Business

Communication
A Man Called Ove
By - Fredrik Backman
Summary of the Book
A man called Ove, takes you to the Swedish town and
makes you laugh and cry and sometimes both. The
book is about an old man and his journey from his
simple childhood to a struggling life. The man who lost
his wife Sonja to cancer and wants nothing more than
to kill himself in peace.
Learnings
• “you always think there is enough time to do think with other people.
Time to say things to them and then something happens and then we
stand there holding on to words like if”
• “For the greatest fear of death is that it will pass us by and leaves us
there alone”
• “People said Ove saw the world black and white but she was color. All
the color he had”
• “Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say”
What author wants to convey
Author understands the relationship between the society we live in and
the people we are deep down. His stories focus on people who feel
disconnected and lost, but who discover they have much deeper
connections to the world and people around them than they think.
Everyone shares and understands that fear, that sense of isolation.
When Ove discovers that he’s part of a community that values him not
in spite of his nature but to a large degree because of it (largely
because Ove himself misunderstands and mis-characterizes his own
nature), it’s something that we can all understand. That sort of
universal story is always worth reading.
Our view points on the
story!
Conclusion
• The themes of social injustice, immigration, and the breakdown of
community in Swedish society are part of the novel, but we felt those
were less important than the theme of ageing and conciliation. The
characters are archetypes, rather than individuals, and though the
book is meant to be humorous, we felt it lacked nuance and subtlety.
• Ove has evolved from a solitary man intent on suicide to having a
close-knit community around him. He manages to find another life
after Sonja, painful and difficult as it may be. He later dies in his sleep.
At his funeral, some 300 people celebrates the grumpy man who
once had no friends.
Thankyou