A Man Called Ove Review

Title: A Man Called Ove

Author: Fredrik Backman

Genre: Fiction

Summary: 

Meet Ove. He’s 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 neighbor 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.

(amazon.com)

I received this book as a gift from my grandmother last September and just picked it up for the first time about two weeks ago. It has been at the bottom of my “must read” pile because usually I am drawn towards the type of fiction where there is some sort of mystery involved. I love a good action scene and especially enjoy when there is an unexpected twist at the end of a chapter or book as a whole. It is within these stories that I completely lose myself and my own thoughts and become immersed in the world of the characters I am reading about.

A Man Called Ove was not one of these stories. There were no murders, abductions, or chapter-ending twists. There was no REAL action, and yet I found myself unable to tear away from the simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking story of Ove.

A Man Called Ove is a story about life. It is simple in its language, reflective of the story it is telling of a man who prefers simplicity and predictability over adventure. Without spoiling anything for those of you who may want to read this book, (which I hope you all do!) there are some points of high stress and mild action in the story, but the majority of it is a narrative of Ove’s life and the events that shaped him into the man he is. It would have been very easy for this book to fall flat, leaving the reader with a collection of details and information about Ove but no attachment to his character. But it didn’t.

Each detail and portion of Ove’s life, both past and present, that was presented to me as the reader turned out to be relevant. Even the most seemingly mundane details were ones that got me invested in Ove and curious about his demeanor, actions and way of life.

Sometimes reading a story about life and relatable events, like the ones recounted in this story, impacts us more than a far-fetched mystery. Don’t get me wrong, as I said I love a good mystery story but it was refreshing to read something so raw and real this time around. In my opinion, a major goal of the reader after completing A Man Called Ove is to understand a misunderstood character, who has been beaten down in every possible way but still manages to have a beautiful, albeit somewhat dysfunctional life. The bits of wisdom presented in such simplistic terms also add a punch to each line and paragraph, making you pause and think as the reader. This was perhaps my favorite part of the experience.

I think Ove is a character we can all relate to in that way and I think that’s what makes this book so special. Trust me, it may take a little time to warm up to him but by the end of this book you’ll be rooting for him. I guess that’s what we all want in a way. We all go through life and deal with the ups and downs and the curveballs thrown at us, just like Ove. However, in the end all we want is to be
appreciated, understood and have done something worthwhile.

I Finally Read Harry Potter

My first, and what I expected to be my last, experience with the renowned Harry Potter series consisted of my head looking into my half full medium popcorn bag and my Nonna holding my hand as “terrifying images” of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets played out on the screen. I have vivid memories of that day, mostly coming home and curling up in a ball on my couch with a stomachache from the excessive amounts of popcorn and the anxiety I had watching Harry Potter take on one of the most frightening creatures I had ever seen in my young life. I had nightmares for a week and refused to sleep in my own room.

This was not the first attempt my family had made at getting me to like the Harry Potter series. Since I had established myself already as an avid reader, and the phenomenon of Harry Potter was just beginning, my family members attacked from all angles to get me interested. My Nonna and aunt, who both already had all of the books written up to that point, read them aloud to me when I showed little to no interest in reading them myself. That did not work. Then when the movies began to come out they thought I would take better to those, since I had established myself as a movie lover as well. Well, after that fateful evening in Regal Cinemas I think my family finally retired all of their efforts.

Fast forward fourteen years. A lot of time has passed. There are now seven Harry Potter books, a movie complementing each one, and I have still not tried to get into the series after my traumatic incident in 2002. Anyway, as I said in a previous post I help run a reading program at my job, so I have several books lying around in my car that I have borrowed from the library. One of them happened to be Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. I am driving with my boyfriend to a destination about an hour away when he picks up the book and starts reading it to me. With nowhere to run and no popcorn bag to hide my face in this time, I am stuck. The fourteen year old torch has been passed from Nonna to him, and now I have nothing left to do but drive and listen.

