54. A Man Called Ove
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Recommended by: Christy DeMeyer
Author: Frederik Backman
Genre: Fiction
337 pages, published July 15, 2014
Reading Format: Audio Book
Summary
A Man Called Ove takes place in a small town in Sweden and tells the story of Ove, a 59 year old widower who is a cranky curmudgeon who spends his days patrolling the neighborhood for minor violations. Ove is a man of rigid values and has little patience for those who don’t measure up to his standards. When a lively immigrant family from Iran moves in next door, Ove’s impervious exterior begins to crack open and we learn his back story which has brought him to such a place of sadness. We also learn about the fundamental decency and integrity of the man and the extent of the impact he has had.
Quotes
“Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say.”
“Men like Ove and Rune were from a generation in which one was what one did, not what one talked about.”
“This was a world where one became outdated before one’s time was up. An entire country standing up and applauding the fact that no one was capable of doing anything properly anymore. The unreserved celebration of mediocrity. No one could change tires. Install a dimmer switch. Lay some tiles. Plaster a wall. File their own taxes. These were all forms of knowledge that had lost their relevance.”
“Now you listen to me,” says Ove calmly while he carefully closes the door. “You’ve given birth to two children and quite soon will be squeezing out a third. You’ve come here from a land far away and most likely you fled war and persecution and all sorts of other nonsense. You’ve learned a new language and got yourself an education and you’re holding together a family of obvious incompetents. And I’ll be damned if I’ve seen you afraid of a single bloody thing in this world before now….I’m not asking for brain surgery. I’m asking you to drive a car. It’s got an accelerator, a brake and a clutch. Some of the greatest twits in world history have sorted out how it works. And you will as well.” And then he utters seven words, which Parvaneh will always remember as the loveliest compliment he’ll ever give her. “Because you are not a complete twit.”
“We always think there’s enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like ‘if’.”
“Ove had never been asked how he lived before he met her. But if anyone had asked him, he would have answered that he didn’t.”
“And time is a curious thing. Most of us only live for the time that lies right ahead of us. A few days, weeks, years. One of the most painful moments in a person’s life probably comes with the insight that an age has been reached when there is more to look back on than ahead. And when time no longer lies ahead of one, other things have to be lived for. Memories, perhaps.”
“Death is a strange thing. People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it’s often one of the great motivations for the living. Some of us, in time, become so conscious of it that we live harder, more obstinately, with more fury. Some need its constant presence to even be aware of its antithesis. Others become so preoccupied with it that they go into the waiting room long before it has announced its arrival. We fear it, yet most of us fear more than anything that it may take someone other than ourselves. For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone.”
My Take
It took me a while to get into A Man Called Ove, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, another book that moved me with its message about the meaning of life and your impact on the world. I highly recommend it.
