Book Review: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

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

Originally published in 2012, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman follows Ove, 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 neighbour 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.

Book Review: The Winners (Beartown #3) by Fredrik Backman

“There’s no life liek youth, no love like first love, no friends like teammates.”

The third book in Fredrik Backman‘s Beartown series and set to be released on 5th October, The Winners is set two years after the events that no one wants to think about. As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.

So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home? Everything.

Audiobook Review: Us Against You (Beartown #2) by Fredrik Backman

“Everyone is a hundred different things, but in other people’s eyes we usually get the chance to be only one of them.”

The second book in the Beartown series by Fredrik Backman and published in 2017, Us Against You follows the citizens of Beartown after everything they have gone through, who struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the former Beartown players who now play for a rival team in Hed. But when a surprising newcomer is handpicked to be Beartown’s new hockey coach, a new team starts to take shape.

As the big match approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt grows deeper. By the time the last game is finally played, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.

Audiobook Review: Beartown (Beartown #1) by Fredrik Backman

“If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway. All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow. Do good anyway.”

The 2018 book from Fredrik Backman, Beartown is set in a small Swedish town cut-off from everywhere else that experiences the kind of isolation that tears people apart. And each year, more and more of the town is swallowed by the forest. Then, the town is offered a bright new future. But it is all put in jeopardy by a single, brutal act. It divides the town into those who think it should be hushed up and forgotten, and those who’ll risk the future to see justice done. Who will speak up?