“You only need one ray of light to chase all the shadows away”

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”

What a sweet, simple book.

Ove is a curmudgeon who abides by a strict schedule and doesn’t allow a lot of wiggle room in what he considers “the Rules.”  His wife, Sonja, was his whole world and dies before the action of the book begins. Shortly after her death he is forced into retirement and he begins to make a plan to kill himself. He has a thoughtful, clean plan but he is constantly interrupted. His biggest distraction is the new family in the neighborhood; Parvaneh, a pregnant Iranian woman, and her two daughters (and to a lesser extent, her husband) infiltrate Ove’s life.

“But if anyone had asked, he would have told them that he never lived before he met her. And not after either.”

Flashbacks are interspersed throughout the novel giving the reader insight into what made Ove the man he is today. He had a rough childhood, he was poor growing up and orphaned as a teenager, but his steadfast beliefs in right and wrong led him down the road to Sonja. Ove takes some getting used to but in the end this book will illicit a few blurry pages.