Here Is One Of The Most Quotable Books Of The Year

‘A Man Called Ove’ is also one of the funniest books you’ll read all year

Lately, I’ve been making a point to diversify my reading list. Most of the stories I read are about young girls, usually white, who go on random adventures. These past few years, I’ve been making a point to read fiction stories from people with different backgrounds. It’s a way for me to learn about the experiences others face without lazily expecting someone to educate me.

When I found A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew the story was about an old white guy, but that’s it. I hadn’t read many stories with older male protagonists, so I decided to give it a shot.

The book turned out to be one of the funniest and most quotable books I’d read all year. Every character was memorable, and Ove turned out to be one of the most likable people in the story! It’s been a long time since I had a book make me laugh out loud, and I appreciate the book for it.

What Is The Story About

Ove is the quintessence of a grumpy old man. He wants to see everyone in his Swedish neighborhood follow the rules and not disrupt the order of things.

Then one day, a family of four back into his mailbox, moving into the house across the street. A dumpy-looking cat follows Ove around, and the Swedish Social Services keep visiting his old friend’s house. Ove finds his heart warming up to his new neighbors and the rest of the neighborhood.

It’s one of those stories that you don’t want too talk to much about but let the person read it for themselves. I’m not sure there’s a linear plot. There is so much going on; it looks more like a slice of life than a story. And it’s fantastic.

It’s A Pleasant Reminder That First Impressions Are Bullshit

Throughout our working lives, the world teaches us first impressions are everything. They’re what can make or break your time in a job. If you have the wrong impression, you’re going to get stuck in a dead-end job. A better impression might get you promoted.

A Man Called Ove is here to tell you first impressions are bullshit. If you base all of your interactions based on first impressions, you’ll find yourself living a lonely life.

If Ove’s neighbors kept their distance because of his crotchety attitude, he would’ve been a lonely man. But his neighbors ignored the first impression and actively tried to make friends with Ove. As the story goes on, Ove learns to appreciate his neighbors willingly reaching out to him.

Ove’s neighbors don’t know his back story. They don’t know if he’d always been grumpy or if life shaped him that way. All they saw was a man living alone who could use some company every once in a while.

The Book Also Challenges Us To Rethink Kindness

A lot of us make this mistake. We think kindness and niceness are the same things. You can be nice to someone but unkind and vice versa.

Being nice is being polite to people and treating them well, regardless of your feelings for said people. The point is to show you’re pleasing. Kindness is different. It’s showing you care about someone through your actions. You don’t have to be nice to be kind, but it’s a bonus when you’re both.

As Inc puts it, niceness is about being pleasing without doing much. Kindness takes action without expecting anything in return.

Ove is the kind of man where you don’t think he’s nice, but he’s kind. The neighborhood sees him as an old curmudgeon, but the longer you’re in the book, the more you realize he’s not as unkind as he wants you to believe he is.

One of my favorite lines in the book is when Ove tells an old boss, “Men are who we are because of what they do, not what they say.” Kindness often shows in actions, not words. If more people realized that, the better the world could be.

Final Thought

A Man Called Ove is one of those books you think will be a light-hearted slice of life, but it ends on a profound note. The humor is fantastic, and it has a lot of heart.

The book reminded me a lot of The Alchemist. It’s a simple story with memorable quotes from fantastic characters. There’s something about it that stays with you long after you read the story.