A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman, 2012

Rating: 5/5

There are several things to like about this book. To start off with, the chapter titles. Titles such as “A Man Called Ove Buys a Computer That is Not a Computer” cannot but fail to bring a smile to the reader’s lips. Two, the writing style. Backman writes simply (despite the fact that flashbacks are interspersed with the present narrative) and humorously. While I read the English translation of the original Swedish book, the reading pleasure was not diminished one bit. And finally, the bitter-sweet and heart-warming aspect of the book. The main characters are well fleshed out and despite their shortcomings, one tends to root for them.

The book is the story of, of course, a man called Ove. He’s 59, extremely grumpy, hates change, has lost his job because of age, and is uncomfortable with modern technology, bureaucrats, and even coffee machines. He hates people who trade their Swedish cars for an Audi or a BMW. But Ove has several redeeming characteristics too. He is honest as when he returns a lost wallet at the age of 9, he has high principles and sticks to them, and has abiding love for his wife, Sonja. Mainly, while he will never admit it, he has a soft heart as shown by his interactions with his Iranian neighbour Parveneh and her children, with his friend turned foe Rune, with some local youth, and with a cat that he has been made to adopt.

This book is somewhat similar to The Rosie Project (which was published a year later) – it’s about a slightly dysfunctional man and his wife who are poles apart, and the gradual changes brought about in him. The one issue I had about the book though was that it was a bit too trite. Backman tries to tick a lot of boxes for Ove including his acceptance of foreigners and homosexuality and the ending is a bit too glib with all the pieces falling neatly in place. And like The Rosie Project, it does get soppy at times.

An enjoyable sidenote is the blog that catapulted Backman to fame well before his books did. It’s a humorous and wry complaint and is a poignant take on parenting. You can find it here: https://community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a14203785/i_loved_this_piece_of_writing_from_a_dad_blog

Pros: Funny and well-written, heart-warming, lovely chapter titles

Cons: A bit trite and soppy

The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett, 2020

Rating: 5/5

The Vanishing Half starts off in the fictional town of Mallard, which was built in 1848 by a person with mixed parentage for “men like him, who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated as blacks”. Even as his black mother keeps him in the sun to darken his skin, he eventually marries a woman with lighter skin than even his own, hoping that future generations get lighter and lighter, “like a cup of coffee being steadily diluted with cream”, as Bennett puts it. This – the tussle between wanting to pass as white, for that meant to pass as free, and the fierce need to own and protect one’s racial identity – then forms the core of this novel.

Desiree and Stella are twin sisters and descendants of Mallard’s founder, physically identical but as different as chalk and cheese. Desiree is the more adventurous and rebellious of the two while Stella is the staider, and they run away from home at the age of sixteen – Desiree because she hates the pretentious town where people are “colorstruck” and Stella simply because she wants a better life. And as fate would have it, and due to individual choices that the sisters make, Desiree returns home while Stella passes as white and leads a life filled with lies.

The story spans about 40 years and touches upon three generations, with intertwining stories, and is filled with an interesting and well-fleshed out supporting cast – Early Jones, who had a childhood crush on Desiree but could not express it due to his color and who eventually becomes her main pillar of support, Desiree’s dark-skinned daughter Jude, who like her mother, is unforgiving of people who refuse to recognize their heritage, her boyfriend Reese who has been grappling with issues related to his sexuality and Stella’s daughter Kennedy, a Californian blonde, with a  chequered relationship with her mother.

The contrast between Desiree and Stella is one of the most interesting aspects of the book, and also likely to be one of the most debated topics for any reading club. Ostensibly, the portrayal of Desiree seems more sympathetic and that of Stella seems somewhat cruel. But the story gradually reveals several layers to their characters. For example, it is unclear whether Desiree’s marriage to dark-skinned Sam is driven purely by love or to an extent by her hatred of what Mallard stood for and Stella’s behavior is partly explained by the racial and sexual violence witness by her during her childhood and teen years.

Finally, Bennett’s writing is top-notch – simple yet evocative. At one point, Stella, who spends nearly her entire life hiding things from everyone around her, notices her husband’s arousal and feels embarrassed for him as “she could think of nothing more horrifying than not being able to hide what she wanted” and metaphors such as these add to the reading pleasure!

Pros: Interesting plot, well-defined characters, beautiful writing

Cons: None really, unless this genre does not appeal to one