Hard to rate, I found the first chapter or two awful, trying too hard with humour that I found forced and too obvious, characters that were too exaggerated and stereotyped, the point that Ove was a grumpy pedant was ridiculously overstated, Victor Meldrew +. But when we started to hear about Ove's life I was interested and enjoyed these parts quite a lot. I didn't enjoy the banter with neighbours, the endless talk about cars and the farfetched scenarios of the thwarted suicides. I did enjoy the friendship between Parvenah and Ove, anyone who hasn't had a father around can't fail to find this very touching. I loved the idea of people coming together like this but feel that in reality an ove character, entrenched in a lifetimes behaviour wouldn't change so easily and quickly. Some parts were 2 star some parts 4.