A Man Called Ove: A Novel

Death is a strange thing. People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it’s often one of the great motivations for living.

People didn’t know how to do that anymore, brew some proper coffee. In the same way as nowadays nobody could write with a pen. Because now it was all computers and espresso machines. And where was the world going if people couldn’t even write or brew a pot of coffee?

Whatever some girlie in a yellow sweatshirt from the self-service warehouse has to say about it.

The man just sighs, as if Ove is a cheeky child refusing to stop riding his skateboard on the sidewalk.

unreserved celebration of mediocrity.

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

Love is a strange thing. It takes you by surprise

Death is a strange thing. People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it’s often one of the great motivations for living.

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

It was as if he didn’t want other people to talk to him, he was afraid that their chattering voices would drown out the memory of her voice