühlsam geschrieben und das Entfalten von Oves Vergangenheit und Schicksalsschlägen ist spannend aufgebaut.
Leider wird ein Charakter sehr fettfeindlich eingeführt und wirklich furchtbar beschrieben und beleidigt, was wohl witzig gemeint sein soll (ist es nicht)
An anderer Stelle habe ich mich gefragt, warum der Junge, der von seinem Vater wegen seiner Sexualität auf die Straße gesetzt wird, einen arabischen/persischen Namen haben muss. Schreit geradezu antimuslimischer Rassismus. Versteh nicht warum man da nicht einen anderen Namen nehmen kann.

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nina17's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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

3.75

Content Warnings

chris_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

3.0

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halliesanto's review against another edition

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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

4.0

Content Warnings

uyeb's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.0

here’s the thing. this book was just decent. i was hoping and hoping for some life changing moment that would make me love this book but honestly nothing happened like that. it was sad at the end, i’ll give y’all that, but the rest of the book just basically details the sad life of a lonely old man. and that’s fine, but just not really for me. however, i understand that there is some depth here in understanding how and why death affects people but also how lively human interaction can affect people.

but the ending seems to completely negate that? what’s the point of proving that human interaction is so important and life changing and beautiful if the end result of character growth is death? it’s an arc i will never understand. and it’s possible i’m missing something but. what is the something? i also have to wonder if the terribleness of ove’s character (ie not grumpiness but the homophobia, xenophobia, fatphobia, etc) can be looked over because he’s of a different generation, that’s part of his flaws, and because it’s an in-book flaw (meaning the author is essentially acknowledging that it’s a bad thing and that the main character isn’t good for thinking that way. i think this is super important bc smth like sexism in a book is totally fine if you’re making the sexist character a bad person. but not saying it’s bad makes it problematic, ya know?). but i’m not positive that’s what’s happening here. it more seems like his flaws like those are being written off as unimportant or just a given? so i wonder then if these things not being fixed over the course of the book mean that ove’s character growth is not as consistent as one might otherwise think? or perhaps that he’s never a good person and maybe the ending makes sense? i’m so so lost and i’m confusing myself help

but basically this is pretty wholesome and i like the writing but i’m a bit confused for a number of reasons. maybe it’s a book to reread in 10 years. also, yes, i cried a little. and it was kinda like a ‘why why why how does this make sense’ lol if that encourages you to read this. this review is absolute nonsense wow i’m making no coherent points. :)

Content Warnings

rely's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I understand the love of this book. My feelings are really complicated. I hated the first 2/3s because I hated Ove and didn't think he deserved the redemptive arc. I guess by the end it had swayed me, but I didn't love him ever, I loved the people who helped him.

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