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A Man Called Ove
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A Man Called Ove
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A Man Called Ove
Audiobook9 hours

A Man Called Ove

Written by Fredrik Backman

Narrated by George Newbern

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon - the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him 'the bitter neighbor from hell.' But behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Editor's Note

Lovable curmudgeon…

This is, unsurprisingly, the story of a small-town curmudgeon named Ove. He is a man of staunch principles, strict routines, and terrible anger. But, of course, beneath Ove’s rough and unfriendly exterior lies a story of true sorrow and loss. More than following one man’s obsession with being the worst, the book explores the comical and heartwarming relationship between Ove and is ill-fated new neighbors.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 29, 2014
ISBN9781629239835
Author

Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman, a blogger and columnist. He is the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry. Both were number one bestsellers in his native Sweden and around the world, and are being published in more than thirty five territories. He lives in Stockholm with his wife and two children.

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Reviews for A Man Called Ove

Rating: 4.355430596480582 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

3,296 ratings353 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    #2in2018 What a truly wonderful book that brought a whole wealth of mixed emotions, at one point you are laughing out loud and then within sentences you are crying and feel the earth has been pulled from beneath your feet! Truly a rollercoaster ride of emotions but I loved it and found it very difficult to put the book down. Just finish the book you are on and then pick up this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a brilliant book this was - nothing has made me laugh and cry at the same time as much since “The Fault in our Stars”. At first I expected nothing more than a series of vignettes in which the eponymous Ove would apply his particular brand of righteous grumpiness to different facets of modern life. I would have been OK with that - the first chapter alone established that the author’s witty style was entertaining enough to compensate for any lack of plot. So when a plot actually emerged I was even more delighted.It could have been so different - there were things that could easily have become annoying. The preponderance of slapstick, the new neighbour with absolutely no boundaries, the laudable but clunky AF scene in the cafe in which the author seeks to place Ove within a politically correct sphere of grumpiness (ie he is NOT A BIGOT, okay??). The quality of the writing brushes away such concerns and brings the whole thing to a new level. Such inventive use of language (the guy with the expression on his face that suggested he expected everyone to start firing elastic bands at him was a classic). And I read the last few chapters through a wash of tears. Amazing book - in a time when everything I read rightly or wrongly puts me in mind of something else I’ve read, this one stands alone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Egads! Curmudgeons are my least liked protagonists yet still I purchased this book because of the very favorable reviews it had received. Wouldn't you know, the novel wastes no time in displaying Ove's curmudgeonly ways. So insensitive is he while attempting to make a purchase in an electronics store was almost enough to give this book the heave ho. Still, I continued on and slowly, ever so slowly, Ove's background comes to light and a bit of sympathetic feelings begin to emerge when the reader realizes how he became the dreaded C word and what he is attempting to do and why he wants to do it. Ove's circle of acquaintances are well drawn and provide comic relief as well as a reason for Ove to continue living without his beloved wife, Sonja. A bit of a tearjerker and diverse in nature, I recommend this novel to those who otherwise shun the literary curmudgeon.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ove is a curmudgeon who has specific ways of doing things and dealing with people. His wife died 6 months ago. One Monday he went to work and they told him he was done, just to go home and rest. Ove is 59 years old. Frequently throughout the book people treat him as if he is 79 years old. On Tuesday Ove starts putting his affairs in order because he plans to kill himself and doesn't want the aftermath to be a bother to anyone. His plans are interrupted by his new neighbors. Every day Ove wakes up, does his morning routine, checks that everything in the neighborhood is safe and gets ready to commit suicide. Everyday he is interrupted and his help is needed by one neighbor or another. By the middle of the book it's obvious where the story is going. I loved it anyway. It made me laugh, often, and it made me cry. It was exactly the book I needed to be reading when I read it. Recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Just a great novel, in every way. I love the way Ove's character and circumstances are revealed to you as you progress through the book. This is not my typical genre, but I was moved by this book. Might be my favorite of 2015.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Perhaps overly sentimental tale of a cranky old man. Satisfying and tear-jerking, but predictable and overly sweet.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Captures contemporary Sweden or Sweden over the last 20 years, perfectly, with a wry humor. However, the translation is into a distinct English English.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I put off reading this book for a long time and I'm sorry I did because it was a lovely book. Ove is such a grumpy, peculiar man but also so funny! I loved his names for his neighbor ("the lanky one" kills me!) and his dedication to maintaining order and rules. And despite this, how Ove gets pulled into caring for his neighbors (and they care for him) is a testament to the power of loving others and how that is transformative. Also, I wish we could have seen more interaction with Ove and his wife because even the bits we got were delicious!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me a while to get into this, but when I was finished, it had a strange satisfying feel to it. Ove is a widower in Sweden and is mad at the world. He loves rules, tradition, and few people. He lives in a row house with close neighbors among them Rune who is now suffering from Alzheimers. Rune and Ove have been of and on "friends" for decades but have mostly been enemies due to a difference in many things such as what car to drive, rules about the home association, etc. A young family with a pregnant Iranian wife, two young children, and a seemingly incompetent husband move next door. The first meeting involved them driving over Ove's mailbox.The novel is told in short chapter some entitled "a man called Ove" and some "a man who was once Ove". I like the backstory much better than the contrived dialogue in the present. The reader learns of the many heartbreaks in Ove's life including a wife and many loses. Currently Ove is trying to commit suicide but at each attempt something either fails or he is interrupted usually by the neighbors. Parvaneh, the pregnant neighbor soon becomes both a nuisance and a life line. The story is humorous, sad, and touching. It is a perfect portrayal of an angry old man--angry for a reason and at the same time angry over nothing. The book has a happy ending which might seem a bit contrived, but shows the importance of human relationships.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I so enjoyed this book! Ove cracked me up. I am not big into touchy feely books, but I really did enjoy this one. I could kind of see where he was coming from at times.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ove is a crank. All knowing, opinionated, and unwilling to take any crap from anybody, he is the consummate curmudgeon. He has some very good reasons for his grumpy attitude which the reader learns slowly through the alternating chapters of back-story. But Ove has a soft spot for his beloved wife, Sonja and a stray cat, and when new neighbors move in, his gruff exterior is chipped away, little by little, like it or not. Ove, as we knew all along, has a big heart after all. Loneliness, grief, love, and friendship are major themes and while the tone is especially light, there are serious topics addressed. Quirky, heartwarming, charming, funny, and profound. What a sweet and memorable read!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book made me laugh and cry. What a wonderful story of a curmudgeon who is both feisty and warmhearted. I listened to the audio book and the narrator, George Newbern, did an excellent job portraying the characters. This is one I can read/listen to multiple times.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The kind of book you want to tell other people to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love Ove so much.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A cute little story about a quiet man having to figure out life without the only person who understood him, his wife. Ove is determined to kill himself after his wife dies and he is forced into early retirement, but the pesky neighbors and a cat keep getting in the way. The book is a fast read and the story is well thought out with showing Ove's present life and his past.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My mother (who mainly reads book-club books) suggested this one and I thought it'll be fine, but probably not interesting enough to really engage me (I like slightly off-kilter books best, or so I think).

