I feel like this book’s description and blurbs pulled a major bait-and-switch with me. Okay, characters aside, I have to move on to my main complaint. Which is a shame, because I really liked them, especially the daughters. But since this book is so Ove-focused (obviously, considering the title tells you that), we miss a lot of what they go through.

Yes, they were in it a lot, but for me they were the best part of the story, and I wish we had learned more about them and their experiences, their dreams. Speaking of Parvaneh and wanting to see more, I so wish she and her family were in it more. And yes, it was nice to see the character development he went through, especially in his interactions with Parvaneh, but I wanted to see more of his good side than I got. Expressing these attitudes is always harmful to varying extents). Sure, his comments are not malicious, and he has no ill intent toward anyone, but it’s still unpleasant to be in his head all the time (and it’s not like it’s really possible to be benignly racist or misogynistic, when you think about it. He makes unkind remarks about essentially everyone-non-white people, fat people, gay people, young people, old people, women, and so on. He is just so judgemental and unkind to everyone, in a rather problematic way a lot of the time. I know you aren’t supposed to at the beginning, that the point is to witness his character development, but I had trouble liking Ove even as he improved (probably because of the other problems I had with this book, but more on those later). I went into it prepared to fall head over heels, because it sounded delightful, but unfortunately that isn’t what happened.įirst of all, I didn’t love Ove. I had heard it was really funny and sweet, and a great light read. Okay, listen, I really really wanted to love this book. Over time, Ove finds himself in more and more social situations, but perhaps that isn’t so bad after all.

But his quiet, solitary existence is disturbed when a family of four moves in next door. In A Man Called Ove (written by Fredrik Backman and translated into English by Henning Koch), Ove is a grumpy man who lives alone.

Book called a man called ove