Summary: A bitter, practical man called Ove lives in a small row house in Sweden. One day, his new neighbors move in and knock over his mailbox, irritating him. Over the next three weeks, Ove repeatedly tries to commit suicide so he can join his dead wife Sonja, but is always somehow interrupted or stopped. Eventually, he learns to move on and live with his new neighbors, Parvaneh, Patrick, and their two daughters Nasanin and an unnamed seven-year-old, (and at the end of the book, a baby boy), his old neighbors Rune and Anita, who have Alzheimerʼs and Multiple Sclerosis, respectively, Jimmy, the overweight neighbor, and Adrian, the mailboy. Throughout the book, he also fights for Anita and Rune against ‘the men with white shirtsʼ, so that Rune wonʼt be moved into a nursing home. The book also shows his backstory, in which he met Sonja as a train cleaner. Sonja and Ove plan to have children, and while Sonja is pregnant, they go on a bus tour in Spain. On the way back, their bus driver is drunk and crashes into the highway barrier, killing Sonjaʼs baby. She gets a job as a teacher for ‘problem kidsʼ, despite having cancer, and dies after four years. About four years after meeting his new neighbors, Ove finally dies peacefully in his sleep, and over three hundred people attend his funeral. The book ends with Parvaneh showing a newly married couple around Oveʼs house.
Opinion: This book was funny, heart-warming, uplifting, and sad all at the same time. Really well-written, with characters with unique personalities. Would recommend to anyone.
Rating: 5 - Hard to imagine a better book