BOOK - "A MAN CALLED OVE" by FREDRIK BACKMAN (NO SPOILERS!!)

Every so often a book comes along that makes me GIGGLE - and actually "Giggle Out Loud". (GOL??)

"A MAN CALLED OVE" by Fredrik Backman was just the right book for me to read this week. After attempting to read a non-fiction book about war (that I just couldn't finish), then the tragic event in Nice, France and then a frightening military coup attempt in Turkey last night, I was happy to get lost in a book that made me GIGGLE. (GOL)

What a misinterpreted, grumpy old man he was (Old? YIKES, he was only 59!). I LOVED the way he fell in love with his wife when he laid eyes on her. And the quirky way he showed her he was interested. I LOVE that he LOVED her so, so much. I LOVED that the author made them so believably different from each other. And I loved the other characters and how they each interacted with OVE and he with them. 

Set in Sweden, the writing style is easy and the chapters are short. (I really like when chapters are short - probably because I feel "accomplished" when I end one chapter and start the next.) I found humor in the simple drawing at the top of each chapter. (Didn't notice it until Chapter 4, but from then I looked forward to what would be next.)

It's a VERY popular book with BOOK CLUBS right now. I imagine there will be a lot of discussion when we meet next week (and again for another BOOK CLUB later this year). BOOK CLUB discussions expand my thinking, will often shift my opinion about a book or will transform my judgement to view something differently than when I first read it.

It's a simple, heartwarming book. When reading the following passages, tell me you don't GOL just a little (come on, at least a little smile?). Feels good to GOL, doesn't it?

Page 57

"The first time the doorbell goes he assumes he's made a mistake and ignores the sound for that very reason. The second time he realizes that there's actually someone ringing the bell, and he ignores it for that very reason."

Page 79

"And so it turned out that Ove became a night cleaner instead. And if this hadn't happened, he would never have come off his shift that morning and caught sight of her. With those red shoes and the gold brooch and all her burnished brown hair. And that laughter of hers, which, for the rest of his life, would make him feel as if someone was running around barefoot on the inside of his breast."

Page 128

"He had never been spontaneous before in his life. But when he saw her it was as if something malfunctioned."

Page 140

"Ove always had a clear travel strategy. His wife, on the other hand, always came up with insanities like "going by a sense of feel" and "taking it easy." As if that was a way for an adult person to get anywhere in life. And then she always remembered that she had to make a call or had forgotten some scarf or other. Or she didn't know which coat to pack at the last moment. Or something else. She always forgot the thermos of coffee on the draining board, which was actually the only important thing. There were four coats in those damned bags but no coffee....."

JOAN