A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman

 

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, café owner   Council: Men in white shirt

 

For discussion:

NOTE: The page numbers are from the paperback edition.

 

1. After reading chapter one, did you want to continue reading? 

 

2. Did you like the chapter titles?   Did they add to your reading experience?

 

3. How well did the author develop Ove’s character?  Did you understand him?  At the beginning, did you like him or not?  Why?

 

4. How did Ove’s childhood and the years after his father died help form him into the man he became?

 

5. 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?

 

6. How was Parvaneh like Sonja?  How were they different?

 

7. Would you have been as tolerant of Ove as Sonja?

 

8. 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?”

 

9. Why are Anders and the Blond Weed so nasty to Ove?

 

10. 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)?

 

11. 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?

 

12. The book made many observations about modern life and how Ove fit in.  What were your thoughts about the following?

 

1. 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.”

 

2. 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.”

 

3. 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.”

 

13. The beginning of chapter 39 addressed death and time.  How do you think people of different ages would interpret this chapter?

 

14. 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?