Just a few side thoughts before I keep going with this story. The Harry Potter series has been a topic of discussion for my entire adolescence, so I do know the names of the main characters and some of the major events that occur. There have been trips to midnight premieres, references to Snape, Dumbledore and Ron Weasley, comparisons of myself to Hermione Granger, and of course the occasional (but rare) attempt at getting me interested in the series. What I’m trying to say is that I have not been completely oblivious over the last decade and a half. Don’t get me wrong there were points in my life as I got older that the thought crossed my mind of picking up The Sorcerers Stone and giving it another go. But as a thirteen year old and beyond I figured that my time had passed, that the books weren’t relevant anymore and there was no point to reading them since I was probably the last person in my age in the entire universe who hadn’t done so yet.

How wrong I was.

Fast forward to today. I just finished reading The Prisoner of Azkaban. (Yes, the third book). And I am not ashamed to say that I am hooked. I tore through the first two books within a week and a half and I could not put them down. I brought them to dinner, to work, to bed. Everywhere I went I was always concerned with when I would be able to continue reading and finding out what happened next.

J.K. Rowling is the best storyteller of our time. I say that statement with great confidence as I am someone who values creativity and the ability to come up with vivid characters and a captivating plot line all from imagination and tell it to an audience of all ages using such brilliant language and imagery. Every time I read a chapter, my final thought is always the same: This came from somebody’s brain. As an amateur writer at best, I am astounded by the intricate details Rowling includes in every sentence, every chapter, and every book. Every sentence is written so well and  as though it is the last sentence, which is the reason why readers remain engaged.

Something else I realized is that these books are timeless. I wish I understood this as a thirteen year old, because I have been depriving myself all these years of a great series simply because I thought I outgrew them. As many who have read the series can attest, that is false. You can’t outgrow Harry Potter because it is timeless. As a twenty-one year old I am getting to experience the excitement, joy and brilliance of these books the same as a nine year old might have back in the early 2000’s or even at this very moment. It is incredibly difficult to write and appeal to such a wide age range of readers but Rowling does it and does it almost unbelievably well.

I no longer feel like I missed out on perhaps one of the most important contributions in literary history. Instead I feel like I am on an adventure with these characters and that, in a way, I’m getting to be a kid again. Also, I should add that I am now in possession of the entire Harry Potter series and plan on finishing it before I return to school in the fall.

I think Nonna would be proud.

Does Reading For Fun in College Still Exist?

I knew what I signed up for when I became an English major...for the most part at least. In my mind, being an English major meant being able to read all the time, write (probably about the books) and talk about literature with other people who had the same passion for it. It was made for me.

Well, I was right in some way about all of these things, but I didn't realize just how demanding being an English major would be. As I prepare to enter my senior year in the fall, I look back on the various English classes I've taken over the last three years, including: Chaucer, Shakespeare, History of the English Language, Creative Writing, Poetry, Classics of Western Literature and Writing as a Discipline, among many others. In all of these classes I read articles, short stories, poetry, whole books and wrote an surplus of essays ranging from two to twenty-five pages. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed being an English major and have no regrets whatsoever (especially since math and I never have and never will mix). However, it has eliminated a lot of time I would ordinarily have to read for fun. I feel like that's a commonality amongst all majors, not just English.

With the unavoidable craziness of a college schedule, reading for fun absolutely falls to the wayside. In every class, even excluding English-related ones, there will be reading in some shape or form as well as a ton of other work.  For instance, one semester I was taking six courses and an internship, all while balancing another on-campus job and theatre (which I am heavily involved in at school).

Needless to say, this didn't leave me much time to read, or even relax for that matter. Even when I wanted to pick up a book to read for fun and had the time dedicate to it, I had that pang of guilt that I wasn't reading War and Peace for my English class, or that the poems I was supposed to critique for the next day weren't finished yet. Not only that, but sometimes I would just have zero energy (another commonality amongst college students).

