| Anyone who’s lived in a condominium or in coop housing will recognize Ove as the overbearing, narrow-minded grouch who makes everyone else’s life a misery through his ultra rigid enforcement of “the rules.” Author Fredrik Backman, however, slowly paints a more complex portrait of Ove by interspersing his back story as a child and young man with current circumstances that thrust him into the harried life of new neighbours and press him to rekindle an old friendship. At its heart, A Man Called Ove is a funny and wonderfully moving love story that in my opinion does what a great book ought to do — reveal humanity at its best in the most unexpected places. |
JohnMatsui.com 