Ovie, the man who only drives Saab, will not make friends with people who drive Volvo. He gets up at a fixed time every day, patrols the community, checks the garage, and the street signs to kick two feet; Absolutely no one is allowed to drive inside the neighborhood, including their own ambulance... All day long lamenting what kind of moths have come out of this unfortunate world...
He never knew why she had chosen him. She only loves abstract things, music, books, weird words, and so on. Ovey is a man with a mind full of concrete things. He loves screwdrivers and oil filters. He hurried through his pockets. She was always dancing. ”
Ovie's life was unfortunate, he lost his parents at a young age, and the only house he left behind was burned down and he wandered around. But he met the love of his life, Sawyer, the woman who had recolored his gray life.
Ovie hates punctual people, but on their first date, Sawyer was a quarter of an hour late, but after seeing Sawyer wearing a printed long dress and a red knit shirt that made people unable to move, Ovie immediately decided that her lack of punctuality could be forgiven.
Ove started life again. And Sawyer.
Sawyer knows Ovie very well, "They're stuck in the wrong times. Men like them only ask for a few very simple things in life. Head over a roof, quiet street, worthy of their loyal car brands and women. A job that can make a difference, a house with things in it that regularly has a glitch for them to mend. ”
Two very different people, starting a new life.
But then they were in a car accident on a trip, and Sawyer was in a wheelchair.
Ove blames everything like a demon, the bus driver, the travel agency, the guardrail by the highway, the winemaker. Everything that happens, no one cares, only endless forms, and insurance companies that want to reduce compensation, no one wants to provide actual assistance to Sawyer, they even refuse to renovate the stairs for the school where Sawyer works, and finally Ovie turns all his anger on the "man in the white shirt".
When they returned home, Ove began to renovate the house, lowering the stove, rebuilding the door frames, and installing ramps. He built a ramp at the school where he taught at Sawyer.
Sawyer was still so optimistic and strong that she let the children of the school that "contained troubled teenagers" read Shakespeare. "Everyone has to know what he's fighting for," she fights for all that's good.
And Ovie fought for her.
But in her later years, Ove eventually lost Sawyer, and she died of cancer. His life lost its color again.
Since then, Ove has embarked on his suicide plan. But "repeatedly hit a wall". The story probably starts again...
Ovie did not show grief at the departure of his loved ones, although each time his world collapsed, until Sawyer died, he did not disturb the rhythm of his life, but he also decided to leave this world. Despite the decision, he still lives as usual every day, just silently preparing everything.
But someone always interrupts his plan, the neighbor calls him to help repair the radiator, afraid of the trauma of the child he witnesses, sends the neighbor to the hospital, teaches the neighbor to drive, and gradually connects with everyone on the way to help his "idiot" neighbors solve the problem, although everyone thinks that this is a grumpy and stubborn old man, but everyone tacitly accepts that he is the "main heart" in this community.
In the time of looking down section by section, I always thought that Ovi was miserable enough, don't let Sawyer have an accident, but I didn't expect the story to be arranged like this. Yes, there will be no fixed formula for the arrangement of fate, and there will be no conservation laws of misery and happiness.
I thought that life needed to exhaust all means and even pray to God to avoid all bad things, I always hoped that my life could be smooth and uneventful, and put an end to all things that could bring risks. But now that I think about it, fate is most likely to be unpredictable, but it will lose the present moment because of cowering and shrinking, excessive thinking about the unknown- some experiences, casualness and beautiful accidents.
It is very strange that in just over twenty years, I have not suffered any major setbacks, although it is not wonderful, but it is also smooth, but I am very pessimistic about the future, and I can't imagine that anything worth looking forward to will slowly come to fruition.
Maybe I always want to give some meaning to life? Always unable to find yourself?
And Ovie didn't think about any meaning at all before meeting Sawyer, after meeting Sawyer, Sawyer was the whole meaning of his life, so after Sawyer left, he felt that his life should be over. Fortunately, later those "idiot" neighbors returned Ovila to a trivial life.
Although it is based on the clue of "death", the whole book is full of nonsense funny, which is pleasant and heartbreaking. The book has a movie of the same name and is also recommended. But I still think that the book will be more delicate, and I will slowly understand this warm and grumpy strange old man. From absurdity to understanding to falling in love with him.
Encounters, acquaintances, and sudden departures, the absurdity and beauty of life, the small plots and emotions produced by the connection between people, but the brilliant time that supports the daily life. These empty days also need to give some meaningless meaning to themselves.
Maybe the world doesn't need to understand at all, just accept and live well. Jump into the dust and feel at ease.