Finished: A Man Called Ove (Backman) A very good book; a tugger of the heartstrings. A Man Called Ove is the story of a Swedish man, Ove, who is grumpy, set in his ways, matter of fact, unfriendly, and at 59, has just been unwillingly retired from his job not too long after his beloved wife, Sonja, has passed away. Ove is a stickler for the homeowner association rules when it comes to the neighborhood, and polices the street willing to confront anyone, including the neighborhood stray cat. He's tired, though, and heartbroken, and simply wants to go and be with his wife, rather than talking to her at her grave every day. He gets his affairs in order, cancels his phone and all his subscriptions and decides he will end his life. He doesn't count on the new neighbors literally barging in, accidentally running over his mailbox, breaking the association rules, and making themselves right at home in his life. He has to teach the young father, Patrick, how to back up a trailer, and he has to drive Patrick's very pregnant Iranian wife, Parvenah, and six & three year old precocious daughters to the hospital when an ambulance comes to collect Patrick when, trying to pry open a stuck two-story window, he falls from the ladder he borrowed from Ove. As the story unfolds, Parvenah comes to depend on Ove, and he on her. He teaches her to drive. She basically interrupts several of his carefully planned suicide attempts because she needs him for some reason or another, until he finally realizes that he IS needed and better stay on this side of things for a bit longer. He takes in the cat when it's attacked by a dog. He takes in a local teenage boy, whose father owns the local cafe, when he comes out as gay and is kicked out of the home. He teaches another teenage boy how to repair a bike, and then helps him pick out a car. And, most importantly, he gets back in touch with the other crotchety guy on the street, Rune, who used to be his best friend and comrade in all things in the association until they had a huge fight over something Ove can't remember anymore. Rune's wife, Anita, had been Sonja's best friend, which had thrown Rune and Ove together...but they never really minded it, and became friends themselves. It has been years since they've spoken, though, and Anita has come to Ove for help with her heater because Rune is suffering from Alzheimer's. What's more, the government wants to take him away and put him in a home. Ove begrudgingly, or maybe not, helps Anita and when he realizes that she's been battling the bureaucracy for two years and they are coming any day to get Rune, he mobilizes his new friends and neighbors and calls a local reporter who he always denied giving a story to when he saved a man off a railroad track one day. So, the new found friends rally around and get Rune kept in his house and promise that they will all be involved in helping Anita care for him. Ove gets more and more attached to Parvenah and her kids. They begin to even refer to him as Grandad. One night, after the oldest girl's eighth birthday, Ove confronts some hoodlums trying to burglarize a neighbor's house and falls to the ground with a heart attack. Parvenah is frantic, but gets him to the hospital where the doctor explains he's got an enlarged heart, but with medication, should be ok for another few years. Not long after, Parvenah gives birth to a little boy, who the author never names, but I can't imagine it's not Ove! Anyway, the book delves into Ove's past, and how honorable and hard-working he was because his single father raised him that way. It explores the day that Sonja bursts into Ove's black and white world with her colorful personality and infectious laugh, and he knows then and there he will marry her. It quietly develops all these new relationships that are thrust upon Ove until by the time he is actually going to die, he's made sure that the gay boy and his father have been reunited and that Patrick and Parvenah's children will all be taken care of with the money he never spent. It's a very good, very heartwarming story which brought tears to my eyes more than once! I really like this author. He's the same buy who wrote Bear Town and it's sequel. I will definitely be seeking out more of his books.