A Man Called Ove

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

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Chapter 37-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 37 Summary: “A Man Called Ove and A Lot of Bastards Sticking Their Noses In”

Chapter 37 again opens with Ove at Sonja’s grave—but this time, he’s not alone. In addition to the cat, there’s also Parvaneh and Patrick with the girls, as well as Jimmy, Adrian, and Mirsad. They are there to say hello to Sonja. Parvaneh also brings flowers and greetings from Anita and Rune.

When they return to the neighborhood, Mirsad’s father Amel is waiting at Ove’s house. Ove has dinner at Parvaneh and Patrick’s, leaving the father and son to “talk about disappointments and hopes and masculinity in two languages” (275). Before Ove leaves their home, the 7-year-old gives Ove an invitation to her birthday party. She reveals she wants an iPad. In response, “Ove looks a little as if she just said, ‘An awyttsczyckdront!’” (276).

Earlier that day, Lena dropped off a copy of the newspaper article. She had helped with the war against the councilman in exchange for an interview with Ove: “He was on the front cover, looking like the archetypal grumpy old sod. He’d kept his word and let her interview him. But he wasn’t smiling like a donkey for the camera” (271). Lena also mentions that she is going skating with Anders later that day, hinting at a possible love interest.

After Lena leaves, he finally reads the letter that she sent him weeks ago and has been begging him to read. It’s a letter from the man whose life Ove saved, thanking him. The man has also sent a photo of his family, writing: “I want to introduce you to some people who will always be grateful to you for your courage and selflessness” (272). It also turns out that a previously undiagnosed brain disorder caused the man’s “swooning fit” (272). Lena remarks to Ove, “So in a way you saved his life twice over” (272).

Chapter 38 Summary: “A Man Called Ove and the End of a Story”

Jimmy accompanies Ove to the same electronics store where Ove tried to buy a computer in Chapter 1. They get an iPad for the 7-year-old’s birthday present. When it comes to discussing gigabytes and models, Ove quickly gets exasperated and simply tells Jimmy and the salesman: “Hey! I want her to have the BEST ONE! Understood?” (279).

When Ove gives the girl the gift, she responds with an unexpected “Thanks, Granddad” (280). This leaves Ove without words, standing “quietly in the hall, poking his house keys against the calluses on one of his palms” (280).

Instead of staying for the party, Ove takes a walk. Finally, after months of finding nothing amiss in the neighborhood, he does discover something: Three shadowy figures trying to break into a house. He shouts and runs after them, but his heart is acting up. He appears to be having a heart attack, but luckily, Parvaneh discovers him:

The last thing Ove has time to think before everything goes dark is that he has to make her promise that she won’t let the ambulance drive down between the houses. Because vehicular traffic is prohibited in the residential area (283).

Chapter 39 Summary: “A Man Called Ove”

The narrative implies that Ove may have died from the heart attack: “Death is a strange thing” (284). This is not the case, however. It describes how Parvaneh and the other neighbors accompany Ove to the hospital. Parvaneh becomes enraged when the hospital staff won’t let her go with Ove into the operating room, even acting out aggressively: “Love is a strange thing. It takes you by surprise” (285). An unexpected and loving bond has formed between her and Ove.

The doctor reveals that Ove has a heart problem—namely, his heart is too big. Parvaneh obviously finds this amusing and starts to laugh; it’s funny, of course, that grumpy old Ove’s heart is too big. It’s also a touch poetic: When one’s heart is so big, it may be easier to simply shut people out. Ove deteriorated when Sonja passed away.

The doctor says that medication can control the condition, but that it’s unpredictable. He adds, “It could take a few months or a few years” (287), implying Ove has a limited number of days. Parvaneh dismisses this: “Oh don’t concern yourself about that. Ove is quite clearly UTTERLY RUBBISH at dying!” (288). This is true, in a darkly humorous way. For 288 pages, Ove has been intent on dying but hasn’t managed to yet.

They bring Ove home from the hospital. The girls have drawn get-well pictures for him, and one says “to granddad” on it. Ove hangs them on the fridge with this one on the top. He then allows Parvaneh and the daughters to help him pack away Sonja’s things in boxes, “one memory at a time” (289). At the very end of the chapter, Parvaneh goes into labor and has a boy.

