Good Reads / Community Library Notes
A Man Called Ove
Fredrik Backman
Review by Priscilla Comen
A Man Called Ove
Fredrik Backman
Review by Priscilla Comen
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is the delightful story of a glum, quiet sort of man who sometimes utters a few meaningful words—to the point. He is least unhappy when he is building and fixing things, or writing letters to correct the wrongs of bureaucracy. Ove and his wife, Sonia, took a trip to Spain and were involved in a bus accident. Sonia is paralyzed, but continues to work on getting her teaching credential. She is able to teach only because Ove builds a ramp for her wheelchair with his own hands at the high school. The authorities wouldn’t build it, so Ove did. He called them all “idiots.” And so she teaches English and Shakespeare to the kids with learning disorders.
Every morning Ove makes his rounds by the row houses where they live. An amazing cat goes with him, and soon a fat young man named Jimmy comes too. His neighbor, Anita, tells Ove the authorities are going to take her husband, Rune, to a nursing home where he will be cared for. Rune doesn’t want to go; Anita doesn’t want him to go; she’ll care for him. Ove talks to Sonia at her grave site often after she dies of cancer. She doesn’t answer. Neither does the cat who goes with Ove. Ove misses Sonia terribly and decides to join her in heaven. He screws a bolt into the ceiling from which to hang himself. But the rope frays and this attempt fails. Another day, he puts a pipe into the exhaust of the car, a Saab which he loves, and closes the garage door. A list of instructions for whomever finds him is in the pocket of his suit.
But the pregnant Iranian woman from next door bangs on the garage door saying Ove needs to take her husband to the hospital. So this attempt too, has failed. Her husband has fallen off a ladder and broken his leg. She doesn’t know how to drive their car.
Author Backman has written a rare story of charm, humor, and pathos. Find this on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Every morning Ove makes his rounds by the row houses where they live. An amazing cat goes with him, and soon a fat young man named Jimmy comes too. His neighbor, Anita, tells Ove the authorities are going to take her husband, Rune, to a nursing home where he will be cared for. Rune doesn’t want to go; Anita doesn’t want him to go; she’ll care for him. Ove talks to Sonia at her grave site often after she dies of cancer. She doesn’t answer. Neither does the cat who goes with Ove. Ove misses Sonia terribly and decides to join her in heaven. He screws a bolt into the ceiling from which to hang himself. But the rope frays and this attempt fails. Another day, he puts a pipe into the exhaust of the car, a Saab which he loves, and closes the garage door. A list of instructions for whomever finds him is in the pocket of his suit.
But the pregnant Iranian woman from next door bangs on the garage door saying Ove needs to take her husband to the hospital. So this attempt too, has failed. Her husband has fallen off a ladder and broken his leg. She doesn’t know how to drive their car.
Author Backman has written a rare story of charm, humor, and pathos. Find this on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.