Book and Movie ReviewA Man Called Ove [CC]

Hey! What's up, you guys? It's Connor, and today I'm going   to be doing a book and movie review on A.   Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I.   Was sent this book and this movie in   exchange for possibly reviewing it.

And   Fredrik Backman is becoming one of my   favorite authors ever, so I definitely   wanted to do this review for you guys.   First I'm going to be talking about the   book, and then I'll talk about the movie,   and then be done. A Man Called Ove   follows a very cantankerous, cranky old   man that's living in a suburb of Sweden   alone in his house. He's lost his will to   live, and so this has possibly some   trigger warnings for suicide.

Ove is a   very specific type of person. He is   described in the book as being born in   the wrong time period, and I definitely agree   with that. He's very old-fashioned. He   just wants to live a very simple,   practical life, and he doesn't want all   of these extravagant things that other   people seem to be wanting.

He doesn't   really care too much about technological   advances. He just wants to live his life   and not have to interact with very many   people at all. He's one of those people   that judges people for the type of car   that they drive because he thinks that   this one specific type of car named Saab   is the best company of cars around, and   he judges people for not driving those   type of cars. Ove's also very frugal.

He   keeps his money. He saves things. He   doesn't like to pay for people to do   stuff. He'd rather do it himself.

He also   has borderline Obsessive Compulsive   Disorder. At least, I thought so because   he has a very strict routine and he has   to follow it, and if he doesn't, he just   kind of [freaks out]. I'm having a hard time   describing this book because I don't   want to spoil too many things, so let me   try. The story really begins when Ove   has a run-in with some new neighbors of   his.

They have been driving in a no-   -driving section, and he has to tell them   what he thinks about that. And then it just   follows him interacting with all of   these neighbors that are not following   the rules, and he has to deal with and   teach the proper ways of going about   doing things. That the best that I can do.   I'll leave a link down in the   description to the Goodreads and Amazon   pages if you want to check out more   synopses and everything like that.

As you   guys know, we're going to go through my   pros and my cons, and then I'll give you   my rating for the book. And then I'll   talk about the movie. My first pro is   he talks about a pass storyline that   throughout the course of the novel ends   up meeting up with the beginning of   where the book starts. And then there's   another storyline that goes in the   future, and so we follow Ove in two   different time periods of his life.

And   its really nice and easy to see which   one you're in because the titles are   labeled as such. So "A Man Called Ove" is   the present tense and then "A Man Who Was   Ove" is the past tense. And it starts   off with him being much younger, a child,   and then it follows his life until you   get to the beginning of this book. And   for me I really like when those things   are happening in a book where you get   these two different storylines and they   overlap in different ways throughout the   story.

So really like that! I also really   loved Ove's neighbors. I thought they   were so funny and the interactions that   Ove has with his neighbors are so funny   because while reading this book I could   see those things happening so vividly in   my mind because everyone has bad   neighbors that they have interacted with   every once in awhile. And so seeing him   having to deal with bad neighbors over   and over and over again is so funny to   me, and I really enjoyed seeing how he   dealt with all of these different people   that he has problems with in different   ways.   This book is written in third person   close which means that you get all of   Ove's thoughts and feelings, but it's   written in third person.

So it says, "Ove walked   down the street," and so I think that's   something that's really interesting that   I loved about this book was that all of   the neighbors are given descriptions. And   he calls the neighbors by their   descriptions. He doesn't call his   neighbors by their names because he   doesn't care enough to learn them. And so   at the beginning of the book it's only   descriptors, and as the book goes along,   the names start to trickle in.

 So it's really interesting to see when   the names are used and when the   descriptors are used in different   situations because you can definitely   tell how Ove was feeling about his neighbors   at certain times. So I really love that,   and that was a very subtle thing that I.   Thought was brilliant. And my last pro for   this book,   okay not my last bro but the last one I'm   going to talk about is going to be that   it touches on some important issues.

It   talks about aging, and it talks about   disability and how difficult it was for   people that were disabled to get   through   life when people wouldn't accommodate   for them. I don't wanna go into more   detail other than that, but it definitely   promotes how it's so important to   respect older generations and it's   important for older generations to   respect younger generations. It's just   one of those things that it needs to be   a back-and-forth, mutual respect, again,   that everyone just needs to treat   everyone as human beings and to   understand where people are coming from.   And they shouldn't jump to conclusions,   and they shouldn't take advantage of   people because they may not be as   knowledgeable in something that someone   else.

So don't take advantage of someone   that is of an older generation because   they don't take to technology as   quickly as a younger generation would. So   I really like seeing the older   generations and the younger generations   interacting and seeing that message of   mutual respect.   I wrote a list of things to talk about.   Apparently I only had one con.

