A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman

     There are some characters from novels that become so real you feel you have known them your whole life.  The main character of Fredrick Backman's book, A Man Called Ove is just such a character.  He is the grouchy neighbor we all may have had; he is the social misfit who always seems to be scowling at people around him; he is your father, your brother or your husband.  Ove was a man who saw only black and white, right and wrong.  His life was orderly and controlled until his wife, Sonya, died and then he felt he had nothing to live for.  Suicide seemed the only alternative to the pain of continuing to breathe without her by his side.  Unfortunately, Ove was constantly thwarted by the people who insinuated themselves into his "life."  First, it was the pregnant woman with the totally inept husband and two daughters.  Then it was the delivery boy who had been one of Sonya's "lost" students at the special needs school.  Add to these a "bent" (gay) friend of this boy and the obese fellow who happened to live next door.  Backman created a motley, needy group of people who barge in on Ove and his many attempts to "end it all," but they are all so "real" and loveable.  Eventually, we see that Ove is not the curmudgeon he seems to be and that he is in fact, a man who loves deeply and protects everyone who he calls his own.  I really believed in this character with all his warts.  He made me laugh and cry but mostly he made me feel "safe."  It is nice to know that there are people who will stand firm, who will go the extra mile and who will be in your corner no matter how difficult it may be.  Ove was such a man.  He was dependable and strong and faithful to a fault and isn't that what we all want in the end? Ove was a man I would have been happy to call my friend.