    This turned out to be a real tear-jerker for me, and everything that makes me cry gets at least an extra half-star uptick! The many characters were compelling drawn and well-differentiated, the plot (basically a series of flashbacks detailing his life, interspersed with episodes from the present) held my attention, and I soon found myself finding excuses to go for a walk so that I could keep reading my book in peace, finishing it in relatively record time (for me, these days).

    Only negative would be that I found Ove's repeated attempts to accomplish a particular goal in several different ways, all unsuccessful, to be sad rather than comic, which I suspect was the intention. But that's an awfully minor quibble for such an engaging, funny, heartbreaking book.

    (Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sentimental, manipulative schlock. I totally loved it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was an absolutely delightful story. I didn't think so at first. In the beginning I was mostly frustrated by Ove's repeated attempts to kill himself and his chronic rudeness. Just as in real life relationships, we learn that there is much more to Ove than meets the eye. It takes the combined efforts of his neighbors to draw him out, but eventually he emerges as a truly lovely person. The pivotal character in the story is a "pregnant foreign woman" who seems to see through his gruff and rude exterior and decides to push her way in to his life. I will definitely read more by Fredrik Backman.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sparingly written and well edited with a compelling story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is so wonderful it's overwhelming. I adored it and will read more by this author!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Ove is a grumpy old man whose wife died six months ago. Stuck in his routines and desperately missing her, he considers a half dozen ways of killing himself. The story alternates between chapters telling his personal biography, from childhood through to his marriage and conflicted measurement with a neighbor, and the present time, in which he helps his neighbors, a cat, and the estranged friend. It is a fun story, if predictably stereotyped. The writing tries hard to be charming, and I think it mostly fails.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was on the fence when I first started this. Ove is curmudgeon, and I utterly loathed how he treated some folks, in particular folks in customer service. But ... it won me over in the end. In no small part, I'm sure, because Ove reminds me of my dad. It is funny and beautiful and moving. It is true to humanity in the shaping of its characters. I laughed some. I teared up some. I, who am chronically averse to romance, loved how he felt about his wife. It's easy to see why this was an international sensation.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A deceptively simple story that, at first, seems another "grump old man" saga, which it is, but then it blossoms. It is not unlike a contemporary retelling of "It's A Wonderful Life," in that it opens a window into a simple man's life, exposing a man's rough-hewn nature guarding his over-sized heart. I knew and know men and women like this, so it seems to me that the power of this book is its relevance to the human experience. Four stars..
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disagreeable and predictable
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Best for: I don’t know. Everyone?