My one   con for this book is going to be that it   took me a very long time to be "team Ove".   Like, I was just like, "Ugh, this man is so   annoying!" I did   not like him, so I didn't love him   straight off the bat like I have for   some of his other books.   It took me a while to warm up to Ove   because he does have a very strong   personality and it's hard for me to get   into the head space of someone like that.   That's not willing to listen to other   people and has a very strict way of   doing things.

It took me awhile to get on   his side, but once I did, I was totally   team Ove. I was like, "You go! You go, old   man. I love you!"   Another thing that you just might want   to know which wasn't a con for me at all,   but this book is a lot more slow-moving,   I feel, than some of the other books   that I've read by him. But I think that   the story benefits from that slow-moving   nature, and I think that the story is   well done with exploring all of those   things methodically and seeing those   things change gradually as the novel   goes along.

 I don't know if I'm making any sense.   Another thing about this book that you   might want to know is that it's   originally written in Swedish, and then   it's translated by Henning Koch whom   translates all his books. I really enjoy   Henning Koch's translation. I'm not   sure how the Swedish compares.

I've heard   it's still amazing, so I think that he's   doing a really good job of translating it.   And I can't even tell that it's translated   at all besides the fact that Ove is   obsessed with Saab cars because I think   that's the Swedish thing. But because of   all of those pros and just some of   those cons that, I had ended up giving   this book four stars which is less than   any of the other books that I've read by   him, but this book is absolutely   fantastic!   I just love Fredrik Backman's writing.   I definitely recommend this book.

I'm   glad I started with My Grandmother Asked   Me to Tell You She's Sorry because that was   a little bit more quicker-paced, but this   one is so good. I definitely, definitely   recommend it. It's just a little bit of a   darker read, I guess, because he has lost   his will to live. Now I'm going to   talk about the movie! So after reading   the book, I ended up watching the movie.

 The movie is in Swedish, and so you had   to read English subtitles. And I'm not   good at watching a movie and reading   subtitles, so let's just get that out   there at the beginning because I want to   watch what's happening on the screen but   then I have to also be at the bottom and   read the subtitles which would also   switch from the top to the bottom to the   top to the bottom. So I was, like, jumping   all over the place trying to read, and I.   Ended up having to rewind a little bit   sometimes because I wanted to know   exactly what they said and sometimes it   moved a little bit quicker.

 I'm just not very good at watching   subtitled things. Let that be known.   I actually thought this was a really   good adaptation. The beginning scene   is different, and there are a lot of things   that are different in the movie than   they are in the book, and a lot of things   that are just rushed over, and a lot of   characters that you don't get to know as   in-depth as you do in the book.

But   that's pretty standard for book-to-movie   adaptations. Something I loved about this   movie was that it really gave that   atmosphere of the book. It really gave   that desolate, alone feeling that Ove has   throughout the novel, and it also has   that very humorous aspect that the book   has as well. Like, this man is just trying   to be by himself and do what he needs to   do, but all of his neighbors are   ridiculous.

And he has to help them clean   up their messes, and he gets really   annoyed at them. And it's both very   isolated-feeling and very dreary and   almost sad in a way, but then also so   funny because they're really funny parts   about this movie and book as well. As   compared with the book, the movie is   obviously more fast-paced, and as I said   before when I was talking about the book   that I think this story really benefits   from moving slowly and connecting with   the characters and having a slow   burning relationship with the characters   in this book. Because it was a lot   quicker moving, I didn't care about the   characters as much while watching the   movie.

But again that's impossible to get   from that book into a movie format, so I.   Really enjoyed what we could get in this   movie. And I think that you really   connect with Ove and the main secondary   characters like his neighbors that just   move in at the beginning of the story. As   I said this movie is very, very much   the book.

It just takes out certain   things. So all of the things that I.   Talked about the book with, they had   those in the movie besides if just being   quicker-paced and the ending to the   movie was different than the ending of   the book which I like because then you   can experience both and one doesn't   spoil the other to a point. Like, they end   somewhat similarly, but they have   different things that happened at the   very end that I found enjoyable.

I really   liked how this ended, and I really liked   seeing where Ove and everyone end up   after the book is over. So yeah, I.   Definitely recommend both of these.   I definitely recommend reading the book   first because that's what we do here on   BookTube, but the movie definitely gets   the job done.

And I think that it was   really well-directed, and I really liked   the feeling and the atmosphere that the   movie gave the story. That's going to be   my book and movie review on A Man Called   Ove by Fredrik Backman. If you liked   it, please give it a big thumbs up and   comment down below if you guys have   anyone in your life that is born in the   wrong time period that they just   want to live a very specific way, but   everything around them is changing. I.

 Definitely know people like that. I know   people like that that're my age, and so I.   Just know when we get older they're   going to have just the worst time   interacting with people. And I will talk to   you guys next time! Bye!.