After a long day of test taking, essay writing, and running from class to class you will most likely feel like your brain can't even form words anymore, let alone read them from a page. This is where Netflix has become the biggest blessing and curse of a college student's life.

There is probably a five foot tall stack of "pleasure reads" that I have accumulated over the last three years that remain unread and still smell like Barnes & Noble. I've always meant to read them but a test, or an essay, or something else has always taken priority. At this point I've stopped buying new books and now just make lists whenever I go into the bookstore, because I never know when I'll get around to them. This list is as long as my arm, but I'll get to them someday don't you worry.

That is why I have set as one of my personal goals for senior year,to read at least one book per month for fun. Not only is reading something I truly enjoy, but it makes me feel much better about myself than binge-watching the entire series of Friends for the sixth time. Reading for class is important, but reading for fun, in my opinion, is almost more crucial at this point in my life. As I get older I realize how many things I do just because I HAVE to, and how many of my passions as a younger kid have been compromised because of that. Reading is something that I WANT to do, but its being domineered by academics when it doesn't have to be and I can absolutely do both! Hopefully as my college career winds down I will be able to accomplish my goal and have a lot of great new book titles to share with all of you :)

Wish me luck!

My First Review: A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum

Well here it goes! My first review (more like my random thoughts) of the book that sparked my desire to create this blog!

Title of Book: A Brilliant Death 

Author: Robin Yocum

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Summary: 

Amanda Baron died in a boating accident on the Ohio River in 1953. Or, did she? While it was generally accepted that she had died when a coal barge rammed the pleasure boat she was sharing with her lover, her body was never found.

Travis Baron was an infant when his mother disappeared. After the accident and the subsequent publicity, Travis’s father scoured the house of all evidence that Amanda Baron had ever lived, and her name was never to be uttered around him. Now in high school, Travis yearns to know more about his mother. With the help of his best friend, Mitch Malone, Travis begins a search for the truth about the mother he never knew. The two boys find an unlikely ally: an alcoholic former detective who served time for falsifying evidence. Although his reputation is in tatters, the information the detective provides about the death of Amanda Baron is indisputable—and dangerous.

(http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/535603/a-brilliant-death-by-robin-yocum/9781633881280/)
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Perhaps what I loved most about this story was the dynamic character of Travis Baron. After reading the first few pages of the book, I was under the impression that the main character would in fact be its narrator (Travis' best friend, Mitch Malone) I was proved wrong, however, when the main focus proved to be Travis and how his character developed and changed based on the events happening around him. Those events being the mystery of his mother's death, his encounters with law enforcement and ghosts from his mother's past, and his deplorable living situation with an abusive father.

While the carefully detailed plot and shocking resolution have undoubtedly contributed to A Brilliant Death's critical acclaim, for me it was the character development and my investment in characters like Travis and Mitch that kept me reading nonstop! (Literally. For an entire day.)

In the beginning of the story, I read Travis as a meek, pitiful and complacent young boy. By the middle of the story, however, as Travis takes the lead in the mission to discover the secrets of his mother's past and takes immeasurable risks in doing so, I gained an enormous amount of respect for him. With every turn of the page I hoped and yearned for his success.

This is why characters are so important to a story. In my experience, you can have the most creative, well thought out plot in the world, but without dynamic, interesting (not necessarily all likable) characters, readers won't stay invested. Conversely, if you have great characters but a weak, hole-filled plot, it will not read as believable. Luckily, this story was strong in both aspects.

A quote by author Shannon Hale sums up my thoughts perfectly in this one statement:

“But, how do you know if an ending is truly good for the characters unless you've traveled with them through every page?” 

That is exactly what happened to me as I read this incredible story. In order for a plot to have effect, we as readers need to understand the gravity of the situation and the importance of the resolution for the characters. Only by forming relationships with them is this a possibility. A good story allows us to be a part of the reader's journey and thereby makes each event, triumph and tribulation more significant to us.

