Ove (pronounced "ooo-vay") is a grumpy old man. Well, really Ove is just a grumpy man, old or not. But, he's grouchy in a way that makes him an endearing old man. His life is turned upside down when a new couple and their children move into his neighborhood. They won't leave him alone to "take care of things" (i.e. kill himself so he can go join his late wife). The premise sounds a little morbid, but the book is a must read. It's sweet, sad, endearing, makes you laugh, makes you cry and is just a great story about how much more there is to people than what meets the eye. (Or at least I got that out of it.) I really, really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to everyone. It went back and forth between past and present, which can sometimes not flow well, but Backman did a great job (or Backman's translator, but either way).
My favorite part of the entire book was probably the paragraph when Ove went on a tirade about how the car the neighbors had was "of course and automatic because people just don't want to drive their cars anymore". I'm a big BIG fan of manual transmissions, so this particular part sounded just like me. I guess we all probably have a little bit of Ove in us.
352 pages
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