📖 A Man Called Ove ✍

Looking back, I cannot remember which particular recommendation engine thought I might like to read this. I asked a couple, telling them how much I had enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See and A Gentleman in Moscow. After I had ploughed through a couple of things for work and John Le Carré’s Single & Single, I decided to give Ove a try.

My initial impression was “charming,” and it definitely is. I could see from the get-go that things were going to happen to Ove that would mellow his harsh, a familiar enough trope in lots of stories. And as a picture of modern Sweden, it seemed realistic enough, with lots of immigrants, tolerance and intolerance, some no good people and what have you. So yes, charming, entertaining, an easy enough read. And I can sort of see the resemblance to the two books I put into whichever engine it was. In the end, though, while I did finally close my Kindle with a speck of something or other in my eye, the impact just wasn’t there. I know because I am writing this the day after finishing and I am already looking for another novel.

What have you got?