Phew... at last I have finished this book. This took me over 3 months to finish.
Spoiler alert!
This book is mostly about this stoic Swede called Ove who wants to die to be with his beloved wife. All his attempts are foiled by noisey neighbours and society. He is grumpy and wants to stick to rules and says that right is right and wrong is wrong. But if you can sandpaper off the rough surface, he is a man who can run into fire to save someone or jump in front of an upcoming train for you and be completely non-chalant about it. He did what he thought was right and so no need to fuss over it. Very similar to him is his friend Rune too, with whom Ove is at loggerheads for most part of his life but goes to war against the bureaucracy to save him.
All of the other characters are lovable and well built. All of them are helped out by Ove at different points in the book. The language is very simple and quite humourous at times. The reader will invariably fall in love with Ove over the course of the book and by the end will surely shed a tear or two in his honour.
Initially I really found the book very slow, and I had fair warning about that from other readers. I used to fall asleep reading it and couldn't read more than one chapter. I had to pick up a fast paced Sidney Sheldon to break the slump. I stuck to it only because I wanted to see the end of it. I am not dissapointed. The whole story is bound quite well in the end. I don't think I will pick it up to read again but I will surely recommend it to others with the due warning.
Ending the review with my most favourite quote from the book about loving someone-
"Loving someone is like moving into a house,' Sonja used to say. 'At first you fall in love with all the new things, amazed every morning that all this belongs to you, as if fearing that someone would suddenly come rushing in through the door to explain that a terrible mistake had been made, you weren't actually supposed to live in a wonderful place like this. Then over the years the walls become weathered, the wood splinters here and there, and you start to love that house not so much because of all its perfection, but rather its imperfections. You get to know all the nooks and crannies. How to avoid getting the key caught in the lock when it's cold outside. Which of the floorboards flex slightly when one steps on them or exactly how to open the wardrobe doors without their creaking. These are the little secrets that make it your home."
(P.s.- I am quite curious to watch the movie with Tom Hanks in it because he is one of my favourite actors and since I know it's out there, I have imagined the whole book with his image.)
