In my latest reading adventure I traveled to Sweden where I met “A man called Ove“.  

Ove is a loveable curmudgeon in late middle-age.

   He is ever so slightly OCD and has a problem with the machinations of society.   Ove is very set in his ways and is disdainful of almost everyone he meets.  He has a fondness for rules and thinks that anyone who doesn’t  follow them is a harbinger of chaos.   He has always driven a Saab car and thinks that what car a person drives tells a lot about a person.

Ove’s story is told in a series of flashbacks which makes the reader cognizant of all the loss and sadness that Ove has encountered in his life along with all the many talents he possesses.

In the present, over the course of of several months, Ove, with a little help from his friends, gets a new lease on life.

Poignant and hysterically funny in equal measure, “A man called Ove” is a heartwarming novel of life, loss, and our intrinsic need to be needed.  Skillfully written with charm and wit, this debut novel is a fast read – and one you will remember for a long time.   You know you’ve read a good book when after the last page is turned you are already missing the characters…  I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed “The storied life of A.J. Fikry” or “The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry“.

“A man called Ove” came about as a result of a blog post from Swedish author Fredrik Backman.   His readers took to the character and requested more and more.  The result was this novel.   Like Frederik Backman’s blog readers, this reader believes that the world would be a better place with more people like “A man called Ove“.