Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In case you’re one of those few who haven’t heard about this book, here’s what it’s about in a nutshell: a curmudgeonly old man very reluctantly gets to know his "needy" neighbors and the people that refuse to obey the sign that restricts parking in the residential area of his small neighborhood. It’s like the movie Up, only with adults and with much more character and subtle-but-heartwarming style. Take this paragraph, for an example of that: "For more than fifteen minutes he stood waiting for her at the station in his tight-fitting suit and his new-polished shoes. He was skeptical about people who came late. 'If you can’t depend on someone being on time, you shouldn’t trust ’em with anything more important either,' he used to mutter when people came dribbling along with their time cards three or four minutes late, as if this didn’t matter. As if the railway line would just lie there waiting for them in the morning and not have something to do." Every sentence in this book is imbued with characterization and style; every word is a brushstroke in the painting of Ove as not only a curmudgeon, but a survivor of hard things, a principled man, a hard worker, a dedicated Saab driver, and one of those loyal-to-the-death-but-you-wouldn’t-know-it-to-talk-to-him kind of people. And, unlike most adult-genre books, especially ones about old people, there is something interesting or amusing or soulful on almost every page. The pacing and plot weaving are impeccable. It’s truly a treasure to read.