This was my first book by Fredrik Backman. It was a new book at my library. I've never heard of Fredrik Backman's books before. I moved from Sweden toThis was my first book by Fredrik Backman. It was a new book at my library. I've never heard of Fredrik Backman's books before. I moved from Sweden to the US 24 year ago and it's always strange to find Swedish writers I've never heard about..
I listened to this book. I wish a narrator would learn how to pronounce the main character's name! It drove me crazy! I have no clue why he would pronounce an "O" as a "U"!? I'm Swedish and you say the " O" as you would in "boot". You also pronounce the "e", it's not silent! "e" is said like you say "e" in electric.
He also pronounced Rune's name wrong! The "e" is not silent!
I really liked the book but it was so wrong to make Ove 59 and having no clue about computers! I wrote the code for my website 23 years ago and I'm older than Ove!
A few things were strange in the book. I've never heard of anyone getting paid before they work the following month!
Unless someone is mistreated none is going to make a person move into a place for people with dementia! It usually takes time to get a place even when you need one!
The cat in the book does not act like a cat! I've never seen a cat following someone around or roll around in the snow!
As usual with a Swedish book some things are translated wrong!
"Ove and his dad are eating sausages and potatoes."
The Swedish text would have said something like: "Ove och hans pappa åt korv och potatis."
The word "korv" is not the same as American sausage! It's similar to beef bologna but tastes more like kielbasa. It's sliced and fried and eaten with potatoes, mashed potatoes, macaroni etc.
Apart from this I did really like the book :) It made me laugh :) I had to stop listening to it so I could sleep!
I used to live next door to an Ove in Sweden... He even wrote down how much electricity he used every day. Not a grass straw could be out of line. The only difference was that he drove a Volvo... ...more
I got this book as free on Kindle so even after suffering through number 1 and 2 I gave number 3 a chance. The woman reading this book has no clue howI got this book as free on Kindle so even after suffering through number 1 and 2 I gave number 3 a chance. The woman reading this book has no clue how to pronounce Swedish names. Despite that I'm Swedish and lived for almost 20 years in the US, I'm having a hard time understanding the names of the characters in this book. It helps to be able to listen + read the book.
Nora Linde is a lawyer but she doesn't act like one. I almost gave up on this book a few times because of how she was acting. When Monica, her mother in law calls it's like Nora hasn't even considered that things are going to be bad when Monica finds out that they are getting divorced. If you don't want to loose everything you need to talk to a lawyer who deals with divorce, you can't go hiding on an island for a week while your soon to be ex and his parents are plotting.
When Nora sees someone outside her neighbor's house in the middle of the night, she hides under her covers. Why didn't she call her neighbors? An other day Nora takes a walk around the deserted island not telling anyone where she is going, she doesn't even have her phone with her. Later on she checks out her neighbor's shed. Does she have a death wish?
I think it was strange too that Nora's 12 year old son didn't tell her what he had seen. If his little brother hadn't said anything there had been no story.
There were a few problems with the translation in this book. "The year he (Gottfrid) was confirmed, he got a job..." In the Lutheran church in Sweden you are baptized when you are a baby. When you are about 13-15 years old you study the bible with other young people, you have to attend church services. At the end of the two semesters you all attend church where the pastor asks you questions about the bible. Then you are allowed to take the first communion. Being "konfirmerad" in Swedish means that you have learnt the bible and been able to answer the questions in church, after that you are "confirmed".
Nora is having dinner with her two sons. Do they want sausages and mashed potatoes or sausages and fries. They were actually talking about hot dogs here, not sausage. The word "korv" can be used for different kinds of korv. It can be "warm korv" which means hot dog. Falu korv is similar to Bologna. There is also korv made from pork that is eaten for Christmas, Häst korv means horse sausage and is really good, blood korv is made from blood and flour.
The woman reading this book has slowed down a bit but she still messes up all the Swedish names apart from Thomas and Henrik. Nora is pronounced Nora, like you would say "o" in hotel. Her name is Linde not Linda. Signe is still Signe, not Zena! Gustavsberg is a place, she says Gustavsbere. Same problem with Pelle Forsberg, she calls him Forsbere. Signe lived in the Brand house, not Brond house. Möja is an island, she calls it Muja. She gets the "ö" right in Runmarö and and Harö. She has the same problem with "öre", she calls it "ure". There are 100 öre to 1 Swedish krona (crown). It shoud be Kalle Lidwall not Karla Liddwal. She calls Annie, Ani. There is a boy called Andre, she calls him Andrea.
It's better to read this book. If you don't speak Swedish you will probably not notice all the things she can't pronounce but the problem is that she doesn't say the names in the same way all through the book which makes it difficult to keep track of people....more
An other Swedish writer I haven't heard of.. I moved from Sweden to the US almost 20 years ago so there are a lot of newer writers I've never heard ofAn other Swedish writer I haven't heard of.. I moved from Sweden to the US almost 20 years ago so there are a lot of newer writers I've never heard of.
The plot was good but there were a lot of unnecessary words, describing all kinds of things. There was way too much text about boats and sailing!
In the book it says fishing nets are made of cotton in Sweden. I used to help my dad when he put his nets in. I rowed the boat and he put them in. That was 40-50 years ago and his nets were definitely nylon. Cotton wouldn't hold up long in the water. I don't know when they stopped using cotton nets in Sweden but it must have been a long time ago.
I also reacted to the way Viveca wrote about Nora's diabetes. Nora had taken a larger dose of insulin then she didn't eat for hours. She was able to climb all the stairs in the light house even though her blood sugar was really low. You can't do that! She would have died. When you take fast acting insulin you should eat within 15 minutes. As a former RN I get annoyed when writers don't check out things about medical conditions before they write about them.
