A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is the sort of book that sits on my to-read list for years and I'm sure there's a reason I never get to it, but the cover scares me off because I presume that the old guy and the cat on the cover are both going to die and then I end up eventually getting to it because it's available at the library when nothing else is.  

There are a number of reasons I should dislike this book. The first couple of chapters are really rough as we meet Ove, a very grumpy old dude who is actively trying to kill a cat who clearly has adopted Ove as his human.  There's a cat acting like a dog, which is my pet peeve about people who clearly have never lived with a cat writing about cats.  There's a ton of fat-phobia. 

But, I don't dislike this book. I loved it.  Ove is my husband. He's grumpy and uncomfortable around folks, but if there's a problem and he can help solve it, he's the first one to do so.  Backman does an interesting job of character development with Ove by starting with him as just a grumpy guy, but eventually we see how the grumpiness developed and, more importantly, we see how underneath that grumpy exterior is a man who wants to be needed and to feel useful.  

Highly recommend this book, particularly if you know and love an introverted grump.

Lines of note:

"He never understood why she chose him. She loved only abstract things like music and books and strange words. Ove was a man entirely filled with tangible things. He liked screwdrivers and oil filters. He went through life with his hands firmly shoved into his pockets. She danced." (page 108)

"'Now, you listen to me,' says Ove calmly while he closes the door. 'You've given birth to two children and quite soon you'll 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.'

...

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.'"(page 238)

"And Ove didn't know exactly when he became so quiet. He'd always been taciturn, but this was something quite different." (page 260)