A Man Called Ove

A Novel

Fredrik Backman

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781668010815
• eBook ISBN: 9781476738031
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

Now a major motion picture A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks!

#1 New York Times bestseller—more than 3 million copies sold!

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

Fredrik Backman’s beloved first novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. “If there was an award for ‘Most Charming Book of the Year,’ this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down” (Booklist, starred review).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Chapter 1: A Man Called Ove Buys a Computer That Is Not a Computer
• Chapter 2: (Three Weeks Earlier) A Man Called Ove Makes His Neighborhood Inspection
• Chapter 3: A Man Called Ove Backs Up with a Trailer
• Chapter 4: A Man Called Ove Does Not Pay a Three-Kronor Surcharge
• Chapter 5: A Man Called Ove
• Chapter 6: A Man Called Ove and a Bicycle That Should Have Been Left Where Bicycles Are Left
• Chapter 7: A Man Called Ove Drills a Hole For a Hook
• Chapter 8: A Man Who Was Ove and a Pair of his Father’s Old Footprints
• Chapter 9: A Man Called Ove Bleeds a Radiator
• Chapter 10: A Man Who Was Ove and a House That Ove Built
• Chapter 11: A Man Called Ove and a Lanky One Who Can’t Open a Window Without Falling Off a Ladder
• Chapter 12: A Man Who Was Ove and One Day He Had Enough
• Chapter 13: A Man Called Ove and a Clown Called Beppo
• Chapter 14: A Man Who Was Ove and a Woman on a Train
• Chapter 15: A Man Called Ove and a Delayed Train
• Chapter 16: A Man Who Was Ove and a Truck in the Forest
• Chapter 17: A Man Called Ove and a Cat Annoyance in a Snowdrift
• Chapter 18: A Man Who Was Ove and a Cat Called Ernest
• Chapter 19: A Man Called Ove and a Cat That Was Broken When He Came
• Chapter 20: A Man Called Ove and an Intruder
• Chapter 21: A Man Who Was Ove and Countries Where They Play Foreign Music in Restaurants
• Chapter 22: A Man Called Ove and Someone in a Garage
• Chapter 23: A Man Who Was Ove and a Bus That Never Got There
• Chapter 24: A Man Called Ove and a Brat Who Draws in Color
• Chapter 25: A Man Called Ove and a Piece of Corrugated Iron
• Chapter 26: A Man Called Ove and a Society Where No One Can Repair a Bicycle Anymore
• Chapter 27: A Man Called Ove and a Driving Lesson
• Chapter 28: A Man Who Was Ove and a Man Who Was Rune
• Chapter 29: A Man Called Ove and a Bender
• Chapter 30: A Man Called Ove and a Society Without Him
• Chapter 31: A Man Called Ove Backs Up a Trailer. Again.
• Chapter 32: A Man Called Ove Isn’t Running a Damned Hotel
• Chapter 33: A Man Called Ove and an Inspection Tour That Is Not the Usual
• Chapter 34: A Man Called Ove and a Boy in the House Next Door
• Chapter 35: A Man Called Ove and Social Incompetence
• Chapter 36: A Man Called Ove and a Whiskey
• Chapter 37: A Man Called Ove and a Lot of Bastards Sticking Their Noses In
• Chapter 38: A Man Called Ove and the End of a Story
• Chapter 39: A Man Called Ove
• A Man Called Ove and an Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Reading Group Guide
• ‘The Winners’ Teaser
• About the Author
• Copyright