Show Notes

Lisa revisits A Man Called Ove written by Fredrik Backman in light of the movie, A Man Called Otto, which was released in January 2023. 

 The movie A Man Called Ove was released as a Swedish film in 2015 and now this new version features Tom Hanks and is set in America. This story delves into the differences between the two movies. 

 In addition to her analysis of the movies, Lisa includes the original episode where she and her guest Erin Cataldi analyze the book. Erin is a librarian in Indiana and writes reviews you can find here. 

This show contains spoilers. This book is a light-hearted book about curmudgeon Ove, a 59-year-old man who is set in his ways and angry about most everything. Lisa and Erin discuss how Ove changes his tune and his heart grows several sizes, similar to the Grinch.  

 Backman described in a New York Times piece that he gained the inspiration after reading an article about a man named Ove who had a fit while buying theater tickets. He began writing blog posts called, “I Am a Man Called Ove.”

In this blog post Backman admits that he’s not good at describing people. He says he doesn’t describe how they look. But both Lisa and Erin say the lack of physical descriptions didn’t bother them. 

Books Discussed on the show: 

·      The Dinner by Herman Koch

·      Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

·      The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

·      A Morbid Taste for Bones, the first book of The Brother Cadfael series written by Ellis Peters

For more information, find Lisa on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and her website. 

 *The book titles mentioned include affiliate links. You can support the podcast by purchasing a book with the links because the podcast receives a small commission.