Book Review: A MAN CALLED OVE

Oh how I loved this book. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman was brilliant, charming, sad and oh so heartwarming. Someone mentioned before I read Ove that it paralleled The Story of Arthur Truluv, which I had just finished reading, so I decided to read Ove next to compare. And yes, they are similar... there's an old, lonely man who's just lost his wife and visits her at the cemetery frequently. There's a cat. And there are neighbors who sort of revive the old man and give him purpose again. 

But I must say that while I enjoyed Arthur Truluv, I LOVED A Man Called Ove. There was so much more depth and character development, and it just felt real. 

I struggled to get into Ove's character at first. He was so grumpy and angry and negative that I didn't really want to spend time with, but as the author reveals more and more of who he is, you can't help but fall in love with him. And of course it's a bit dark because... spoiler alert... he keeps trying to kill himself throughout the book but obviously and thankfully keeps failing. I know it sounds morbid, but Ove is so practical about the whole process that you really don't have a deep reaction to the gravity of what he's doing until a little later once you know him better. At least that was my emotion. 

On a very personal note, I've been working on a novel for several years and am still struggling with the format... how many characters do you dive into deeply? Can you have one main character throughout an entire novel without it getting dull? What do you do about extraneous characters? How deep and wide does the storyline and backstory have to go? Which voice and point of view is best? All these questions have kept me from really diving into my story. But this book helped me a great deal and gave me hope for what I felt I should do all along. So thank you, Fredrik Backman! I learned a lot about writing by reading this particular novel. Now maybe I can complete my own! 

*Click on the image or on this link to go to Amazon where you can purchase the book. Yes, this is an affiliate link. :)