This captivating, suspenseful thriller is nothing short of fantastic. I wish I didn't know how it ended so I could read it again!

Sources: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/characters

A Little Bit About Me

I have always wanted to have my own blog so this first post is a pretty big deal for me. In my twenty-one years of life I have always been fascinated at how people fearlessly post their innermost thoughts, feelings and stories online for anyone to see and read. It is a courage that I certainly never had, nor did I think anyone would be interested in what I had to say. I'm from a small town in Connecticut, an English major about to enter my senior year in the fall, and an aspiring high school English teacher. Needless to say, I have never really had a reason to start something like this. But I finally found that inspiration a few days ago thanks to an old English teacher who I reconnected with on Facebook (I'll get back to that later) and the realization that I did in fact have something worth writing about: my love for books.

I guess I should start by explaining the title of this blog: Special Thanks: Junie B. Jones, Judy Blume, and Nancy Drew. These were my favorite books/authors growing up as a kid, and were pieces of literature that have stuck with me into my twenties. I work with kids a lot at my current job, part of which is running a reading program, and these stories have proven to transcend any time and technological gap. Every day without fail, I watch my students fall in love with the same characters that I did when I was young.

Let me back up a little and explain the type of child I was. I was the kid who wrote Waldenbooks Shopping Spree on my Christmas List. I don't know if Waldenbooks is still in existence, but back then it was like a candy store for me. Better than a candy store, actually. I would wander in the children's section for hours, searching for the newest Junie B. Jones or Magic Treehouse and walk up to the checkout counter with my arms completely full. Luckily my grandparents supported this somewhat odd love for reading as a child and supplied me with whatever books I desired on these periodic "shopping" sprees.

At every family event or holiday I would always have my nose in a book, to be completely cliche. I come from a big Italian family, so no gathering is ever quiet or tame. Nevertheless I was able to tune out all of the shouting about spaghetti and the laughter at old family anecdotes and completely immerse myself in whatever story I was reading. This, I realized later on in life, would prove to be an invaluable skill. Not only was I able to read in theoretically any environment, but I read quickly. VERY quickly. One of my favorite memories is sitting down to Thanksgiving lunch at my grandparents' house and reading an entire Nancy Drew book before returning home that evening. Another is hiding with a flashlight under my blanket (yes, this was in the days before IPhone lights), and reading The Diary of Anne Frank and Number the Stars within a three day period.

I think you get the point. I love a good book, and I always have.

Although nobody else in my family, other than my grandmother, was or is an avid reader, I was always supported and inspired to read by other people in my life (that is a post for another day). However, in college-especially as an English major-I have found it increasingly difficult to read for pleasure. That is why I decided to start this blog.

I hadn't picked up a book to read for pleasure in about a year before this morning. I have been tackling War and Peace for my Capping course this fall, and am constantly bombarded with other papers to read and tasks to complete that don't leave me much time to get into a new book. Today, however, something made me want to go through the dusty, partially torn up Barnes & Noble bags in my closet, filled with recently purchased but untouched books that I have bought in the past year. One book in particular stuck out to me: A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum. It was a novel I spotted on a random trip to Barnes & Noble with my boyfriend back in April and was later given to me as a joint birthday gift between him and my best friend. I started it this morning and just finished it a few hours ago. It was an absolutely captivating read.

Reading that book not only sparked my love of reading for fun, but inspired me to finally start this blog. What I plan to do is post reviews of all my favorite books, from the past and present, as well as books I have heard about or want to read, and some of my personal thoughts on reading and the literary (literature? book? publishing?) industry in general. This also gives me a great excuse to practice my writing, which is also a passion of mine.

So hopefully, if for some reason you have stumbled across this or I asked you personally to check out this latest venture of mine, you get something out of it. I know I already have and I'm super excited to continue :)

Wish me luck!

-M.B.