讀書心得：“A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove原作是瑞典文，翻譯為英文。

故事一開頭，Ove去apple店裏買iPad。 對科技一竅不通的他被店員心不甘情不願的接待氣得要破口大罵。 碰上這麽食古不化的顧客，場景實在叫人噴飯。 Ove是個脾氣火爆、個性頑固又極其龜毛的老扣扣。 他是社區過度熱心的“糾察隊長”，做事一板一眼，每天一大早就四處巡邏，將社區規章奉為聖旨，但凡抓到一點犯規便處以重罰，且對人橫眉瞪眼，簡直就是專門要和鄰居們過不去，實在討人厭。

繼續讀下去，外表固執孤僻、憤世嫉俗的Ove其實有著一顆柔軟的心，對過世的妻子極度思念，一心要追隨她離開人世。 就在他打定主意尋短之際，新搬來的一家鄰居－－笨手笨腳的爸爸，熱情直爽的伊朗裔少婦媽媽，兩個活潑可愛小朋友，不是撞倒了他的信箱，就是要借用工具，然後又跌落樓梯，需要去醫院，接著又央求他教開車，再請他看小孩。。。一時間雞飛狗跳，好不熱鬧。 再攤上患老年癡呆症的好友抵抗被強製送往安養院，還有讓被趕出家門的咖啡店少東家來落腳，甚至連社區的流浪貓也隻得Ove收留。。。一連串的混亂和麻煩層出不窮，頻頻打斷了他的自殺計劃，本來就壞脾氣的Ove被一次次攪局氣的火冒三丈。

書的另一條交替敘述線是Ove成長的幾個段落：母親早逝，父親的堅忍誠實如何影響他，可惜父親也過世，Ove靠雙手實幹從16歲就養活自己，一場火災又毀了辛苦重建的家園，幸好遇到了活潑美麗的太太，一切都那樣完美之際卻再度遭逢意外。。。

越往下讀越發現不苟言笑的Ove先生其實是麵冷心善，罵罵咧咧後還是義不容辭地幫助左鄰右舍，雪中送炭，他正直、誠實、忠貞、負責。。。讀者隻會覺得Ove變得越來越可愛呢！

讀完了我居然被感動到鼻酸落淚！ 真的很溫暖很療傷啊。

其實在我們周遭，不也有很多這種外表或者社交上不吸引人的人？ 可是一般人往往以貌取人，隻被那些美豔的外表，談笑風生的風度所吸引，在這個追求fun fun fun的時代，速食的享樂，速食的愛情，速食的成功，誰會有Ove太太的慧眼識得平凡害羞外表下一顆美麗珍貴心靈？ 放眼朋友圈子，我們是不是總被那些高調、華麗、圓滑、嘩啦啦的聲音吸引住，而忽略那些不善言辭的社交困難戶？ 我自認如果換我作Ove的鄰居，大概早就對他敬而遠之。 可那鄰居伊朗媽媽的熱情、堅持，真是叫我敬仰。

Quotes：
Ove的太太真是明朗如陽光啊。
“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”

“To love someone is like moving into a house," Sonja used to say. "At first you fall in love in everything new, you wonder every morning that this is one's own, as if they are afraid that someone will suddenly come tumbling through the door and say that there has been a serious mistake and that it simply was not meant to would live so fine. But as the years go by, the facade worn, the wood cracks here and there, and you start to love this house not so much for all the ways it is perfect in that for all the ways it is not. You become familiar with all its nooks and crannies. How to avoid that the key gets stuck in the lock if it is cold outside. Which floorboards have some give when you step on them, and exactly how to open the doors for them not to creak. That's it, all the little secrets that make it your home. "

“She laughed and laughed and laughed until the vowels were rolling across the walls and floors, as if they meant to do away with the laws of time and space. It made Ove feel as if his chest was slowly rising out of the ruins of a collapsed house after an earthquake. It gave his heart space to beat again.”

有點悲情：
“And time is a curious thing. Most of us only live for the time that lies right ahead of us. A few days, weeks, years. One of the most painful moments in a person's life probably comes with the insight that an age has been reached when there is more to look back on than ahead. And when time no longer lies ahead of one, other things have to be lived for. memories, perhaps.”

好好笑：
“Ove feels an instinctive skepticism towards all people taller than six feet; the blood can’t quite make it all the way up to the brain.”

笑淚交織：
“I miss you,” he whispers. It’s been six months since she died. But Ove still inspects the whole house twice a day to feel the radiators and check that she hasn’t sneakily turned up the heating.”
 
已經拍成電影了，今年還提名奧斯卡最佳外文片呢。 不過書好看多了！

[lepton]

回複 'womaninhome' 的評論 : 我也看到鼻酸，真是好書。

[womaninhome]

催人淚下。