A Man Called Ove

I first got to know about Ove through YouTube, apparently there is a movie about him and then I discovered the book. Ove is a grumpy old man as the other people in the book will tell you. The book begins with Ove trying to buy an iPad (one of those with a fruit behind it as he sees it) unsuccessfully as the young sale assistant and the old grumpy Ove speak different "technical" languages. As the book unfolds the life of Ove, it reveals that the Ove is on a mission-to die. Why? Because he no longer has a job, sadly his wife is dead and the house doesn't seem the same anymore without her around; so he plans to join her. A series of interruptions however ensures that this dark plan is never carried out and with each interruption he ends up in a predicament-he has to "live" through another day and let his plan be for a while. It is as though with each interruption, Ove is being teased back into the light  from his dark and gloomy thoughts. 

Ove's story is written by Fredrik Backman, "a Swedish blogger, columnist and author" and Ove being "his debut novel." Backman keeps the chapters short and yet sufficient enough to tell us the story of Ove both what he is going through and what he has gone through. Hence through some of the chapters we are transported back to the past to understand how life turned for Ove. The book is translated from Swedish into English by Henning Koch. I wish I could read the Swedish version, but unfortunately I do not have any knowledge of that. Even so, the descriptions shows the skill of Backman to put to words or paint with words a moment and brings it alive in our imagination. Sample these:

Ove shakes his head wildly and leans menacingly over the counter. 'No, I don't want a "laptop". I want a computer.' The assistant nods pedagogically. 'A laptop is a computer.' Ove, insulted, glares at him and stabs his forefinger at the counter. 'You think I don't know that!' Another silence, as if two gunmen have suddenly realised they have forgotten to bring their pistols. Ove looks at the box for a long time, as though he's waiting for it to make a confession.

Ove doesn't answer. He just slowly rolls up the window, leaving the Lanky One outside with his mouth half-open. Ove checks the left wing mirror. Then the right wing mirror. He reverses while the Japanese car shrieks in terror, manoeuveres the trailer perfectly between his own house and his incompetent new neighbour's, gets out, and tosses the cretin his keys.

I have not seen the movie but such descriptions always makes me think that the book version is always better than the movie version. Skilled writers have this uncanny ability to draw you into the story as an observant participant watching what is unfolding, feeling the emotions of the characters; as the words are read, the mind envisions and enters the world that is being portrayed. This I think is an art of the first degree, letting the imagination take over to create the scenes of the story. 

Ove is just a tired man who struggles to makes sense of the "modern" world that he find himself in alone all over again. As I read his story, I think of the Ove's that I know, a generation that is dying out (though I think in person Ove would not like me to refer to him with that word "generation")-this is a generation of those who worked their hands and lived by their principles and that was what defined a man. Backman beautifully captures the character of Ove in the way Ove would names people in novel. We eventually get to see that there is more than one side to Ove: to people he appears grumpy and rude and yet to a three year old who draws him in many colours (while others with black), he is funny; to people he appears anti-social and yet he opens his generosity towards a seven year old as he gets her an iPad for her birthday; to the people he seems stubborn and arrogant and yet for Ove it is about loyalty and following principles. As Ove goes about his daily routine, there are solemn moments and the hopeful ones; there are moments when he pushes others away and the ones where he makes space for the sake of his wife; there are moments of being broken and those moments of rising again for the honour and respect for the self. Ove is after all no ordinary man, Ove is Ove. At the end of the book, Ove's wish has come true and his house is now empty. A prospective couple comes to inspect the house for occupancy and as the last spoken one word brings the story to an end, we are left with a smile and the memory of a man called Ove. Happy reading!

Thank you for your time,

kk