A Man Called Ove (Advance Reading Copy/Uncorrected Proof)
by Backman, Fredrik
- Used
- near fine
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 1444775790
- ISBN 13
- 9781444775792
- Seller
-
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Sceptre, 2014. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Soft cover. Near Fine. About the book: Softcover. ARC/Proof Copy. Book is in near fine condition with mild wear. Additional photos available upon request.
Synopsis
Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?
Reviews
On Apr 4 2015, CloggieDownunder said:
A Man Called Ove is the first novel by Swedish blogger and columnist, Fredrik Backman. At fifty-nine, Ove has definite ideas on how things should be done, on the best car to drive (obviously a Saab), and no patience for those who cannot follow the rules. The son of a hard-working, poor but principled man, Ove, too is hard-working and sticks rigidly to his principles. But now, six months since the death of his beloved wife, Sonja, he is “not dead, but not really living”, and he is no longer hard-working: he has been retrenched. His life without any purpose whatsoever, he matter-of-factly sets out to commit suicide.
His meticulous plans are derailed, time and again: inferior-quality rope; the Cat Annoyance; the Pregnant Foreign Woman who needs a ladder, a lift, a lesson; radiators that need to be properly bled; a bicycle that needs repair; a fainting Suit needing rescue from certain death; a gay man in need of accommodation. Time and again, he finds himself at Sonja’s grave, apologising once more for failing to join her as promised.
The narrative alternates between a three-week period in the present day, and Ove’s life from the age of seven, when his mother died. With his cranky main character, Backman gives the reader social commentary with plenty of chuckles, snickers and laugh-out-loud moments: “In the parking area, Ove sees that imbecile Anders reversing his Audi out of his garage. It has those new, wave-shaped headlights, Ove notes, presumably designed so that no one at night will be able to avoid the insight that here comes a car driven by an utter shit” and “’I almost smashed into that car!’ pants Parvaneh. Ove peers over the edge of the bonnet. And then, suddenly, a sort of calm comes over his face. He turns and nods at her, very matter-of-fact. ‘Doesn’t matter. It’s a Volvo’” exemplify his opinion about non-Saab vehicles. His insults are similarly hilarious: “You shouldn’t even be allowed to rewind a cassette”, he tells The Lanky One.
But Backman gives his characters plenty of words of wisdom too: “Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say” and “We can busy ourselves with living or with dying, Ove. We have to move on” are two examples. There is much humour in this novel, some of it quite black, but there are also moments that will produce a lump in the throat and even tears. Flawlessly translated from Swedish by Henning Koch, this “requested-by-readers” novel is a stunning debut: moving, uplifting and very funny.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Poet’s Pulpit (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 004197
- Title
- A Man Called Ove (Advance Reading Copy/Uncorrected Proof)
- Author
- Backman, Fredrik
- Format/Binding
- Soft cover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition 1st Printing
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 1444775790
- ISBN 13
- 9781444775792
- Publisher
- Sceptre
- Date Published
- 2014
Terms of Sale
The Poet’s Pulpit
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
The Poet’s Pulpit
Biblio member since 2023
Oakville, Ontario
About The Poet’s Pulpit
We started our online business in 2005 and quickly expanded into a storefront in Oakville, Ontario, in
2006.
Our doors closed in 2010 and we our now focusing our expertise towards our online business once
again.
We specialise in poetry, ephemera, signed, and rare and hard to find books. If you have any
questions or require images of any book, please don't hesitate to contact
2006.
Our doors closed in 2010 and we our now focusing our expertise towards our online business once
again.
We specialise in poetry, ephemera, signed, and rare and hard to find books. If you have any
questions or require images of any book, please don't hesitate to contact
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...