I didn't see anything wrong with the translation but at times it didn't really sound right. The woman who read the book drove me crazy though! She butchered and changed most Swedish names and she was reading so fast I turned the speed down at times. I usually like to listen to someone reading a book. This reader sounded like she was trying to read the book as fast as she could at times.
Here are a few names she really messed up, she didn't even read all the letters in the names. Viking Strindberg - she calls him "Strinber". Malmö - became "Mamo". Signe - became Zena. Grönskär - became "Grimsjo". There was a Helge in the book, she calls him Helga, which is a woman's name. Krister - became "Kristor". Johnny - "Janny". Nacka - Naka" I think Tomas, Nora and Henrik were the only names she got right.
I liked the book but I do recommend that you read it. You don't want to listen to it unless you don't mind someone reading really fast....more
I got 2 months of free Kindle unlimited and I can listen to these books as well as read the text. Without that I would have stopped after book 1.
ThisI got 2 months of free Kindle unlimited and I can listen to these books as well as read the text. Without that I would have stopped after book 1.
This wasn't a bad story but I can admit that I only started with these books because they are set in Sweden, a country that I left almost 20 years ago.
Unfortunately the same woman read this book as the previous book (:
She doesn't seem to get any of the Swedish names right. She doesn't even pronounce all the letters in the names. When a name shows up again in the book, she doesn't always say it the same was as she just did which makes it really confusing even for me who should be able to figure out the names.
Nora's last name is Linde but she calls her Linda. She gets Rosensjöö right but calls Göran - "Goran". Kalle Lidwall is called "Karla Liddwal". Fredrik Winberg is called "Fridrik Winnber". Margit and Carina should have the emphasis on the a not the i. Van Hahne she calls "Van Hohne". Jarlaberg became "Jurlaberg". Johan Wrede became "Juhan Werde". Brand house is called "Brond house". Olof became "Ulof". Larsson is pronounced "Larssen". Brånemark became "Brunemark". Slussen became "Slusen". Same problem with Nacka, here it's pronounced Naka.
The sad thing is that what I will remember most after listening to this book is the horrible reader. ...more
I was living in Sweden when Olof Palme was shot. It was unbelievable to hear that he had been killed right in the middle of Stockholm. Things like thaI was living in Sweden when Olof Palme was shot. It was unbelievable to hear that he had been killed right in the middle of Stockholm. Things like that didn't happen in Sweden. Olof Palme was normally walking around Stockholm without body guards.
You are not able to own a handgun unless you are a police officer. You might be able to buy one if you belong to a gun club where you compete in shooting. The weapons laws in Sweden got even stricter after Palme was shot. You have to get a license to hunt and own weapons. To get the weapons license you have to pass a written test and a shooting test. You are allowed to have 6 weapons. All weapon and ammunition have to be kept in a gun safe.
I remember the chaos in Sweden when nothing was really done right. It's still embarrassing to know that this crime was never solved! I hope that Stieg Larsson's research will help the police to finally solve this crime but I don't have high hopes. For me it was interesting to read this book and be reminded of what happened. At times there were a lot of names mentioned that might not have been necessary. It was a bit annoying that the book jumped around in time so much.
This was a kindle book that I could listen to as well so I did. An extra * to the man who read the book! It was wonderful to hear the Swedish names pronounced right for once!...more
I found the books by Åsa Larsson last summer and her books are pretty good. This book was the best so far.
There were some things that didn't sound riI found the books by Åsa Larsson last summer and her books are pretty good. This book was the best so far.
There were some things that didn't sound right after being translated. On page 38 Pohjanen, the medical examiner says: "... a liter in the lungs, and that means it's curtains." I understand that he means that you are dead if you have a liter of blood in your lungs but it's not how you say it.
One page 125 Anna Maria is thinking about when her husband took their son to daycare last time. Instead of daycare the word used is nursery. It's possible nursery is used in England.
On page 138, it says Esther was conceived in a secure psychiatric ward. I spent 5 weeks at a mental hospital in Sweden when I was going to school to become an RN. Male and female patients were not in the same ward apart from the old patients who probably would had been better off in a nursing home.
On page 306, it says: "He threw Alvedon and plasters and thermometers..." Alvedon is the same as Tylenol and plåster means band aid. I've read a lot of Swedish books where they translated it wrong. Plåster means band aid and not plaster.
There were more problems with the translation but I didn't mark everything. ...more
I found Åsa Larsson's books when I was looking for Nordic writers. They actually have her books at Libraries 2go. I moved from Sweden to he US 10 yearI found Åsa Larsson's books when I was looking for Nordic writers. They actually have her books at Libraries 2go. I moved from Sweden to he US 10 years ago. Reading about the winter in Sweden almost made me homesick at least for a few minutes. I was living in Falun before I moved here and our winters were 8 months of snow and ice & -30 degrees. I don't miss that! But how fun it was to be a kid, skiing, ice skating, building snow houses etc.
I don't really have any thing negative to say about this book apart from the translation! There were a lot of sentences that were not right. Some of these things might be how they say things in England, I haven't been there for a long time.
"Rebecka says that she took the "underground" to work." I know she meant subway. "it's different up at home" - That does not sound right. She is comparing the weather in Stockholm and Kiruna where she used to live. Kiruna is far north of Stockholm. "There is a turn up" Ann Marie is talking with Sven Erik. She is usually the one who asks him for help, this time he did. "Root in the pocket" that would be "rota i fickan" in Swedish and means searching for something in the pocket. ".. looking daggers" should be shooting daggers. "they had spent the afternoon at the swimming bath" this should be swimming pool....more
My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like.My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like....more
My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like.My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like....more
My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like.My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like....more
My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like.My daughter really liked the books about Ronja when she was little. These all seem to be new so I don't know what the older editions looked like....more