A Man Called Ove
Fredrik Backman, 2012
Graphic novels & humour Contemporary fiction
A grumpy Swedish man with strict rules and a Saab finds his orderly life interrupted by the messy neighbours next door. Funny, tender and sometimes bleak. A dry, witty voice carries you through a grumpy man’s routines, with warmth and sadness close under the surface.
Feels like humor, tenderness and melancholy. About solitude, love and society.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy comic portraits of difficult people who soften by degrees. Some stretches turn bleak, so it may not suit you if you want unbroken lightness.
Why read it
It offers a funny, tender look at loneliness and neighbourliness, and at how small interruptions can change a rigid life.
A page from the book
The invisible duel that happens across a shop counter.
Another silence, as if two gunmen have suddenly realized they have forgotten to bring their pistols. Ove looks at the box for a long time, as though he’s waiting for it to make a confession. Fredrik Backman.Fredrik Backman was a Swedish blogger and freelance journalist before publishing A Man Called Ove, his debut novel, in 2012; it became a film and a bestseller.
Books that feel like this
More by Fredrik Backman
My Friends
Fredrik Backman, 2025
A teenage vandal, a perfect plan, and a painting worth more than a life—Backman’s funniest, most tender voice yet.
Anxious People
Fredrik Backman, 2019
A failed bank robber takes a roomful of apartment-viewing strangers hostage, and the police try to work out who is really trapped.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Fredrik Backman, 2013
A seven-year-old, her irreverent grandmother, and a stairwell of odd neighbours, bound together by fairy tales and apology letters.
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- Is A Man Called Ove for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy comic portraits of difficult people who soften by degrees. Some stretches turn bleak, so it may not suit you if you want unbroken lightness.
- What is A Man Called Ove like?
- A dry, witty voice carries you through a grumpy man’s routines, with warmth and sadness close under the surface. Feels like humor, tenderness and melancholy. About solitude, love and society.
- What should I read after A Man Called Ove?
- If you liked A Man Called Ove, try Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (Gail Honeyman), Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby Van Pelt) and The Man Who Died Twice (Richard Osman).
A taste of the feed
When a flat stops being a home and becomes a place no one enters.
No one’s been in my flat this year apart from service professionals; I’ve not voluntarily invited another human being across the threshold, except to read the meter. You’d think that would be impossible, wouldn’t you? It’s true, though. I do exist, don’t I? It often feels as if I’m not here, that I’m a figment of my own imagination. There are days when I feel so lightly connected to the earth that the threads that tether me to the planet are gossamer thin, spun sugar. A strong gust of wind could dislodge me completely, and I’d lift off and blow away, like one of those seeds in a dandelion clock.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine · Gail Honeyman
Someone is quietly making plans to fix a heart that isn't his.
As a general rule, I like holes. A hole at the top of my tank gives me freedom. But I do not like the hole in her heart. She only has one, not three, like me. Tova’s heart. I will do everything I can to help her fill it.
Remarkably Bright Creatures · Shelby Van Pelt
The friend who ends the argument by telling you what you already decided.
Elizabeth reaches for the white wine. “Ibrahim, not everything is about numbers. Ron, you would die long before the dog; male life expectancy is far lower than female life expectancy, and you know what your GP has said about your blood sugar. And Joyce, we both know you’ve already made up your mind. You’ll get a rescue dog. It’ll be sitting somewhere right now, all alone with big eyes, just waiting for you. You will be powerless and, besides, it’ll be fun for all of us, so let’s stop even discussing it.”
The Man Who Died Twice · Richard Osman
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed