Ep. 144 - Pages to Popcorn: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Plus a Bonus Short Story)

I’ve decided to read my first Fredrik Backman book. I’ve heard so many good things about his novels, so now I’m interested to see if I’ll like this contemporary fiction book and its movie adaptation. Come find out my thoughts about this story in real time.

You can find the companion blog here.

**If you like contemporary fiction stories with elderly characters, you may enjoy listening to episode 143. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I've decided to read my first Bedger Bachman book. I've heard so many good things about his novels. So now I'm interested to see if I'll like this contemporary fiction book and its newbie adaptation. Come find out my thoughts about this story in real time. Hey story lovers, it's time to unwind, relax, and get comfy cozy. You're listening to the Bookmarks and Blankets podcast. I'm your host, Kelly Matsudira. Each week I discuss my favorite forms of art, which are books, movies, and TV series. I also love talking about cozy living, cozy hobbies, and self-care tips. If you like reviews, recommendations, discussions, and a whole lot more, then you're in the right place. Join me with your favorite blanket, beverage, and snack, and let's get cozy together. Welcome or welcome back, my book friends. I hope everybody is doing well. I am back with another Pages to Popcorn episode. And if you're new and you wonder what the heck is Pages to Popcorn, this is a series where I like to read the book and watch the movie. However, in this case, the movie is expiring in literally like a day. So I have to watch the movie first. So I'm actually doing a reverse Pages to Popcorn for the very first time. I usually don't like to watch the movie first, but it is streaming right now on HBO Max and it's leaving soon. And I really, really wanted to do this episode because I just did a real-time reaction episode where I read three popular contemporary fiction books, and they all happen to feature elderly or older characters. So I thought reading this book and watching this movie would be a really good complement to that episode. So if you haven't listened to that other episode and you are interested in my thoughts about those books as I read those in real time, you can listen to episode 143, and then you can experience more of my thoughts about older characters and books and what I thought about those. But in this episode, I have to watch the movie first, and then I'm going to read the book. Again, I don't like to do it this way, but this is a special circumstance that I'm gonna have to do this time. So usually with these kinds of episodes, I like to do a little bit of an author spotlight, talk about my experience with the author, if there's any, and then just give a little bit of some movie information. Let me start with the author's spotlight. So Frederick Bachman is actually a new to me author. He's been around since 2012. A man called Uva, which is the book that I'm reading in this episode, was actually his debut book. He is an author from Sweden. He was writing for a Swedish newspaper and a Swedish men's magazine. And then he decided to start writing novels. He started back in 2012. So he's been around for a while. He's a New York Times bestselling author. So many people talk about his books. He writes contemporary fiction that are more emotional and heartfelt. He also has some novellas and some short stories, as well as I think one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than 40 countries, and he lives in Stockholm, Sweden with his wife and two children. I will have all his information on the companion blog if you're interested to learn more about this author or if you want to follow him on social media because he is on Facebook and X and Instagram, all the places. So I will have his information. But there wasn't much when I was looking up this author to learn about him. I just know he's Swedish. I know his books are very, very popular. So moving into my experience, I don't have any experience with this author. This is my very first time reading from him. And I'm really excited to start with his debut book because this was his breakout hit, and so many people have talked about this book. The movie is a little bit older. It came out in 2022, and I saw that it was out. I just never really had an inkling to want to watch it back then, and it came out before I joined the online book community. So I had no idea that the movie was based on a book. I'd never heard of this author, I've never heard of his works. But as I've been diving deeper into fiction, especially contemporary fiction, this is an author that is at the top of the list. Everybody talks about him. I've seen so many booktubers give his books five stars. So I just figure, you know what? Now's a great time for me to dive into a genre of fiction that I don't normally read, which is contemporary fiction, and then checking out this new-to-me author. And I just want to see what