Ove

Fifty-nine year old Ove (his last name is never given) is the novel’s central character and protagonist. He is portrayed as hard-working, quiet, strong-willed, outspoken, and opinionated: other adjectives that would apply include curmudgeonly, crusty, cranky, cantankerous, and rigid. There is the strong sense throughout the narrative, however, that all these aspects of his character and identity are primarily external, the outward appearance that he presents: as the events of the story reveal, both those in the past and those in the present, he has a powerful, driving sense of integrity and compassion, of sensitivity and open-mindedness. He is not particularly intelligent, not particularly well educated, and certainly not very articulate: as the novel suggests, he is a man whose character is revealed by what he does, rather than what he says, and what he does reveals that he cares very deeply about people, perhaps in spite...