Book Review "A Man Called Ove" - ​​A Story of Love

Like most best-selling books, “A Man Called Ove” brings hearty laughter and sparkling tears behind a story filled with love.

Mr. Ove, 59 years old, suddenly one day received an offer "It would be good for you to take a break" from the job he had been loyal to for more than a third of a century.

Having lost his wife 6 months ago, and becoming a social outcast, this quiet, grumpy, stubborn and cruel old man tried to commit suicide in the 'Ove style': prepared in advance, calculated meticulously so as not to bother anyone. But every time Ove started to carry out his intention, something unexpected would happen and force him to postpone it until tomorrow.

Of course, you can guess that when a person intends to leave life but many things in life keep “bothering” him, the result is that he cannot die! A story that is not too surprising in terms of the outcome, but the details leading to it are really worth following.

The pages of Ove's life gradually unfold, from the days when he was a 9 or 10 year old boy following his father to help on the railway until he met the woman of his life - Mrs. Sonja.

Laughter mocks the materialistic 'computer generation'

It would be an exaggeration to say that  A Man Called Ove  is a slap in the face to the smartphone generation, which is so dependent on technology and consumerism that it has lost its basic skills. But clearly, what is seen through the eyes of that somewhat eccentric, principled and conservative old man is not without reason.

“People change their furniture so often these days that the secrets to keeping things durable are redundant. No one cares about quality anymore.

Everything is computerized now, as if you couldn’t build a house before some design consultant in a tight shirt opened his laptop. As if that’s how they built the Roman Colosseum and the pyramids of Giza.

My God, they built the Eiffel Tower in 1889 while today no one can draw a blueprint for a one-story house without being interrupted by having to charge their cell phone. In today's world, things become obsolete before they're even invented.

A whole country stood and applauded the fact that no one could do anything right anymore and celebrated mediocrity. No one knew how to change a tire, install a dimmer switch, lay a few tiles, putty a wall or do their own taxes.”

In Ove’s eyes, the world seems to have collapsed since the advent of the Internet, of consumerism. It makes men: “talking like they know everything but can’t do anything, trimming their beards, changing jobs, wives and cars at will”. In Ove’s time, “What makes a man is not what he says but what he does.”

Ove wondered: “If everything can be bought with money, what is the value? Where is the value of a human being?”

And the old man couldn’t understand “the constant talk of young people ‘finding themselves.’ He heard it all the time from his colleagues in their thirties. They just kept saying they needed more ‘free time,’ as if that was the whole point of working: to reach a point where they didn’t have to work anymore.”

Are you startled when reading these lines?

The development of technology and the Internet reduces labor pressure on everything, makes everything easier, and narrows all distances, but because of that, people become more dependent and weaker.

This difference or rather generational conflict arises from the fact that the old cannot understand the young and the young laugh at the old's slow adaptation. Whether this problem can be solved or not depends on the tolerance and mutual acceptance of both sides.

The man named Ove  attracts readers not by his satire but by the love story that sparkles inside. Behind the clumsy, principled, indifferent, irritable and hurtful appearance of Ove is a warm heart, refusing to surrender to the injustices that befell his married life, never standing still and accepting the weak being bullied.

It belongs to the protective instinct of men, and also to the character of men of the older generation. The generation of cowboys like John Wayne. Quiet but respectful of promises, honor and defending what is right.

As Mrs Sonja says, Ove and his neighbour Rune were born in the wrong time. They were “people who expected a few simple things from life. A roof over their heads, a quiet street, a decent car and a woman to love for life. A job where they found useful. A house where things broke regularly so they could always fix them.

Everyone wants to live a decent life, but the definition of that word is different for everyone. For Ove and Rune, ‘DESERVED’ simply meant being self-sufficient, not relying on others once they were adults. They felt proud when they were in control, when they did the right thing, when they knew which way to go and how to turn a screw.”

These are men who can blush and defend their personal views to the death in a neighborhood meeting, but are willing to join forces in the face of public discontent. These are men who dress normally, never interfere in other people's affairs as an immutable principle, but are willing to dress properly to go to the house to talk to a drunken husband who beats his wife and children.

The same two men who seemed to have no common ground went to the city bank and returned with a book that the woman could consider a gift or a loan but absolutely could not refuse. Ready to get out of the car to grab a tattooed guy who was rude and honking loudly in the middle of the street.

This is why Ove and Rune quickly became friends, and also quickly became sworn enemies.

For more than 35 years, the two of them have been shooting each other bullet-shaped eyes across the fence in the same backyard, the same house. Two quiet men, who love their wives and children with all their heart, willing to do anything to make the two women in their lives happy, could only helplessly watch as misfortune befell them.

“Perhaps neither of them will ever forgive themselves for not being able to give the woman they love what they wanted most.” Those unspoken feelings grew, silently, and then exploded.

It turned out that being irritable and quarrelsome was their way of communicating, and it was not until old age that Ove realized that neither he nor Rune could forgive themselves for giving up. “We always think that we have enough time to act for others. We have time to talk to them. Then something happens and we are suddenly left with the two words ‘if only’ in our heads.”

And Ove, at the age of 59, decided to "go all out" so that the social welfare department would not take his poor friend with Alzheimer's out of the house, out of the arms of his wife Anita.

Loving someone always requires a lot of courage and tolerance. Loving a simple man requires even more courage, because surely, the woman will suffer many disadvantages.

Ove and Sonja's marriage was not always rosy. His personality was sometimes too much, making her feel suffocated and angry. Sonja was happy because she knew how to accept, tolerate and see the good in him.

“Loving someone is like moving into a house. At first you fall in love with it because of its newness. Every morning you wonder if it’s all yours, as if someone will suddenly burst in and tell you that there’s been a terrible mistake and you’re not supposed to be in this wonderful place.

Then the years pass, the walls begin to fade, the wood cracks, and we begin to love the house for its flaws rather than its perfections. We know every nook and cranny. We know how to keep the key from getting stuck in the lock when it’s cold outside, which floorboard sags when someone walks on it, and how to open a closet without it creaking.

It's those little secrets that make a house a home.”

A Man Called Ove  is a book about love between family, friends, neighbors, and about established values ​​that Ove, simply, upholds.

That love seemed to end forever when Mrs. Sonja passed away. But it was awakened by the tragic trailer crash of the couple Patrick - Parvaneh. And a series of humorous events followed, with the lonely and injured cat in the freezing cold... becoming the firewood that keeps the fire burning, waiting for the day to shine.

Those seemingly annoying relationships are the strings that tie Ove to this life, making him feel useful, having a purpose in life. Isn't the greatest fear of humans to become useless in the collective, in society?

What color is life? Depends on how you look at it.