A Man Called Ove, Surrounded by Complete Twits

Fredrik Backman’s funny, tender story about grief, purpose, and the meanigful business of caring about people.

“Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say.”

Readers could dismiss this story as a familiar trope: a lonely old man lives by himself, hated by the neighborhood because he is mean, ornery, and persnickety. But beneath his rough exterior, he turns out to have a heart of gold. You could think that, but you would be wrong. The story is much deeper than that.

Ove is an elderly man overwhelmed with grief. The loveliest woman in the world, Sonja, who chose him, saw the goodness in him, believed in him more than anyone else, and gave him a purpose, somebody to take care of, has passed away. He is adrift, mad at the world because of it, and impatient that his attempts to join Sonja in the afterlife keep getting delayed.

But if anyone had asked, he would have told them that he never lived before he met her. And not after either.

Ove has a touch of the ‘Tiz,’ as we say in the Howard family (My entire bunch is scattered across the autism spectrum) which most obviously manifests in Ove as being a stickler for details. There is a wrong way and a right way to do things to include what kind of car you drive. The result is that he is always angry at somebody who is “doing it wrong.” He’s been that way his entire life and Sonja didn’t care. She loved him and now she’s gone and Ove is grieving.

He lives in a neighborhood that he and Sonja moved into when they were first married. Back then, he knew people because Sonja knew people and carried Ove along in the backwash. But now she is gone and Ove doesn’t know anybody really. And they are all so incompetent and none of them follow the rules. They all make him angry and he feels so useless.

The people in the neighborhood are colorful; misfits from all corners who don’t really fit in anywhere or who have been left behind. And they don’t care that Ove is impatient with them and short tempered. They seem to be used to that behavior from everybody and they just kind of ignore his verbal assaults, insist that Ove pay attention; ask him for help with adulting problems that they are not equipped to address. It turns out that Ove is well equipped to handle day-to-day adulting problems. Slowly, the neighborhood gives Ove his purpose.

My favorite scene is with Parvaneh; Ove’s Iranian-born, pregnant with her third child, neighbor, who is the epitome of not letting Ove push her away. She needs Ove to teach her to drive and in one session, she is having a hard time and breaks down emotionally in traffic. Ove calmly turns to her and tells her she can do this, that driving is nothing compared to all of the obstacles she has overcome in her life so far, like moving to a foreign country, learning another language, birthing three kids, taking care of her incompetent husband, and most importantly, she is not a complete twit. It’s the highest compliment that Ove can give and Parvaneh knows exactly what it means.

At the end of the book, after Ove dies (of natural causes), Parvaneh knows that he just wants a small ceremony but ignores him completely. She invites everybody Ove has helped throughout the book. It’s a big group. Parvaneh’s husband, Patrick, turns to Parvaneh and says, “He would hate this.” Parvaneh says, “I know!” and smiles from ear to ear.

Source

Fredrik Backman (Author), J.K. Simmons (Narrator), Henning Koch (Translator). 2012. A Man Called Ove [Book]. Goodreads, URL: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774964-a-man-called-ove

References

Amanda - @Cover2CoverMom, 2016. Book Review: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman [Website Article]. Cover2CoverMom, URL: https://cover2covermom.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/book-review-a-man-called-ove-by-fredrik-backman/

Ashley Whitlatch, 2024. Book Review: A Man Called Ove, A Translated Character Study Masterpiece of Literary Fiction [Website Article]. Books Are My Third Place, URL: https://www.booksaremythirdplace.com/articles/book-review-a-man-called-ove

Lynne, 2014. “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman – Book Review [Website Article]. Fictionophile, URL: https://fictionophile.com/2014/08/26/a-man-called-ove-by-fredrik-backman-book-review/