Hands down, this is a wonderful book! I adore Ove, for starters. He is the kindest curmudgeon you could ever have the pleasure to know. He and his neighbors are such an eclectic bunch, and they accept everyone for who they are. I love that. It doesn't matter what age, nationality, gender, sexual preference, fit/unfit, smart, clumsy they are, they help each other out. The only thing that does matter to Ove is the car they drive. ;) Ove even softens a bit on that too, becoming a tad more accepting of other's vehicle choices by the end of the book! It's awesome that his best "bud" is a cat. :) When the cat is found frozen in the snow and cat-allergic Jimmy warms him up on his bare skin(flab) without a second thought - that's when I really started loving all of these characters.
This book reads very smoothly, even though it jumps around in time. The story unfolds a little at a time. You really don't know what happened to Ove's wife until it's slowly relayed over time. I love how Ove talks to his wife - and how he makes decisions based on what her thoughts would have been on the subject. I love how Ove is even sensitive to the cat's feelings and safety when he repeatedly contemplates how he is going to die on a particular day. Most of all, I love how much Ove loved his wife of nearly 40 years!
The routine-driven and safety-conscious Ove appears to be on the autism spectrum. This is the second book I have read recently where an author "normalizes" autism, making Ove simply human rather than "disabled". People are not their disabilities. People are people. Ove could not get through a day without helping someone. His deeds gave him purpose. How wonderful that his neighbors gave him purpose again after his wife died. Parvaneh, Patrick and their daughters became Ove's family. I love that the girls called him "Granddad".
There is nothing I don't love about this book! I laughed, and I certainly cried. This is a must-read.
Wendy's Rating: *****
No comments:
Post a Comment