A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Published 2012 · 368 pages · 91,490 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction, Satire & Humor

How hard is A Man Called Ove to read?

A Man Called Ove scores 53 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 35 out of 100
The prose employs common, contemporary vocabulary, reflecting Ove's direct and pragmatic perspective. While specific terms like 'anchor bolt' or 'percolator' appear, they are either widely understood or contextualized, presenting minimal lexical challenge. The language is far more accessible than The Great Gatsby (45) and closer to clear contemporary fiction like Beach Read (30).
Sentence structure: 40 out of 100
Sentences are predominantly direct and of moderate length, prioritizing clarity over elaborate construction. While some descriptive passages feature compound or complex sentences, they avoid deeply nested clauses or ambiguous phrasing, making the text easily navigable. This style is more straightforward than The Great Gatsby (52) and aligns closely with the declarative nature of 1984 (35).
Abstraction: 38 out of 100
The narrative remains firmly grounded in concrete events, Ove's practical worldview, and his direct interactions with the physical world and his neighbors. While Ove reflects on principles and life's changes, these thoughts are always tied to tangible situations rather than abstract philosophical debates. This level of concreteness is significantly lower than The Great Gatsby (58) and more akin to the practical examples in Atomic Habits (38).
Information density: 42 out of 100
The narrative maintains a clear, linear progression, even with well-marked flashbacks that serve to deepen character rather than complicate the plot. Information is introduced gradually, allowing for easy comprehension without demanding intense focus or re-reading. The density is lower than The Great Gatsby (48) and more aligned with the manageable reveals of The Housemaid (35).
Narrative indirection: 35 out of 100
The narrator frequently provides direct insight into Ove's thoughts and motivations, explaining his rigid principles and curmudgeonly worldview. While readers infer his deep grief for Sonja through his actions, the core narrative relies on explicit statements rather than subtle implication, similar to the directness found in 1984.
Symbolic density: 55 out of 100
The narrative employs clear, accessible symbols such as Ove's Saab, his meticulously maintained house, and the persistent cat, all representing his identity, values, and connection to his past. The 'white shirts' symbolize impersonal bureaucracy, providing meaning beyond literal events without becoming overly abstract or dense like Moby-Dick.
Ironic distance: 68 out of 100
The author maintains a consistent, gentle ironic distance, presenting Ove's rigid worldview and comically exaggerated complaints about 'idiots' and 'posers' with a blend of humor and affection. This gap between Ove's literal pronouncements and the narrator's implied understanding invites readers to appreciate his character while subtly critiquing his stubbornness, akin to the nuanced perspective in The Great Gatsby.
Resolution withholding: 75 out of 100
The narrative consistently withholds resolution regarding Ove's central desire to die, presenting multiple thwarted suicide attempts that are interrupted by his neighbors' needs. This creates ongoing ambiguity and suspense, deferring the ultimate outcome of his struggle against loneliness and a changing world, though not to the extreme degree of Waiting for Godot.
Structural complexity: 65 out of 100
The book utilizes a non-linear structure, frequently interweaving present-day events with extensive flashbacks that illuminate Ove's past and character development. These chronological shifts are clearly delineated by chapter headings, providing context without disorienting the reader, and the point of view remains consistently focused on Ove, making it more complex than a linear narrative but less experimental than Flights.

How A Man Called Ove is regarded

A Man Called Ove holds a literary regard score of 36 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where A Man Called Ove sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (162 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, A Man Called Ove scores 62 out of 100. A second mythos, tragedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.3. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
Ove is the sort of man who checks the status of all things by giving them a good kick.
Symbol: Formal
Everything else on the paper is drawn in black, but the figure in the middle is a veritable explosion of color.
Mythos: Normal Comedy iii (comedy iii)
I don’t have time to die right now.
Genre: Novel + Romance
most men ran away from an inferno. But men like Ove ran into it.

Where the story of A Man Called Ove takes place

  • Swedish row-house development, c. 2012-2016 (2012 to 2016), the main setting
  • Ove's childhood, railway yard and house-building, 1950s-1970s (1954 to 1975)
  • Ove and Sonja's marriage, Spain bus tour and the row house, 1970s-2012 (1975 to 2012)

5 things that are true of A Man Called Ove, with the passage for each

  1. The book opens by stating Ove's age as fifty-nine.

    Ove is fifty-nine.

  2. Ove's first hanging attempt fails because the rope snaps in two.

    Then, in shock, he stares at the rope, which has snapped into two long stumps.

  3. Ove buys the seven-year-old Nasanin's sister an iPad costing 8,295 kronor.

    “eightthousandtwohundredandninetyfivekronor and they don’t even throw in a keyboard!”

  4. Ove's letter reveals an account of over eleven million kronor inherited from Sonja's father.

    There is an account with 11,563,013 kronor and 67 öre. From Sonja’s dad.

  5. More than three hundred people attend Ove's funeral, though he asked for none.

    More than three hundred people come to the funeral.

Scenes in A Man Called Ove that Frye would name

42 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Pathos, untitled
And then closed her eyes and died. Sonja's death, the sacrificial center of Ove's backstory.
Pathos, untitled
Ove looks like he’s sleeping very deeply. She has never seen his face looking so peaceful. Ove's own quiet death closes the book.
Agon, untitled
And then Ove hit him. Just once. It was enough. Tom collapsed like a sack of wet flour. The young Ove's decisive contest with Tom over his father's watch.
Sparagmos, untitled
Then: an explosion of splintering glass. The merciless screeching of twisting metal. The bus crash tears apart Sonja's body and the unborn child's future.
Cognitio, untitled
“And so will I,” says Ove. Ove joins the neighbors in a restored community that stops the removal of Rune.
Cognitio, untitled
“Thanks, Granddad,” she whispers and runs into her room. Ove is accepted into the family and given a new role.

Books that share these scenes with A Man Called Ove

About the author

Fredrik Backman