Wednesday, February 17, 2016

"All You Need is Ove"

I wish I could take credit for the catchy title but I must confess I filched it from the back cover of my latest read. It was A Man Called Ove, originally written in Swedish by Fredrick Backman. What a book!

Here we are, six or seven weeks into 2016 and I may very well have just read my favourite book of the year! 4.5 stars folks - and from a historically frugal star giver.

Where do I start? For one thing the main character is truly unforgettable, a quintessential curmudgeon with a heart of gold. Then there is the underlying romance which rates up there with all the Romeos and Juliets you can think of in literature. There are many other relationships throughout displaying love in all its many forms. I couldn't put it down but then I had to put it down to prolong the reading. I didn't want it to ever end.

I read it at the beach but it is not a beach book per se (at least not the way I think of that genre). It is extremely well written and often very funny. A lady came up to me and asked my how it was as she belonged to a book club and wondered if it might make a good choice. I hope no one noticed the tears streaming down my face towards the end. Don't be put off by that - it was a happy sad, if that makes any sense!

Here's a passage that shows the author's cleverness with words;

     "Cat out! No animals in cafe!" Amel slashes at the consonants
      so that they hop about like naughty children caught inside
      the sentence."

Don't you love that?
Penny


1 comment:

  1. Hi Penny,
    I had that book here, but had to take it back because I couldn't get through the pile. It did sound good. So glad that you found a winner!
    Betty
    P.S. Happy to hear that you are having 'book talks' on the beach!

    ReplyDelete