Literary Fiction · Free kit
A Man Called Ove
On a Swedish row-house street, fifty-nine-year-old Ove patrols gates, bins, and parking rules as if the neighborhood would collapse without him. Six months after losing Sonja — the woman who was all the color he had — he has been forced to retire, and he is running out of reasons to stay. Then a family backs a trailer into his mailbox, a pregnant neighbor named Parvaneh refuses to take a hint, and a half-frozen cat becomes his problem. Fredrik Backman's debut is funny, furious, and unexpectedly tender: a novel about a man who believes in doing things properly, and the stubborn people who will not let him disappear.
“He was a man of black and white. And she was color. All the color he had.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
A Man Called Ove This or That
Answer in under three seconds. No wrong answers — only revealing ones.
1 / 40
Rapid fire (60 seconds)
Read these aloud as fast as the group can shout answers.
- 1. Filter coffee, brewed yourself or A cafe cup you have to ask for?
- 2. Cinnamon bun or A biscuit you can dunk?
- 3. Manual gearbox or Automatic, no stalling?
- 4. Bubble level or Tape measure?
- 5. Early patrol or Lie-in, unlocked gate?
- 6. Screws or Nails?
- 7. Pink flowers or A red cardigan?
- 8. Passenger-seat cat or Passenger-seat child?
- 9. Printed rules on the shed or A handwritten note on the fridge?
- 10. Saab key on a hook or Spare Allen key in a drawer?