    In a nutshell: A man’s suicide attempts are repeatedly foiled by his incompetent neighbors.

    Line that sticks with me: “Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say.”

    Why I chose it: I found myself in a a bookstore and saw that this was on sale. I figured it was finally time to check it out.

    Review: Some very mild, non-specific spoilers follow.

    Two novels in a row, both dealing with the issue of loss in very different ways. The book follows Ove, a 59-year-old man who has just been sent home for early retirement. He is a deliberate, regimented man who believes in things that you can see and touch. He builds homes and works on cars. He takes a daily inspection walk throughout his little housing community to make sure no rules are being broken. He’s basically “get off my lawn,” come to life.

    Ove is also a young man, growing up and meeting the love of his life, Sonja. To tell this story, and to give the readers an understanding of how Ove came to be, nearly every other chapter is some sort of chronological flashback to his past. Through this we learn why he doesn’t trust the people from the government, and how his life experiences have led him to where his is today.

    Once I realized what this book was about, I was a little worried to be consuming yet more media about a cantankerous old white man. But man, was it worth it. I think that what I loved most about this book is how I don’t really feel like the total personality of Ove changes by the end. Yes, there are definitely some different actions, but it’s not as though he starts as this regimented man and then ends up throwing all the rules out the window. He just manages to find some new motivation in his life that still (mostly) fits with how he wants to live it. By the end of the book I found that I hadn’t laughed nearly as much as the blurbs seemed to suggest I would, but that I did feel a whole range of emotions deeply.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A sweet book... makes me think of the small town neighborhood where I grew up. Everyone had their issues, arguments, etc, but try to come between them and you were doomed. I think I may be the only person who likes My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry more than this one. The author's style is very comfortable; a great narrator.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A cute little story about a quiet man having to figure out life without the only person who understood him, his wife. Ove is determined to kill himself after his wife dies and he is forced into early retirement, but the pesky neighbors and a cat keep getting in the way. The book is a fast read and the story is well thought out with showing Ove's present life and his past.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It is a rare book that can find common ground with a group of discerning readers, but every member was moved by this sad, yet heart-warming tale of a grumpy, bitter man made whole again by an unsuspecting community. Ove brought out the empathy in all of us, and we loved following his journey. We recognised many characteristics in people we knew, which made it easy to find compassion and understanding for Ove. The writing style was also praised. The slow release of information through each chapter kept the reader engaged, and the balance of humour and drama created the perfect format for an absorbing read. There was never any chance of coming away from this book dissatisfied!In closing, we all agreed that through Ove, Backman has us all thinking twice before judging the next grumpy old man we encounter.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was expecting to love this book, but I thought it was just okay. Maybe curmudgeon characters aren't my thing. I liked the interactions between Ove and the cat the best.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Traditionally this has not been the sort of book I read. I like action and adventure; blood and guts; twists and turns, sword and sorcery; and feel free to throw in some vampires, werewolves, dragons and assorted magic folk along the way.

    However this is the year of expanding my horizons (I've been trying the adulting thing for a few decades now so I really ought to have something to show for it, such as a wide and eclectic literary taste)

    Surprisingly this book appealed to me greatly. I was unsure how the translation would come across (I know - this is what much of the world has to put up with in reverse - English to "insert language here"). I found myself reading in my head with a Swedish accent and it was not at all a struggle to read.

    I "bonded" with Ove almost immediately, mostly because it screamed of my father from the first sentence. Ove (along with my father) is a greatly misunderstood man by many - mostly because he is fairly unique in his strong principles and work ethic. For those not as inclined, it can be hard to understand, see eye to eye, or get along, with those that are. Those principles often put Ove at odds with the world around him.

    The book details Ove's journey from hopelessness at his current situation, and how the relationships we build with those around us can have a profound effect, on ourselves and others. It's a heart warming tail, essentially a collection of stories of situations in Oves life which are one moment humorous and the next pulling on your heart-strings.

    I'm glad I was inspired to pick up a book a little bit different from my norm. "A Man Called Ove" is definitely one for the favourites shelf.