is he like? Is he somebody that I could start following? So I'm very interested to read his books. And the movie that I'm watching is A Man Called Otto. Now there is a Swedish version that actually came out first. And I did see that that is available on Amazon Prime. I'm not going to watch that and talk about that in this episode, but I may check out the foreign film because it is in Swedish. I think it was up for a couple Oscars when it came out. I think it came out in like 2015, so it's pretty old. But I've heard a lot of good things about the foreign film, but I'm not going to watch that for this episode. Like I said, I may go back and watch that at some point since it is available on Prime, but I'm going to watch a man called Otto, and this features Tom Hanks. And I think he's gonna probably do a great job. I mean, he's an A-list actor. I don't expect anything less than the best from this actor. I just know it's about an old curmudgedy grumpy guy. That's pretty much all I know. So I'm going in pretty blind to this story. This does have a 7.5 on IMDB. And when I was looking up the cast of characters, I didn't recognize any other actors outside of Tom Hanks. But I did see that it looks like it's gonna be past and present timeline. And there is a young auto who's played by Truman Hanks. And I looked that up, and that's actually Tom Hanks' son. So I thought that was pretty cool that his real son in real life is going to play him younger in the movie. So that's gonna be fun. And then a couple other just little trivia that I found about the movie. So the original Swedish film adaptation was nominated for two Academy Awards and was the highest-grossing foreign film of 2016 in the United States. Another fun fact is there is a car scene with Otto and Ruben, and Tom Hanks's face was digitally de-aged to make him appear like he's in his mid-30s. The VFX team used footage and stills from the Burbs, which was in 1989, to create a digital blueprint in order to achieve this effect. I think that's pretty cool that they're using an older movie. I grew up with the Burbs, so I totally know what that movie is. It's a dark comedy with Carrie Fisher and Tom Hanks. I think it's kind of interesting that they use that movie to de-age him in this movie. So I'm excited to see what that looks like. And then the last little fun fact is one of the many flashbacks Otto has includes he and Sonia touring Niagara Falls. The boat, made of the mist, is the same one used in the office. It was one of three places Jim and Pam were married in one day. So I find that really interesting. I love The Office. It's one of my all-time favorite comedies or sitcoms. And I remember when they went up to Niagara Falls and they went on that boat, Made of the Mist. So that's fun. That's gonna be in this movie as well. I don't really know much about this. I'm just excited to check this out and to check out a new author. So I'm gonna keep this intro pretty short. Let me hop to the logistics for those that are new. So you already know the book that I'm gonna read. I am gonna read a short summary from Goodreads, and then I'm gonna give you my thoughts as I read through the book. I usually stop around the 25-30% mark, halfway, and then give you my final thoughts. And then as for the movie, I'm just gonna watch the entire movie and then I will come back and give you my thoughts. Again, this is gonna be in reverse order. So I'm gonna watch the movie first, give you my thoughts, and then I'll read the book. As I do with every podcast episode, there is a companion blog, as I've mentioned. If you go to bookmarks, the letter nblankets.com. If you miss anything in the episode, if you want to learn more, read my written review because I will have that up on the site. Look at the cover art. You can head over there to get more information. Also, on my website, I have a blog I post every Tuesday and Thursday. I have book discussions, reading tips and tricks, book crafts, book lists. And these are book lists that I don't talk about on the podcast. It's also very seasonal. So if you are looking for something in particular, definitely check out my blog to see what I have over there. Also, if you want to know what I'm reading in real time, I would love for you to follow me on Goodreads. I post all of my written reviews over there as well. I read in multiple genres, multiple formats. I'm in there every single day. Also, a little hint hint. If you follow me on Goodreads and you see what I'm reading, you might be able to put together what kind of projects I'm working on because I do post what books I'm reading in real time. And those are the projects that I'm also working on. So if you start to see themes in there, you might have an inkling of what projects are coming or what episodes I'm working on. And finally, I'd love to know what you thought about this book and or the movie. If you've read the book or watched the movie, or even if you've watched the foreign film, you can let me know what you thought. You can also let me know what your favorite Frederick Bachman book is if you are a fan of his. What is the next book I should pick up? Because he has quite a few, and I'm not sure what I should pick up next. I know Bear Town is a really popular series. It was a series on HBO, and when I tried to look it up, it wasn't available. So I don't think you can watch it anymore. And I tried to look it up on Amazon Prime as well, and it's not available. So that may be some kind of European thing, but in the United States, I don't think we have access to the Beartown series anymore. But I heard the book in the series is really good. It's about a small town hockey team, I think. But anyway, what is the next Frederick Bachman book that I should pick up? So I invite you to head over to social media where you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, X or Twitter, Pinterest. I'm in all the places you can leave me a comment on the post that I make for this type of episode. All right, without further ado, I am ready to check out this author. So let's get comfy, let's get cozy, and let's dive in. Okay, so the title of the book is A Man Called Uva, and I'm going to listen to the audiobook, and there are a couple different variations of the audiobook. I'm gonna listen to the one that's narrated by J.K. Simmons, the actor, because I always find that Hollywood actors do a really phenomenal job when it comes to audiobooks. And I haven't heard of the other audio narrator when I looked that one up. But also, if you're not aware, and I mentioned this in a previous episode, and this is not me trying to sell anything. I don't have any sponsorships, I don't have any affiliate links. This is just me letting you know if you are a Spotify premium member, you get 15 hours of audiobooks. And I know that's not a lot of time. And if you want to increase that amount of time, I think it's like $12 a month. I think it's kind of expensive. But I mean, you could fit if depending on what kind of books you pick, you could definitely fit one to two books a month on Spotify. So for me, I'm gonna use my Spotify Premium membership to listen to this because it's on a pretty long wait, the JK Simmons version through my Libby Library app. And it's not available on Audible through my membership there. So I'm gonna use up some hours on Spotify and listen to the JK Simmons version. So I'm very excited about that. And this has an average Goodreads rating of a 4.38. And the description reads, Meet Uva. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell. But must Uva be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior, there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning, a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters moves in next door and accidentally flattens Uva's mailbox. It is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residence association to their very foundations. So this sounds like it's gonna be a heartfelt, emotional story. It's probably going to make me cry. Usually with older characters, they do. I'm hoping to see some character development. You always start out with a grumpy character, and then by the end, you see their heart soften, or you see them become part of a community, or we get some found family trope. So I'm expecting that. But I'm not really sure too much what to expect in this. Like I said, from the little trivia I did on the movie, it sounds like we're gonna have past and present timelines. We'll probably learn more about Uva. But after the other contemporary fiction books that I read for that other episode, I am definitely in the mood for this type of a story. I'm gonna have my tissues ready, and I'm really hoping to fall in love with Uva and just have another older character story under my belt that I can recommend to people. I hope that I love this. So I'm going to start with the movie and I'm gonna go ahead and watch that, and then I will come back and give you my thoughts when I am done. Okay, so I will be back soon. All right, I am back, and I have watched A Man Called Otto. And this was really weird for me because I've done quite a few of these pages to popcorn episodes, and I have never watched the movie first. This is the first time that I'm watching the movie first before of reading the book. So of course I'm naturally thinking, what is the book like? What am I missing? What was added? What is different? I have no idea right now what the differences are. I'm finding out that I don't like watching the movie first before the book. For some reason, I know it could kind of feel like a spoiler by reading the book first and then watching the movie, but for me, it doesn't feel very spoilery to me when I read the book first because I like to see how things were changed as I'm watching the movie that enhances my experience. It's just the way that I like to consume movie adaptations from books. So this was really weird to do it backwards. And I have no frame of reference, I have no idea what to expect. I had an idea of what the movie was gonna be like, but it was very different on one level. And I don't want to say what that is because I do try to keep these spoiler-free, and I don't want to say what kind of took me back, but there's a dark tone to this movie that I was not expecting at all. So I watched this, like I mentioned, on HBO Max, and my husband watched it with me. He was curious about it. Overall, it wasn't a bad movie. I'm not saying it would be something I would want to watch again. I feel like it's one of those one and done. I watched it once, I'm good to go. I don't feel like I would ever need to revisit this movie. I did feel like it was a little bit on the longer side. It's a little over two hours, and it did feel all of two hours plus. There was a point where I was starting to get a little bored while I was watching it. I wanted to pick up my phone and start scrolling, so that's not a good sign. But there were some slower moments in the middle, and my attention span was starting to drift a little bit. So I thought maybe this could be cut down to maybe an hour and a half, hour and 40 minutes, I would have been good. But about two hours and five minutes, 10 minutes, it was a little long for what the story is. But overall, it was pretty decent. I mean, it's Tom Hanks being Tom Hanks. I thought he did a fine job as auto. The first thing that I noticed is that where he's living, the neighborhood is pretty ambiguous. And the whole time I kept asking my husband, where are we? I always like to know where we are in movies. I was trying to find any signs. I was trying to look at license plates on the cars, but there is winter, so I know that we're someplace where it gets all four seasons, but are we in the North Pacific area? Are we just northern United States? Are we in New England? I had absolutely no idea where we were. I'm guessing that they were in the New England area or maybe even New York because there is a scene where Tom Hanks is younger with his wife and they go up to Niagara Falls and they're on a bus to go up there. So I'm thinking they're in that part of the country. But I don't think we're ever told for certain where we are. Or if we were, I completely missed it. But I thought the neighborhood looked pretty ambiguous and it looked like how I imagine a neighborhood in Sweden would look. And my husband even said the same thing because I told him a little bit of the backstory that this is a story based off a Swedish author, and the story takes place in Sweden. So when we started watching it, he goes, Oh, yeah, this is really ambiguous neighborhood to make it look like maybe you're in Sweden. It does have winter going on and there's snow on the ground. So that's what we were guessing as far as the setting. There are past and present timelines. So, of course, not knowing the book, I was not expecting that, but it was a nice surprise. It was really fun to see that the past auto was actually Tom Hanks's real son. At first, I was looking at him, and when the credits opened, it said Truman Hank. And I was like, is that one of his sons? I'd never heard. I know of Chet, I know of Colin, but I had not heard of Truman. So I was really confused by that. And I said, Is that his son? So we looked it up and it is. I thought that that was really fun that they used Tom Hanks' real life son to play him as the younger version. I do like the back and forth, past and present, where we see Tom Hanks young and how he meets his wife and how they fall in love with each other and what ultimately happens. There's some things that happen. I liked the back and forth and seeing the younger couple and the woman who plays his wife, Sonia. She's actually an actress that's in Tokyo Vice. If you've ever watched that Yakuza, it's Japanese mafia drama on HBO. I think they've canceled it. But that was a series that my husband and I watched together, and we really, really liked it. And she's from that show. So we recognized her, but she's younger in this movie. But overall, I wouldn't say this is a comedy. I think it's set up as a dramedy, a drama and comedy. I think it leans more towards the drama than the comedy. I did laugh during some points. I don't think my husband laughed at all. So he didn't find it really funny. I found some things humorous, but it is a dark comedy, I would say. There are some dark things going on. And again, I don't want to say what that is and spoiler anything. If you haven't seen the movie and you want to watch it, but it was darker in tone than I thought it was gonna be. I thought it was gonna be a lighter comedy about this older guy, but it's actually kind of sad. And it definitely was heartfelt, it was touching, it was emotional. I did tear up and cry a little bit at the end. The ending I felt like was predictable, the whole movie leading up to the end. I had a feeling that it was gonna end the way that it did. I didn't know how it was gonna end, like what exactly was gonna happen, but I predicted it was gonna have a sad ending, which it does. So there's that. And then the other thing that really stood out to me, and I'm gonna have to call it out because it really did stick out as someone who is more conservative, and I notice the progressive messages when they're being pushed. This book was written in 2012. So it was before all of the woke agenda and all of the culture wars. And then I looked at this movie and it came out in 2022, which was kind of during the peak of these culture wars that were in in the US and all these social issues, the woke agenda that's being pushed upon us. And I could pick out the wokeness of the movie. I mean. His best friend is a black man. And there's a Latino couple that moves in across the street, which I love Marisol and her family. I thought they were so sweet and so cute. I thought she was the sweetest little lady. I really, really like her character. But we do have a Latino family. And then we also have a transgender young adult. I'm just like, was that really in the book? Was all of that diverse cast? Because it did feel like we have to have this diverse cast because of the time that this is being made in. And we have to check all the boxes, right? And so it did feel forced. It was really obvious. And I'm just sitting here thinking, was that really in the book? Because the book was written 10 years before all of this nonsense. So I have a feeling that was not in the book. And I'm gonna find out once I start reading it. But that was just something that did take me out of the movie. That was a turnoff for me. It was very obvious that they were trying to check all the boxes and have this huge diverse cast of characters. And my husband even pointed it out too. So it was just kind of that eye-rolling moment that we noticed. It didn't take away our enjoyment from the movie, but it was very obvious that it was put in there for a reason. That did turn me off to it. But overall, I don't think it's something that's super memorable. I'm not gonna want to re-watch this again. This is a one and done, and it is what it is. So if I had to rate it on a scale of one to five, I would say it's like a three. I would give it three stars. It was okay. Now, I know this Swedish movie is very beloved and it was a breakout hit in Sweden, but I would be curious to watch the original movie. So I will say that I liked the story enough to see what the original movie is like. And I will say, after watching this, I'm now really interested to read the book. I'm more inspired to read the book now to see what happens in the book compared to what happened in the movie. But overall, you're just following this man and he's just coping with the death of his wife. I think she died like six months ago. So he's just having a really hard time. But then there's all these characters that come in and out of his life that are living around in the neighborhood and how he's interacting with them. And he is this grumpy, curmudgedy old man that likes to yell at everybody. But he also has a heart. You can see that. It's very obvious. He's not super, super grumpy, but he does have a heart. He even babysits Marisol's little girls when she and her husband want to go have a date night. So he does warm up to people and he does care about others. You can see that he's just putting up a guard, but he does have a very soft heart and he is a very nice, kind man, but you have to get through that hard exterior. And he kind of reminds me of one of my grandfathers. He's no longer with us. But my maternal grandfather was kind of a harsh older man. He was a bit grumpy. I was always able to soften his heart. I think I might have been one of his favorite grandkids, but I never saw him as super grumpy. I was able to handle him and to soften his heart. And I loved him very much. And this character, Otto, reminded me of that. Also, my husband and I both said that Otto reminded us of Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. If Scrooge was here in modern times, this would be his character. So we kind of got Scrooge vibes from this character. And we both said it at the same time. So that was kind of funny. But my husband thought the movie was okay. It was alright. Middle of the road, average. I'd say check it out if it sounds interesting to you. But that's all I have to say about the movie. I'm gonna quit yapping about it. And I'm ready to now just dive into the book and to just see how different or similar that the book is from the movie. And I'm definitely gonna have the actors who are playing these characters in my mind as I'm reading the book. So that is, I guess, another downside of watching the movie first, is now I'm gonna have these actors in my mind. And that's just the way that it is usually when I'm watching a movie first. But anyway, those are my thoughts about the movie. So I'm going to start reading the book. I am gonna listen to the audiobook, and then when I get to the 25-30% mark, I will stop and give you my first check-in and give you my thoughts of what's going on. All right, I will talk with you soon. So I am actually a little bit past where I should have stopped with this book. I'm about 35% into the