A Man Called Ove #minipost #thursday

After listening to this book intermittently for 3/4 of a year, I finally finished A Man Called Ove yesterday. This was due to the fact that I am horrible at listening to audiobooks. I don’t have wireless earbuds, or a phone armband. So it just seems complicated to find a time and a place to listen. I also would let my Libby loan run out, and would then have to wait on hold for it again. Anyway, it didn’t take that long because I didn’t love the book! It’s now definitely on my Best Books Ever Read list. I won’t lie and say I didn’t cry along the way either. This book was one of those kinds that just hits home in so many way. Raw and real. It had a happy ending, but it was real life too. At first, you kind of want to hate Ove a little bit; he’s just so incredibly grumpy and rigid. But by the end of the book, you can’t help but have fallen in love with his big heart. In my opinion, this book should be a must-read for every new bride. Sonya truly understood what marriage is all about. A man can love with his whole heart without showing it in romantic ways. Below is one of my favorite quotes of hers from the book. 

Sonya didn’t try to change Ove. She just loved him for who she knew in her heart that he could be, even if he didn’t want to be or know how to show it. Listening to this book made me think of a quote that Rachel Holdeman gave me years ago, handwritten on a scrap of paper. I keep it in my Bible and reread it every so often. 

“Look at a man the way that he is, he only becomes worse. But look at him as if he were what he could be, and then he becomes what he should be.” 

- unknown