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?

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

Loving someone is like moving into a house,” Sonja used to say. “At first you fall in love with all the new things, amazed every morning that all this belongs to you, as if fearing that someone would suddenly come rushing in through the door to explain that a terrible mistake had been made, you weren’t actually supposed to live in a wonderful place like this. Then over the years the walls become weathered, the wood splinters here and there, and you start to love that house not so much because of all its perfection, but rather for its imperfections. You get to know all the nooks and crannies. How to avoid getting the key caught in the lock when it’s cold outside. Which of the floorboards flex slightly when one steps on them or exactly how to open the wardrobe doors without them creaking. These are the little secrets that make it your home.”

It is difficult to admit that one is wrong. Particularly when one has been wrong for a very long time.