|
|
Join us from 3:00 pm-4:00 pm on Sunday, July 8, to discuss A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Remember to stop by the Fiction desk to pick up your tea ticket and visit East 59 to select your tea before joining us in the Public Lounge on the lower Administration Level! |
|
Sunday NovelTea is on Facebook!
If you are an active member of Sunday NovelTea, click on this link to request to join our Facebook group: You'll find group pictures, special discussions and exclusive information, updates and reminders! Become an active member by joining us at our next meeting on July 8! |
|
|
|
A man called Ove
by Fredrik Backman
A curmudgeon hides a terrible personal loss beneath a cranky and short-tempered exterior while clashing with new neighbors, a boisterous family whose chattiness and habits lead to unexpected friendship
|
|
Author Information Fredrik Backman Fredrik Backman is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, and Britt-Marie Was Here, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer —a novella, Beartown, and The Deal of a Lifetime. His books are being published around the world in more than thirty-five languages. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. His new novel, Us Against You, will be published in June 2018. |
|
Discussion Questions 1. How does the opening scene, in which Ove attempts to purchase a computer, succinctly express the main points of Ove’s ongoing battle with the stupidities of the modern world?
2. Ove loves things that have a purpose, that are useful. How does this worldview fail him when he believes himself to be useless? How is he convinced that he can still be useful?
3. As readers, we get to know Ove slowly, with his past only being revealed piece by piece. What surprised you about Ove’s past? Why do you think the author revealed Ove’s past the way that he did?
4. We all know our own grumpy old men. How do Ove’s core values lead him to appear as such a cranky old coot, when he is in fact nothing of the sort? Which of these values do you agree or disagree with?
5. Although Ove has some major “disagreements” with the way the world turned out, there are some undeniable advantages to the modernization he finds so hollow. How do these advantages improve Ove’s life, even if he can’t admit it?
6. Parveneh’s perspective on life, as radically different from Ove’s as it is, eventually succeeds in breaking Ove out of his shell, even if she can’t change his feelings about Saabs. How does her brash, extroverted attitude manage to somehow be both rude and helpful?
7. Ove strives to be “as little unlike his father as possible.” Although this emulation provides much of the strength that helps Ove persevere through a difficult life, it also has some disadvantages. What are some of the ways that Ove grows into a new way of thinking over the course of the book?
8. Ove is a believer in the value of routine—how can following a routine be both comforting and stultifying? How can we balance routine and spontaneity? Should we? Or is there sense in eating sausage and potatoes your whole life?
9. The truism “it takes a village to raise a child” has some resonance with A Man Called Ove. How does the eclectic cast of posers, suits, deadbeats, and teens each help Ove in their own way?
10. Although we all identify with Ove to some extent, especially by the end of the story, we certainly also have our differences with him. Which of the supporting cast (Parveneh, Jimmy, the Lanky One, Anita) did you find yourself identifying with most?
11. What did you make of Ove’s ongoing battle with the bureaucracies that persist in getting in his way? Is Ove’s true fight with the various ruling bodies, or are they stand-ins, scapegoats, for something else?
12. On page 113, after a younger Ove punches Tom, the author reflects: “A time like that comes for all men, when they choose what sort of men they want to be.” Do you agree with this sentiment, especially in this context? How does the book deal with varying ideas of masculinity?
13. On page 246, the author muses that when people don’t share sorrow, it can drive them apart. Do you agree with this? Why or why not?
14. What do you think of Ove’s relationship with the mangy cat he adopts? What does the cat allow him to express that he couldn’t otherwise say?
15. On Ove and Sonja’s trip to Spain, Ove spends his time helping the locals and fixing things. How does Ove the “hero” compare and contrast to his behavior in the rest of the book? Is that Ove’s true personality?
16. Ove and Sonja’s love story is one of the most affecting, tender parts of the book. What is the key to their romance? Why do they fit so well together?
17. Saab? Volvo? BMW? Scania? Discussion questions from: |
|
FREDRIK BACKMAN:
STAYING GROUNDED You used to drive a forklift. How did that evolve into writing books that are loved around the world? I don't know. It's still a mystery to everyone who knows me. I always viewed writing as a hobby, not a career choice, and, to be honest, I still do. My dad keeps telling my wife she needs to "treat the money as if Fredrik won the lottery, because this probably won't last!" I think he's got a point. I think I'll eventually go back to having a real job, and I don't really think I'll be any less happy than I am now. Your first book, A Man Called Ove, had its origins in your blog. How did you get started blogging? Well, the "origins in the blog" story has turned into somewhat of an urban legend. I think publishers' PR departments love to keep telling it, but it's not really true. There were some elements of the character of Ove that I played around with in my blog and some things I wrote about my dad that the blog readers enjoyed, and that eventually found its way into the novel. I also got the name "Ove" from a very clever blogger called Jonas Cramby, who wrote about how he stood in line at a museum behind an extremely angry man who got into a fight with the staff about the pronunciation of the name of a painter. At the end of the fight the man's wife sighed deeply, took her husband by the arm, and said: "Please, Ove, just let it GO!" And that's where I got the name from. And of course I played around with some jokes and some ideas at the blog, because that's what I do: I steal stuff from people around me and use it in fiction. I suppose most writers do. But…yes…where were we? "How did you get started blogging?" Well... I just started one. It wasn't hard at all. With the risk to sound philosophical I often get the question "how did you become an author?" And I answer that I didn't. I became a writer, by writing, because I like doing it. An author I became by accident. Why did you decide the Ove posts would work as a novel? Mostly because I found him funny. He has an unproportional response to everything that makes his anger very entertaining. So the first draft of the novel was just that: a series of situations where he was angry and yelled at people. Fortunately I was surrounded by very clever people--my wife, my friends and, further down the line, my publisher and editor--who told me: "This is funny. But there has to be a story!" So I went back and I started asking myself questions. Who is this man? How was he raised? Who does he love? What makes him laugh? And it grew from there. I started to care about him, and that's always the best start for me. If I don't care, no one will. So I ended up writing a story where I was trying to defend him a little bit, make people know him like I did, and see the good parts of him that make up for the really bad ones. |
|
|
|
|
|