Ove is a no nonsense type of man. He wakes up at the same time every day, makes sure everything is in order—not only in his house but around the neighborhood, as well—and makes sure everyone is following the counsel rules. And on this particular day the only thing he wants to do is die. But this is the one day things don’t go exactly to plan. And maybe that is for the better.

Similar to some of the other books I read this year, A Man Called Ove was a roller coaster ride of emotions. It was one of those books where the cover blurbs of “you’ll laugh, you’ll cry” were 100% spot on. At first, Ove does not seem like the type of character you could come to like: he’s grumpy, rude, and opinionated. But there was something about him that made me love his character. While he’s never afraid to tell people what he thinks, he’s not in your face about it. He’s quiet, and mostly keeps to himself. He is a main character that is easy to cheer for and you want to see him have a happy ending.

The only thing I found to be tedious is the amount of characters involved in the story. Although they all seemed important in their own way, I wondered whether they were all necessary. Some I felt didn’t really have a big part in the story and were kind of just there. In for a second, and out the next. I feel like maybe one or two characters could have been cut or combined, but wonder how much that would affect the whole story overall. It was still a well written and entertaining book, one that I’ve recommended to almost everyone who asks me for a book recommendation.

A Man Called Ove was also adapted into a Swedish film, which I found to be just as good as the book. Although I personally felt that some things were glossed over in the movie, but my husband said he was able to follow along easily. Some parts at the end were slightly different as well, but not so different that it was off putting. However, I would still recommend reading the book prior to seeing the movie.