A man named Ove (Roman)
| novel | |
|---|---|
| title | A man named Ove |
| Original title | En man som heter Ove |
| country | Sweden |
| author | Fredrik Backman |
| publishing company | Fisherman |
| First publication | 2014 |
A man named Ove ( Swedish En man som heter Ove ) is a novel by the Swedish author Fredrik Backman . The original was published in 2012 and was translated into German in 2014.
The English edition, A Man Called Ove, gave the book its international breakthrough and it stayed on bestseller lists for a long time. Translations into numerous languages were created.
The film adaptation of Hannes Holm in 2015 received a number of awards.
content
The protagonist Ove is a grouchy 59-year-old Swede who lives in a housing estate with his wife Sonja. There he strictly pays attention to compliance with all rules, which does not make him popular with all neighbors. He is skilled at manual tasks, driving a car and especially repairing cars. His greatest pride is to have exclusively driven Saab in his entire life .
The order in Ove's life is disrupted by a family moving into the neighboring house. Not only the two daughters, but also the communicative mother Parvaneh and the father Patrick, who is completely untalented, crowd into Ove's life. Over the course of the story, flashbacks in Ove's childhood are used to depict the loss of his parents and getting to know his wife. It also reveals that Ove's wife had an accident many years ago in which she lost a child and has since been dependent on a wheelchair.
Because Sonja died shortly before the story started and Ove lost the only person who really understood him, he now wants to take his own life. However, all attempts fail and finally Ove shows a surprisingly philanthropic side. Because his archenemy Rune fell ill with Alzheimer's , the city administration wants to send him to a nursing home. His wife Anita does not manage to fight this decision on her own. Now Oves shows his fighting spirit and he helps, together with the neighboring family, who are now friends, that Rune can stay with his wife.
reception
- Der Spiegel : "A tragic-comic novel about a lovable disgusting package that terrorizes the neighborhood with its block attendant control mania."
- Woman : "A surprise success from Sweden, written melancholy and yet heartwarming to read."
- Hamburger Morgenpost : "If you don't love this book, you don't really need to read it anymore."
German edition
- Fredrik Backman: A man named Ove . Translated from the Swedish by Stefanie Werner. Fischer, Frankfurt 2014, ISBN 978-3-596-19780-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d A man named Ove (paperback). In: fischerverlage.de. opus5 interactive medien gmbh, accessed on June 23, 2018 .
- ↑ The Man Behind 'A Man Called Ove', Sweden's Latest Hit Novel . (English, nytimes.com [accessed June 23, 2018]).
- ↑ Editions of A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Retrieved June 23, 2018 .