audiobook. I was really trying to get through as much as I can. I actually almost was not gonna stop until the halfway mark, but I thought I would just stop right now and do a quick check-in. I don't know if I have really much to say. So I am listening to the audiobook and I am listening to the J.K. Simmons narration because I think there's another audio version that has a different narrator, but I'm on Spotify and I haven't used up all of my hours yet. And in my library, the J.K. Simmons narration was on like a three-month wait, and I really wanted to listen from this actor because I thought that he would be really good to listen to. I had access to the other narrator, but since I hadn't used up all my hours on Spotify, I thought I would just listen through there, and I think I will be able to listen to the entire book. There was part of me that wondered I might run out of hours on Spotify and I'd have to finish with the other narrator, but I don't think that's going to be the case. I think he'll be able to stick with JK Simmons and he's doing a great job. I wouldn't say he's anything spectacular. I mean, it's cool to listen to an actor that I know, and his voice is very pleasant to hear. I don't know if he's doing anything crazy unique that I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a phenomenal narrator, but he's doing a fine job. I'm enjoying listening to him. And I will say, since I've watched the movie before I've read the book, they did a pretty good adaptation with the movie so far, at least this first part that I've read, because the book is following along pretty much just like the movie. Now, that is one of the downsides for me of why I prefer to read the book first and then watch the movie. Because since I've already watched the entire movie, I know the entire story, I know what's gonna happen. I'll be honest, I'm kind of bored right now with this story. And there is a part of me that doesn't really feel like I need to listen to this because I've watched the movie. So far, the book isn't really giving me much more than what I saw in the movie. But this is a solemn, dark dramedy. So drama and comedy. I would probably put this more in just the contemporary fiction genre. But the only difference really that I'm seeing outside of names of characters, they're obviously different than in the movie. In the book, it's Uva instead of Otto. And then we do have the older couple that lives there, and in the movie, it was the black couple. Ruben was his friend, and then he had his wife, but Ruben was in a wheelchair and wasn't really responding. We do have that couple, but of course their names are changed. I don't know what ethnicity, if he's black in the book, I don't think it's really described what he looks like. I'm guessing because this is supposed to take place in Sweden that he's probably just a white man, but in the movie, it was a black man. And then the other difference is the family that moves in across from him in the movie, it was a Latino family, and it was the husband and then the pregnant wife, and then the two little girls. So we still have that same family, but of course the names have changed, and I think they're Middle Eastern, so they're from a different part of the world, so they're not Latino, but that was just a minor change. We still have some of the other characters. There's a woman who walks her dog, there's a man who's exercising, there's a young person, I think a young boy that rides around on a bike. So I'm seeing some of the same characters, and the storyline is pretty much lined up. The only difference I would say is we are getting more backstory about Uva, and we're seeing more about how he was brought up. So we see a little bit of his childhood. His mom died when he was really young. Then he became close with his dad, but then his dad died when he was, I think, 16 or in high school, and he ended up, I think, dropping out of school or after school. He started working for the Railroad, which is the same company that his dad was working for. So we get a lot more backstory and seeing what life was like for Uva when he was a child and a teenager and growing up into young adulthood. I honestly don't really care. I will say that's not bringing much more to the book for me. They cut a lot of that out in the movie, and I was fine with it. So the fact that this is in the book, and for me, it feels like it's added in, even though I know this is the original work. But for me, it's not bringing anything more or unique to the story. I just don't really care about his backstory. I know that this backstory is showing us his history, his childhood, how he was shaped into the man that he is today. But honestly, it doesn't really feel needed. I find myself drifting, listening to those chapters when it's talking about the past because it does go back and forth between past and present timeline. I'm finding I just don't care about the past timeline. I'm more interested in the present timeline. Just like in the movie, we find out that his wife has passed, and