A Man Called Ove / Fredrik Backman

Ove is the self-appointed neighborhood overseer, making sure that residents and visitors follow the home owners association rules to the letter. His daily routine includes checking to see that the recyclables have been sorted correctly, seeing that motor vehicles do not enter the residential area, and that bikes are properly stored in the bike shed. He takes this role seriously, and it immediately becomes obvious that Ove is an insufferable curmudgeon.

After the recent death of his wife, he contemplates joining her by plotting to take his own life. In a comedy of errors his attempts to do himself in are always foiled by a last-minute interruption that pulls him in closer to the circle of the living. Bit by bit the neighborhood community embraces him, and he is no longer a loner, though he is just as grumpy.

The reader learns of Ove’s upbringing and his marriage via flashbacks, and these vignettes provide important glimpses into why his convictions are the way they are, and what made him the man he is today-- warts and all.

This was a good character-driven novel which reminded me of Anne Tyler. It was quirky and cute, maybe almost too cute (the behavior of the cat, for example, seemed unlikely), but I liked the setting and the neighborhood personalities. It has already been made into a Swedish-language film, which seems to capture the tone of the novel accurately and the movie trailer can be seen by clicking/tapping here.

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