Brantford Public Library's Online Book Club discussion
This topic is about
A Man Called Ove
A Man Called Ove
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CHARACTERS - True to Life?
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I think this could be very realistic. I say this after recently reading the book called Humans of New York, based after the popular blog. Excellent book by the way. I would really recommend it. The author took photos and did brief interviews with hundreds of random New Yorkers from every walk of life. What struck me was that every one of them had something troubling on their minds. Something they were either worried about or insecure about. Of course the issues varied as widely as the people themselves did but it makes you realize that everyone has some sort of fear or worry that they often don't show on the outside. I think if you could read your neighbours minds, you would see that you have a community of people very much like Ove's. I think that is part of the appeal of the book. It is not just Ove that we secretly relate to. We all have a level of neediness in us that we only show to certain people. I think this collection of characters could easily be the representation of any neighbourhood.
I think the author did an amazing job of portraying people's lives and how needy, vulnerable and broken we are. Everyone has a story-- had a broken heart, a death in the family that caused intense grief, experienced insecurities and moments of jealousy, intense, crazy anger. Ove represents everyone. Some part of him is in Me & in You. I love this book.
We realize that the author has done this by design in order to give Ove many opportunities to reveal his true colours, but does this have an effect on how believable or real the characters are?
Is it realistic that this random group of people could be so needy or do you believe that it is an accurate snapshot of any community (assuming we were privy to our neighbours personal lives)?
Do you think the author did a good job creating believable life scenarios for these characters?