Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

138 reviews

allydee's review

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

kirnet's review

emotional 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

Really ended up enjoying this, though I found the pacing of the middle to be a bit of a slog, and then at the end it was very fast. Was only really invested in the flashback bits up until the end, and then I was crying lol.

It reminds me of the street I grew up on, with a lot of inter-generational friendships and a more found family mentality.

I thought this was going to be a more lighthearted read than it was, and while there are many lighthearted moments, it's mostly a story focusing on grief and human connection. TWs for multiple on page suicide attempts, terminal illness, miscarriage, car crashes, and also just a weird amount of fatfobia from the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Ableism, Miscarriage, and Suicide attempt

gillzzzo's review

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

riordanfan's review

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

alex_bousquet's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.5

Ove is your typical curmudgeon but that doesn't stop the new neighbor parvaneh from doing everything she can to befriend him. Ove grows so much as a person throughout the story and even though he just wants to be left alone to die to be reunited with his wife he is still so helpful to his neighbors. Ove is kind but not nice. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Terminal illness, Body shaming, Cancer, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Dementia, Car accident, and Death of parent

foxmulders's review

emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Grief

Moderate: Dementia, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, Ableism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

mel_j's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

3.0

This was sad. And hopeful. It made me cry – but still, there are very questionable (xenophobic, mysoginistic, ableist and fatphobic) things uttered by Ove.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Cursing, Xenophobia, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: Abortion, Toxic friendship, Miscarriage, and Addiction

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

4.25

Ove grew on me slower than the author intended to but by the end i guess he's okay…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Car accident, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Body shaming, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Fatphobia, Medical content, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Excrement

chezie's review against another edition

emotional funny 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 don’t normally cry when reading books but I couldn’t stop crying with this one. It’s full of a lot of love but also covers the reality of a tough life and grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Medical content, Cancer, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Grief, and Animal cruelty