Characters |
|
Neighbors |
Others |
Ove – parents died when he was 7
(mother) and 16 (father) Sonja – taught special education students Rune – Alzheimer’s, ongoing feud with
Ove Anita Parvenah Patrick Nasanin – 7 Sister - 3 Baby boy Anders – across street Blond Weed – girlfriend Prince “Mutt” – dog Jimmy – 25 years old, Ove and Rune bought
house when father left |
Tom – railway foreman, falsely accused
Ove of stealing money Lena – newspaper reporter Adrian – postman, former student of
Sonja’s Mirsad – boss at cafe Amel – Mirsad’s father, cafĂ© owner Council: Men in white shirt |
For
discussion:
NOTE: The page numbers are from the
paperback edition.
- After
reading chapter one, did you want to continue reading?
- Did
you like the chapter titles? Did
they add to your reading experience?
- How
well did the author develop Ove’s character? Did you understand him? At the beginning, did you like him or
not? Why?
- How
did Ove’s childhood and the years after his father died help form him into
the man he became?
- Were
you surprised that Ove did not tell the truth about Tom stealing the money
from the cash box? When Ove was
nine, he saw Tom keep something someone had left on the train while Ove
turned in the wallet he found. He
lied at that time also and did not say that Tom had kept the briefcase. Ove’s father told him, “We are not the
sort of people who tell on others” (page 44). Was this good advice?
- How
was Parvaneh like Sonja? How were
they different?
- Would
you have been as tolerant of Ove as Sonja?
- Discuss
the cat. If you are a “cat person,”
do you think the author did a good job describing a cat’s
personality? What were your
thoughts if you are not a “cat person?”
- Why
are Anders and the Blond Weed so nasty to Ove?
- What
did you think of the book’s treatment of suicide? Was it presented too positively (end
loneliness, reunite with Sonja) and does it adequately address the pain
left behind (effect on young train conductor)?
- In
chapter 13, when Parvenah sees the plastic tubing in the garage, do you
think she has an idea of what Ove intended to do? Also, at the end of the novel she tells
the doctor, “Ove is quite clearly UTTERLY LOUSY at dying!” (page 329). Should she have done anything?
- The
book made many observations about modern life and how Ove fit in. What were your thoughts about the following?
- Page 82 – “Nowadays people change their stuff so often
that any expertise in how to make things last was becoming
superfluous. Quality: no one cared
about that anymore.”
- Page 83 – “This is a world where one became outdated
before one’s time was up. An
entire country standing up and applauding the fact that no one was capable
of doing anything properly anymore.
The undeserved celebration of mediocrity.”
- Page 137 – Regarding tattoos: “he has covered himself in
doodles as well. There’s not even
a proper motif, as far as Ove can see, just a lot of patterns.”
- The
beginning of chapter 39 addressed death and time. How do you think people of different
ages would interpret this chapter?
- Did
you like the author’s writing style?
For example, on page 8 when discussing the video cameras, the
author wrote that the “new steering group explained snappily to the
residents…” What mental image did
you get from this phrase?