Epilogue Summary: “A Man Called Ove and an Epilogue”

The Epilogue provides a summary of how all the key people in Ove’s life evolved. Parvaneh passes her driving test. Her family, including the new son, is doing well. Ove carries a picture of the young boy and shows it to Sonja and even the florist, just as any proud grandpa would.

Lena the journalist moves in with “that Audi-driving fop” (290) Anders. Ove drives the moving van because he doesn’t trust anyone else to manage it. Mirsad and Jimmy, in a surprising turn of events, get married. Amel is there, supporting his son; at the café, he even names a sandwich after Jimmy. They stay in Jimmy’s house and adopt a little girl. Every day, Jimmy brings the child to Rune and Anita’s for coffee. Rune and Anita are fine. Rune doesn’t get better, but whenever Jimmy brings his little girl by, “a euphoric smile fills his entire face. Without exception” (291).

Three years pass. Ove accompanies Nasanin to her first day of school. He even gets a cellphone. Then one wintry day, Parvaneh wakes up and sees that Ove hasn’t cleared the snow in front of his house. She knows immediately that something is wrong and, going over (she has a spare key), finds Ove in bed, dead, with the cat at his side: “Ove looks like he’s sleeping very deeply. She has never seen his face looking so peaceful” (292).

Ove has left an envelope by the bed with Parvaneh’s name on it. It contains all the instructions for Ove’s final arrangements. Adrian gets the Saab. There is also an old account with 11,563,013 Swedish crowns and some change (over 1.2 million USD). It’s leftover from Sonja’s dad who made some wise investments. Ova says that each of Parvaneh’s daughters and Jimmy’s daughter should get one million crowns when they turn 18. The rest is for Parvaneh. Parvaneh uses the money to start a charity fund for orphaned children. At the funeral, 300 people show up (despite Ove specifying he didn’t want any of that). Ove was clearly a hero to more than just Sonja by the end.

At the book’s conclusion, Parvaneh shows a young couple Ove’s house. It’s a young charming woman and a slightly grumpy man—much like Ove and Sonja were back in the day. When the man asks gruffly about the garage, Parvaneh asks what car he drives: “The young man straightens up for the first time, smiles an almost undetectable smile and looks her right in the eye with the sort of indomitable pride that only one word can covey. ‘Saab’” (294). The book ends with a fitting tribute to Ove.

Chapter 37-Epilogue Analysis

The publication of Lena’s newspaper article about Ove is a telltale moment. Albeit begrudgingly, Ove has now revealed himself to the world as a hero. Others can now all see and appreciate what Sonja always knew. The turnout at Ove’s funeral reiterates this in the Epilogue.

In the entire book, there are only two chapters simply entitled “A Man Called Ove,” sharing the book’s title. One is Chapter 5, which shows Ove in an extremely dark light, describing the death of his parents and how much Sonja meant to him (and, implicitly, how difficult that loss was as well). Chapter 5 helps the reader understand just why Ove is so intent on suicide. The other is Chapter 39, which shows Ove released from this darkness of this loss: He has a newfound support network in his neighbors, particularly Parvaneh and her family, and he even packs away Sonja’s things, letting her ghost go. It seems his desire for suicide is gone.

From the Epilogue, the circumstances of Ove’s death are not clear. On one hand, he seems to have died naturally in his sleep—possibly because of his heart. On the other hand, it’s strange that the envelope with Parvaneh’s name on it is ready. It’s unclear whether Ove kills himself, despite finding a second life after Sonja. True to his nature, it’s possible that Ove simply left that envelope by his bed at all times, preparing for the inevitable death, whenever it might come.

Chapter 39 uses repetition to demonstrate three similar phrases arise: “Death is a strange thing”; “Grief is a strange thing”; “Love is a strange thing. It takes you by surprise” (284-85). These are three recurring themes throughout the book; in fact, they guide the entire narrative. How one may or may not recover from the unexpectedness of death, love and its loss, and ensuing grief is Ove’s story. These are universal experiences, which makes Ove’s narrative so compelling: Any reader will be able to identify such themes even if they are nothing like a grumpy 59-year-old Swedish man named Ove. Amid these “strange thing[s],” the narrative reiterates the idea that “life goes on,” as evidenced in closing scene of Parvaneh’s childbirth.