It’s so strange to sit and think what to write about one of
the most memorable characters I have ever read. Someone who does what has to be
done, who fights for the right things and who understands that rules have been
put in place for a reason and are meant to be followed.
It all started one fine evening, over a cup of Irani chai at a local Hyderabad café,
when I, after having heard so many praises and recommendations from my bookworm
friends, finally began my journey with Ove.
Ove, a man who is as annoyed by people who can’t read simple
sign boards as he is with a stray cat in his path. Ove, whose conversations at
an electronic shop will remind you of the numerous times you’ve had to
‘explain’ technology to your parents. Ove, whose feelings of pain and helplessness
and anger at the system are so real, it is impossible to not be able to feel
it, because let’s face it, this is something all of us have experienced at some
point in our lives.
Page 2 and I was already laughing out loud. The author’s
ability to bring out human interactions, be it with fellow humans, or with cats
and dogs, in a diligent and humorous way is amazing. He observes a lot of
things that usually go unnoticed to the common eye. Simple, mundane situations
seem to invoke his curiosity, which he then turns into gales of laughter for
his readers. He captures the human relations perfectly. Moreover, he sees
humor in places and situations where people would normally see friction.
At the core of the story is Ove’s love for the one woman in
his life, whose laughter changed his entire world. A love which is as strong as
his principles. Through Ove’s eyes, one sees the changing times of our society.
How quickly we discard the familiar old and welcome the untested new. From
individual homes to residential societies, from fixing our own things to dialing
professional technicians, from savings to insurance companies. Luckily for Ove,
his principles remain constant throughout his journey. There are very few
individuals in our real lives we can say the same about.
All of us have surely met an Ove in our lives, though we
would not have thought of the interaction with that person as funny or
something to laugh about. That is the beauty of this book. It generates a
gentle warm feeling in your heart through a seemingly emotionless protagonist.
It asks you to give yourself the opportunity to love someone and awaken their
ability to love you back. It makes you realize that grumpy doesn’t necessarily
mean heartless, that people like Ove are capable of feeling the tenderness of
love in their hearts. And sometimes all we need to disarm a curmudgeonly old
man is a little innocent girl.
The problem with us is we judge everyone. No sooner we find
someone who is a tiny winy bit different from the society’s definition of
normal or nice, than we point it out to them. By telling the story from Ove’s
point of view, the author helps us connect with him, understand him and welcome
him in our hearts. Ove’s story is about the essence of hope and positivity, of
love and understanding, of going deeper than the outer personality and
accepting people for who they are rather than labeling them. For me, every
interaction in the book has been a source of learning about the human behavior. In an age where negative news fills our eyes and ears, we definitely
need more heart-warming stories like this beautiful one.
