WOW was this quite the story. While slow in the beginning, I learned later how crucial it was to setting up the characters so the author could then tug at my heartstrings in the end, causing me to bawl throughout the last 20 pages or so (which isn't necessarily common for me when reading books). Finished it in just under 2 days, which is slightly ironic considering it involves some deep/heavy topics - yet it is a testament to how engaging the author's writing style and character development was for me.

I want to sit with this one for a while - especially as I reflect on 2020 and the book's themes of living vs. dying, compassion, morality, and being self- vs. others-focused.
The writing was one of the best parts - descriptive and detailed so the characters were fulled formed and active.
For example, I so enjoyed how the author personified the cat, causing me to smile to myself in many interactions between Ove and the cat.
I was a sucker for the relationships between Ove and Parvaneh and Ove and her daughters. Many parts reminded me of my grandparents, which added to the emotion of the book, and other parts didn't but still were very relatable.

I don't want to forget the impact of this book - not just the sweet plot but the way I fully felt the moments of humor, loss, and compassion. So many little moments that turned on my empathy in full force (

when the girl says "Granddad," when Ove lists Parvaneh as next of kin, how the iPad from the beginning is Ove shopping for the girl, when the cat is resting in his hand, when 300 people are at the funeral, the young couple with a Saab, etc.

).

In conclusion, I love the author's reflection/thesis put into words towards the end:

"Death is a strange thing. People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it's often one of the greatest motivations for living. Some of us, in time, become so conscious of it that we live harder, more obstinately, with more fury. Some need its constant presence to even be aware of its antithesis. Others become so preoccupied with it that they go into the waiting room long before it has announced its arrival. We fear it, yet most of us fear more than anything that it may take someone other than ourselves. For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone. [...] And time is a curious thing. Most of us only live for the time that lies right ahead of us. A few days, weeks, years. One of the most painful moments in a person's life probably comes with the insight that an age has been reached when there is more to look back on than ahead. And when time no longer lies ahead of one, other things have to be lived for. Memories, perhaps. Afternoons in the sun with someone's hand clutched in one's own. The fragrance of flower beds in fresh bloom. Sundays in a cafe. Grandchildren, perhaps. One finds a way of living for the sake of someone else's future. [...] Life is a curious thing."

Thanks Kate for the book borrow!