Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

224 reviews

espookita's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

My friends lent me this book and then had to bully me over the course of multiple weeks to actually pick it up and start reading. It’s not that I was expecting it to be bad, more so unrelatable and perhaps boring. I judged this book incredibly wrong. When I started reading this, (it took me about a month to read the whole thing) I read about 4 chapters in a sitting and had to put it down because this book brought me genuinely to tears every four chapters or so. It’s very simple, but its beauty is in its simplicity. Ove’s daily inspections, the drab Swedish winters, the heavy piles of snow, the sausage and potatoes for dinner every single day create this very easy picture of life to imagine that, while clearly Swedish, can also be found anywhere. Ove’s grumpy curmudgeonliness is a characteristic of old men worldwide. But there is such simple beauty. His loyalty to his Saab, his long-standing marriage that brought color to his life, his friendship with a neighbourhood cat. There is a profound amount of emotion within this book because it is not so much about adventures or stories, but about the way we humans live our lives and feel pain, fall in love, experience loss, and find our way through that grief to something new again. That is something valuable for everyone. There is not a single person I think who would not be able to gain something from this book. 100% recommendation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Car accident

Moderate: Cancer, Dementia, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Outing, and Fire/Fire injury

krysley's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-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

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Dementia, Grief, Homophobia, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

bernierj7's review

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

This is such a light-hearted, wholesome story about one grumpy old man! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

kyrstin_p1989'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

4.0

Ove is the kind of cantankerous old man you can’t help but love. He hangs on to his beliefs even when others challenge him and is a good man, even though he gripes about everyone else’s incompetence. This novel is a lesson in grief and love and how we choose to go on with life even when it feels like it’s crumbling down around us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Cancer, Death of parent, Homophobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Death, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Miscarriage

am4man's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, and Cancer

Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, and Car accident

jhbandcats's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad fast-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? Yes

4.25

A gentle look at an irascible old man (who isn’t really that old) and the sources of his discontent. The book opens with Ove in the depths of despair, alone, nothing to live for, his only desire to end his life. Within just a few pages he’s saddled with meddling, incompetent neighbors *and* their children, and a beat-up tomcat who insists on moving in. 

Ove’s facade cracks as he learns to care for those around him, from taking the clutzy neighbor with broken limbs to the hospital to rescuing a stranger who interrupts his own failed suicide attempt. Over the course of the book, Ove’s heart opens up and he’s able to appreciate his life again. The meddling neighbors and the beat-up tomcat were the best things that could have ever happened to him. 

The irascibility was grating at times but it was tempered by the bittersweet backstory of Ove’s youth. This book has been made into two movies, the excellent Swedish version and the eminently serviceable Hollywood remake. The book, of course, shows far more depth - definitely worth reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Fatphobia, Grief, Miscarriage, Body shaming, Death, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Infertility, Medical content, and Pregnancy

romeroreads's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted sad

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Suicide attempt, and Grief

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Death, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Death of parent, and Cancer

arshiya_amreen90786's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-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: Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Death, Pregnancy, and Suicide

Moderate: Chronic illness, Outing, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, and Car accident

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Dementia, Infertility, and Fire/Fire injury

chrisljm's review

emotional funny reflective relaxing sad 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? Yes

4.5

This book contained so much heart so it's not surprising to say that I cried in the end. While not a romance, it does contain the love story between Ove and his wife Sonja. The love he has for her is so sweet and so sad, because the book is also a story on grief and how Ove deals with losing the love of his life. It's about grief and loneliness, but also how friendship and community can be healing. 

The relationships in this novel was truly the best part for me. I loved reading about Ove's newfound relationship with his neighbors, and slowly seeing the ones he had in the past. He is very much a grumpy old man where despite how much he tries to fight them, a friendship and community can't help but form between him and his neighbors. It's hilarious seeing him try to beef with children, but the way they bonded with each other tugged on my heart.

And when they called him granddad I felt my heart squeeze. As did the reveal on Jimmy's back story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Death, Child death, Car accident, Ableism, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, and Dementia

Moderate: Homophobia, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Violence, Drug use, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol and Injury/Injury detail

my_a's review against another edition

Simplistic, characters and the narrative are absolute 1-dimensional caricatures. The trope of miserable old man being nasty to everybody and his Ray of sunshine wife is an old weathered trope. I tried so hard to get through it as everyone seems to love it but I just couldn't. There was often many things said that were offensive and insensitive about women, people who are overweight, pregnant people, that made me uncomfortable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, and Infertility

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Misogyny