A Man Called Ove

Book 48 of my 2014 Reading Challenge

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Summary (via the book jacket)

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet, a curmudgeon with staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - and no wonder with all those happy joggers and shop assistants who talk in code, not to mention the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as chairman of his neighborhood residents' association. People think him bitter. But must a man be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered on his face all the time, doesn't always tell people what they want to hear, and remains silent when he has nothing in particular to say?
Ove's well-ordered solitary world gets a shake-up one November morning with the appearance of new neighbors - a chatty young couple and their two boisterous daughters - who announce their arrival by accidentally flattening Ove's mailbox with their U-Haul. What follows is a funny and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unlikely friendships, and a community's unexpected reassessment of the one person they thought they had all figured out.

My Opinion

I have so much to say about this book that I can't say anything about this book.

All the feelings.

All the stars.

So grateful to my friend Lindsey for lending me this book.  She knew I would love it and she was RIGHT!

Quote from the Book

Her friends couldn't see why she woke up every morning and voluntarily decided to share the whole day with him. He couldn't either. He built her a bookshelf and she filled it with books by people who wrote page after page about their feelings. Ove understood things he could see and touch. Wood and concrete. Glass and steel. Tools. Things one could figure out. He understood right angles and clear instruction manuals. Assembly models and drawings. Things one could draw on paper.

He was a man of black and white.

And she was color. All the color he had.