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A review by louiza_read2live
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Did not finish book. Stopped at 53%.
Very unpopular opinion. I dnf (didn't finish) this book at chapter 31. I thought I'd love it, but I decided I have too many great books I want to read and not enough time, so I can't bother forcing myself to continue. This has similar problems that at times I encounter in contemporary fiction novels. The concept of the story is great! The writing, however, is repetitive, tedius, and underwhelming for what could have been a wonderful story. At times, it was funny, sad, emotional, and heartwarming, and that is why I went through 31 chapters before I said enough. Also, if I was to read one more sentence about the blue Saab car and the Volvo, I would scream.
1. Ove is a man of 59 years old. It would have been more believable and much closer to the writing style of this character if he was much older, a man in his 70s.
2. Even worse, what's up with the cat? She acts like a dog! Why the choice of a cat when the author writes as if he's dealing with a stray dog?
3. What really made me dnf it and ignore the good parts (because there were good parts in the story) is the tedius repetitions in the storyline, and the repetitive short chopped sentences. I would have loved to finish it despite the rest of the weaknessess and I was planning to give it possibly a 3 stars depending on the ending. However, I could not take anymore of the writing.
I think I'm getting grumpy and too picky lately with my readings, but oh well, what can I do? I don't count as read the books that I dnf and I removed them from my goodreads, but I still wanted to rant a little about this book. Because of how it is written, I think it might work better as a movie, but as a book, reading it was frustrating. I will watch the movie when I can find it because the story as an idea is wonderful!
To the majority who loved this book, don't hate me. I do understand why you loved it. The writing just wasn't for me.
A few years ago, I had read and loved the other two books by the same author Bear Town and its sequel Us Against You (Haven't read the final book in the trilogy yet, but I plan to do so).
1. Ove is a man of 59 years old. It would have been more believable and much closer to the writing style of this character if he was much older, a man in his 70s.
2. Even worse, what's up with the cat? She acts like a dog! Why the choice of a cat when the author writes as if he's dealing with a stray dog?
3. What really made me dnf it and ignore the good parts (because there were good parts in the story) is the tedius repetitions in the storyline, and the repetitive short chopped sentences. I would have loved to finish it despite the rest of the weaknessess and I was planning to give it possibly a 3 stars depending on the ending. However, I could not take anymore of the writing.
I think I'm getting grumpy and too picky lately with my readings, but oh well, what can I do? I don't count as read the books that I dnf and I removed them from my goodreads, but I still wanted to rant a little about this book. Because of how it is written, I think it might work better as a movie, but as a book, reading it was frustrating. I will watch the movie when I can find it because the story as an idea is wonderful!
To the majority who loved this book, don't hate me. I do understand why you loved it. The writing just wasn't for me.
A few years ago, I had read and loved the other two books by the same author Bear Town and its sequel Us Against You (Haven't read the final book in the trilogy yet, but I plan to do so).