93 pages 3 hours read

Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

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Important Quotes

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“He’s the kind of man who points at people he doesn’t like the look of, as if they were burglars and his forefinger a policeman’s torch.”


(Chapter 1, Page 1)

This gives an early impression of Ove, framing him as a judgmental and grumpy old man. Ove proves to be far more open-minded than anticipated, for instance, in his acceptance of Mirsad. 

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“[He] shoved his hands in his pockets in that particular way of a middle-aged man who expects the worthless world outside to disappoint him.”


(Chapter 2, Page 5)

These brief lines characterize Ove’s worldview. The world has repeatedly disappointed him, and he has faced many obstacles: the loss of his family home, Sonja’s accident, the loss of a child, the loss of Sonja, and the loss of a job. 

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“Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.” 


(Chapter 5, Page 40)

Here we see not only Ove’s worldview encapsulated (he sees everything as black/white or right/wrong) but also how Sonja complemented him. She brightened his life, and the narrative reiterates a version of this line twice.