Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram) Audio Version (Also Below)
I borrowed a friend’s copy of “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman when he was done with it. “It’s nice only,” is what he had to say about the novel, or something on those lines. Not an eloquently glowing review, but it’s a pretty small book, around 300 pages, the kind that I can usually finish within three days (one day if it’s great), and it has a damn good rating on GoodReads. Three days into the book, I wasn’t even halfway through and couldn’t decide if I wanted to stop reading it because it turned out to be as tedious as an 1820s classic I was simultaneously reading, and “A Man Called Ove” was supposed to be a breezy break in between. It wasn’t.
The whole plot doesn’t stretch beyond what the blurb has to offer – Ove is a grumpy old mean man who thinks the world is full of stupid people, but he becomes slightly less meaner when a family of new over-friendly neighbors force their way into his life. The first few pages were definitely interesting, introducing Ove as an old cuckoo who goes around his neighborhood every morning to inspect if every thing is in order. But the novelty of his quirky misanthropic character soon wears off, gets repetitive and uninteresting.
At first, grief is given to be a legitimate excuse for the protagonist’s mean-spirited behavior – he isn’t interested in learning anybody’s name, and is excessively rude to everybody. But in flashbacks, Ove is revealed to be the same unsociable lad who doesn’t know how to be nice to anybody except the girl he falls in love with. Ove’s ‘meet cute’ with his future wife Sonja was straight out of a classic Bollywood film, or any old romantic classic, where the man goes the extra mile (quite literally in Ove’s case) just to be with the woman he likes. “His days passed like this, slow and methodical. And then one morning he saw her. She had brown hair and blue eyes and red shoes and a big yellow clasp in her hair. And then there was no more peace and quiet for Ove.” – One of the chapters ends with this sentence. As soon as I read it, my inner voice went, “uff, that’s such a Bollywood line.”
So, I can see why this “crabby prick to the world, softie to his sweetheart” would seem as overly romantic and wholesome to many readers. But except for the determined way in which Ove pursues Sonja, like a lovelorn puppy, Fredrik Backman doesn’t shed much light on what makes their relationship click on an emotional level. These are the kinds of stories that make people think “women can change men” and ironically enough, Ove’s wife Sonja barely changes him. She just gets him to be begrudgingly tolerable to those around them. In-fact, it’s just weird and unrealistic that a man married 40 years to “an amazing woman”, doesn’t alter a tad bit under her influence. Or vice-versa – Sonja doesn’t absorb any of Ove’s traits either. There’s the possibility that Ove might just have some behavioral disorder, and if it’s the case, it’s weird that his teacher wife could never get him to see someone about it.
While the book does have some comical moments, calling it ‘borderline boring’ in the review header is being generous. Moreover, much of what is intended to be humorous in the book involves unkind actions. For instance, Ove accidentally locks a stranger in his garage but refuses to free her because he wishes to avoid conversation. Another instance is Ove punching a hospital clown, just because he finds his tricks annoying. Ove’s strongest redeeming quality is the fact that he used to have a lovely friendly wife who was exceptionally kind. He also has a way with tools, so his skills prove to be helpful to many a lost neighbor. That’s it, that’s the sum of Ove’s character – had a great wife, is great with tools, and thus likes to ‘fix’ things.
‘A Man Called Ove’ made me sleepy when I attempted to read it in the middle of the day, even after having a cup of coffee. I kept hoping for some better explanation or coherent twist in the story, but all you get is cliches, cliches, and more cliches. I couldn’t get myself to like Ove, and the other characters do not get enough character development to be worth caring for. The climactic developments were sweet, sentimental, and makes for a good ending, but it couldn’t make me forget just how tedious reading most of this novel was. Consider picking up ‘A Man Called Ove’ if the notion of delving into the pages of a human version of Grinch sounds like an entertaining prospect.
Rating: 2 on 5.
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