A Man called Ove may have been from Minnesota

I do not often do book reviews.  I recommend this one.


Curmudgeons can be wise and interesting.  Or not.




A Man Called Ove, is about a Scandinavian curmudgeon  Minnesota (my people) has many Scandinavians and some curmudgeons as well. 




Ove was "from a generation in which one was what one did, not what one talked about."
“Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say.”  


True words.  Talk can be cheap, promises can be broken.  There is something very noble in those solid individuals who are honest, quiet, self reliant, and competent.


"Men who required only a few simple things from life, she said.  A roof over their heads, a quiet street, the right make of car, and a woman to be faithful to.  A job where you had a proper function.  A house where things broke at regular intervals, so you always had something to tinker with."




Good analysis. Yet life is more than that.  “He was a man of black and white. And she was color. All the color he had.”  




Lack of color makes for an unpleasant curmudgeon.




Ove reminded me a bit of my father.