the dark element in the movie that I didn't really want to say much because I thought it was gonna spoil it. Well, it's pretty prominent in the book is that Uva is trying to off himself. He doesn't want to live anymore because his wife has died. So he's trying all these different ways to commit suicide. And there's always something wrong that happens. Like he tries to hang himself, but the noose with the hook comes out of the ceiling and he falls down. Or he tries to sit in his car with it running in the garage, but then the pregnant woman across the street is knocking and she needs his help because her husband has fallen off the ladder and needs to be rushed to the emergency room. So there's always something that interrupts him trying to die. It's definitely dark humor, but also this could be very triggering for some sensitive readers. I'm not finding anything triggering right now. I just find it really sad that he's finding nothing worth living for because his wife died. It seemed that was all he had was his wife, and now that she's gone, he doesn't want to be here anymore. And I find that really, really sad. But obviously, we know he's gonna start creating deeper relationships with people in his community, and he's gonna start making friends and things start to turn around for him. He is very grumpy, very curmudgedy. He's always yelling at people, people are always doing things wrong. So it is humorous in some ways and just how he's interacting with people, but it's also a very dark, solemn, kind of almost a Debbie Downer type of story because it is about this man who doesn't want to live anymore. But then he just keeps getting interrupted by his neighbors. So I don't know. For me, it's just feeling a little tedious again because I've watched the movie. I know it happens, and I almost feel like because I've watched the movie, I don't really need to read the book, but of course, I'm gonna get through the rest of this. I have sped it up to 1.7 speed because I just want to get through this and move on to the next book in my list that I want to read. This story, I don't know, it's just not really touching me right now. I'm not teary-eyed, I'm not feeling really much of anything as I'm reading through this. Again, maybe because I've already watched the movie. I think that's playing a big factor in my enjoyment or maybe lack of enjoyment of reading the book. And again, that's why I do not like to watch the movie before reading the book because I just feel like it's sometimes what's the point? Because I've already watched the movie and I know it happens. So I feel like nothing is surprising me right now, nothing is really moving me. I mean, it's definitely a heartfelt story, and I think I just need to get further into some of the better moments that I know are coming up if it's still gonna be based off the movie. So hopefully, once I get to the halfway point or more towards the end, maybe I'll start feeling a little differently about it. But honestly, right now, there's not a lot of difference between the movie and the book, and I'm just kind of bored and not really engaged too much. And I just feel like I just want to get through it to get through it, and I'm not really soaking anything in because I'm just really not that interested. So those are my real thoughts as I'm going through this. That's all I have to say right now. I don't think there's any cursing. He says bloody, which I know is considered cursing in Europe, but here in America, I don't consider that cursing. It doesn't sound bad to me. But he says that, but other than that, there's no cursing, there's nothing else content-wise that has stood out to me. So right now, I'm just gonna keep going. And since I'm already so far in, I'll probably stop for my next check-in around the 60% mark, let you know what's going on, and then we'll finish things up. All right, I will talk with you again soon. I am back with my second check-in, and I'm about 60% into the book now. And I'm happy to say that I'm actually starting to really enjoy the book now. I think I've gotten to the part of the story where it is starting to get interesting, and definitely remembering the movie bits and pieces because it's fresh in my mind since I just watched it. This is the part where the family of four with the pregnant wife and the two little girls and her husband, they moved in, and then we also see his friend that is not doing well. We're seeing more interaction with the neighbors around him, and it is starting to feel more found family-like. There's a point where the husband across the street fell off the ladder, and Pravana, that's the pregnant lady, she asks him to take them to the hospital, and that's when she interrupts him trying to off himself by turning on his car in the garage. She interrupts him doing that, and he does end up taking them to the hospital. And it's a really funny scene because he has to watch the little girls while Parvana has to go back to her husband, and that's when he gets into a little disagreement with a