The Book Club - 25 Years and Counting ... and another book review!

Celebrating 25 years with a cake.

It turns out our book club is turning 25 this fall. We were invited to join a few years after its inception in order to keep the number to 6 couples. Now we have 7 couples.

More cake.

Three couples in the church have celebrated big anniversaries this month, 70 and 65 years of marriage--which is amazing. And there were three cakes. A Costco cake today. So two pieces of cake for me today.

I often wait to read the book selection until the last minute ... and sometimes don't quite finish. This time I pretty much finished it AND watched a movie with Swedish subtitles, all in a weekend. It is rumored that Tom Hanks will star in an English version of it. He will be perfect for the main character, Ove. The book has become quite popular and widely read.

 It rained all weekend, so it was a great time to snuggle up with a book. Leaving for book club around 6 PM Sunday night, the sky was finally breaking up and sunshine was poking through all the dark gray and white, exposing some glorious October blue.

(I decided to take photos of the sky on Monday ... just couldn't help myself. But I had to find a good viewing/shooting spot. Next post!)

So while A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman, 337 pages, is fresh in my mind, I will write a book review! I did not consult any other reviewers, so my impressions will be my own.

It takes a lot to make me laugh out loud and even more to cry, but I had a brief emotional moment near the end of the film. And there was humor, to be sure--situational humor, descriptive delights and outrageous personalities that were fleshed out. I thought the movie expanded on the personality of the man called Ove and his pregnant neighbor in a good way. But I think Tom Hanks will be better in the role. The movie hits all the high points of the book. There are lots of flashbacks and events were pieced together in a somewhat different order in the book, which I probably only noticed because I started the movie in the same hour I finished the book.

Someone at book club pointed out that some of those descriptive phrases that provided interest and humor were similes. Yes, lots of similes. Too many! And too many descriptive -ly words--which I try to limit in my own writing, following the advice of Stephen King in his book On Writing. But it made for colorful writing, along with the very colorful language the characters used. But no sex.

There were cameo roles for a cat and a dog, and the cat has quite a personality as well, if you find that intriguing.

It is a story of how loss hurts and how love fills in the holes left in the heart, eventually bringing out what is good. Love redeems, if you will. There is no turning to faith in God, but the book concludes with good feelings--how things work together for good when there is compassion, companionship and community.

But oh my. Ove is a curmudgeon of the highest order. And a lot OCD.  But very handy with a screwdriver. I can't say I know anyone quite like him.

Ove loved the Saab, disliked the Volvo and could not tolerate his friend getting a BMW. I definitely could relate to that kind of brand loyalty which I experienced with the men in my farm family. The car talk accounted for a good deal of the humor in the book, I thought.

I don't want to say any more that would be a spoiler for what actually happens. Just because it ends on a high note does not mean the journey was easy or ordinary.

The story starts a bit slow. The husband could not get into it after 50 pages. I found it to be a good read--not destined for my top 10 list, but plenty good enough for a rainy weekend on the couch.