Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

171 reviews

torismazarine's review

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Cursing, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Cancer, Child death, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Violence

espookita's review against another edition

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 against another edition

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

ashteroid's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

5 stars except justice for jimmy, why was he written like that 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Child death, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Racism, and Racial slurs

ericaw212's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

everytime i read a book by fredrik backman it is my new favorite book. didn’t make me cry as much as others by him but still perfect

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Dementia

Minor: Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Cancer, Gun violence, Homophobia, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

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 against another edition

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

elkila's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Homophobia and Pregnancy

atypeofgrass's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

I loved this book. It is probably my favorite I have read this year. I have to say that the movie (which I watched after) is not nearly as heartfelt or touching as the book. I actually started crying when it ended. Both because it was sad and it was such a great book. Even if you don’t like books that can be sad, read this. It truly is phenomenal.

Edit: most of the comments I am reading after this I feel don’t understand the point of the book. It is not about the plot of the book at all. It is about the character and their development. Don’t go into this expecting a great story, go into this expecting to be sad. The man in the story is grumpy all the time because that was how he was written. Spend time thinking about the real people in the world who are constantly angry, and think of what they may feel on the inside. Not everything should be judged off of the first glance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Self harm

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Infertility, and Terminal illness

Minor: Pregnancy and Hate crime