Sunday, May 26, 2019

A Man Called Ove & Finding Life

Image result for a man called ove book

 Those who find their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
 
Matthew  (NRSV)


When our three children were young Ruth read to all of us in our various vehicles as we travelled through Northern Ontario and as far away as Newfoundland. It's a warm memory for all of us. We moved on to books on audio tape, then CD's, and we're still listening although now it's a download onto a phone played through the car sound system.

We've just finished 9 1/2 hours of a Swedish bestselling novel, A Man Called Ove (OOH-ve). It's been translated into several languages and become a play and a Swedish film. Now it will "go Hollywood" with Tom Hanks as the star, although honestly I think he is ill-cast.

I didn't think we'd get beyond the first chapter or two because Ove is described in detail as a cantankerous, thoroughly unlikable man in his late fifties. He is gruff and suspicious of virtually everyone, a stickler for details, providing he gets to make the rules. Who needs this sort of story? Supposedly the novel is humorous!

We stuck with it, fortunately. The author, Fredrik Backman, slowly reveals Ove's life story, and we begin to appreciate the reasons for his sour way of being. We discover that he has recently lost his wife, the only person who ever understood his inner self. And with that loss he methodically plans his demise.

But despite his determination Ove keeps getting diverted from death by encounters with neighbours and acquaintances and strangers -- almost miraculously. And we realize that he is actually a compassionate and  -dare we say it-- generous person whose practicality is a godsend for others.

I won't spoil the ending, but I will tell you that we often laughed aloud at parts of the book, and at its conclusion we were quite moved. The man we found so unsavoury to begin with had found his way into our hearts.

I kept thinking about the gospel passage in which Jesus says, paradoxically, that if we hope to find our lives we will need to lose them. As someone who has experienced tremendous loss through life Ove wants to protect himself, yet he finds fulfillment in giving, from the heart.

Yup, I would certainly recommend A Man Called Ove. It's not great literature, but it still has life lessons.

Have you read it? Did you like it?

5 comments:

shirport said...

I've read the book and seen the movie. Really enjoyed both. So interesting to gradually come to understand why Ove is the way he is through his back story. Lovely to watch his evolving relationships with his neighbours. Despite his gruff and unpleasant exterior he does have a good heart. I agree David. Tom Hanks is too "nice" to play Ove.

David Mundy said...

Glad you agree that Hanks is a no-go Shirley. The role needs "irascible" not "affable." Thanks for the comments!

kb said...

The Swedish version with English subtitles played at our film festival two or three years ago and people loved it, including us.

I can't see the Tom Hanks adaption being set in Sweden; that just couldn't work out as people know Tom Hanks too well to see him as Swedish, the accents would be a huge issue, and so would the cultural references.

So I guess they'll take the story and set it in America. It will be a different Tom Hanks -- but I can see him doing a great job with it.
Kathy

David Mundy said...

We've realized that the Swedish film is on Amazon Prime, so we're going to watch it. While I don't think Hanks has ever turned in a bad acting performance, the guy in the Swedish film looks much more like Uve to us. We'll see! Thanks Kathy.

David Mundy said...

Oops. Ove.