clown, and that whole scene is pretty funny. And then another sequence is when he decides to go, I think, to the train station or a subway or something like that, and he's gonna let a train hit him. And I'm like, man, that's quite the way to go out. I don't know if I would choose that way. But instead of him jumping in front of a train, there's an older gentleman that actually ends up passing out and falling on the tracks, and he jumps down and saves him. Again, he gets interrupted from taking his life. It's not funny, but it is. It's this dark humor because he does keep getting interrupted, and you can tell he's not supposed to go yet. He is starting to have an impact on the lives around him with his neighbors and the people that he's interacting with. And he has to watch these little girls for his neighbor, and he's helping his older friend who is not able to do things anymore because he's not doing well. So we're starting to see his heart melt a little and seeing him soften up just a tiny bit. I mean, he's still a very grumpy, curmudgeony older guy. But one thing that's interesting is Uva is supposed to be 59 years old. And the way that he's acting and the way that he's being portrayed, I feel like he should be 20 or 30 years older than he is. I mean, sure, there's definitely older, grumpy, middle-aged people, but when I think of this type of character, I guess I'm thinking at least in their 70s, if not early 80s. And he's definitely a lot younger than that. So I think that kind of caught me off guard a little bit is that he's not as old as I thought that he was, which I think it told me in the very beginning of the book he was 59. But I just kind of ignored that, I guess. And it's coming up more for me now as I'm getting further into the book. But I will say, with all the different interactions that he has with people and the way that he's behaving, it is pretty funny. I am laughing out loud or I'm smirking while I'm listening to this. J.K. Simmons is still doing a wonderful job narrating. And I think that he is helping me become more engaged with the story. Whereas before I was just kind of half listening and didn't really care too much. But now that we're going further into the story and it's getting a little more interesting, I'm paying more attention. We're also getting more of the past timeline and we're seeing how he met his wife and the interaction with him. There's a moment where he meets her dad, and none of that is really in the movie. There are some parts in the movie, but again, not a lot. So I am kind of liking to see more of the interaction with his wife when they were younger. It was kind of a funny moment when he met the dad because the dad is kind of like him. He's kind of grumpy and he doesn't say much. He keeps to himself. And we're just learning a lot more about his wife and about him and about their relationship. So I'm starting to like the past timeline more and learning more about him, but I still think I prefer the present timeline and what's going on currently. We also get more interaction with the cat. So he does adopt a cat, and we see how he found the cat and the cat was not doing well. Parvana came over, the pregnant woman, and she was trying to help. There's a whole scene that's pretty funny with the cat, and he's trying to pawn the cat off to her. She's like, Well, Patrick, that's her husband, he's allergic. Then there's another neighbor that comes by and he's allergic, and no one can take the cat, so he has to take the cat. The whole scene is pretty funny, but now he has a cat and Uva doesn't really like cats. There's definitely some scenes that are keeping me entertained and making me smile. So I would say I am starting to like this more. I am still feeling like I'm ready for the story to be over because I have seen the movie and now I'm reading the books the second time I'm going through the story and I'm kind of getting over it a little bit. I am ready for this to be over and I've got 40% left to go. So I'm going to finish this up and then I'll come back with my final thoughts. So so far, so good. There's still not really any language. He keeps saying bloody, but again, I don't really count that as cursing. So I'm not noticing any of that. There's no spice or anything. There's nothing else content-wise outside of what I had mentioned already with some of the triggers. So I think that's all my thoughts. I don't really have a lot to say right now. Nothing is really standing out to me. I'm not sure where I'm gonna land on my rating yet. I want to see how this ends, but I'm trying to separate my movie watching from the book because I don't want the movie to influence my thoughts about the story in the book and my rating. So I am trying to just look at the story for what it is and base my thoughts and opinions and ratings just on this written story, as if I never watched the movie. So that's how I'm trying to view things. So I'm gonna go ahead and finish this up, and then I will come back with my final thoughts, and then we will wrap things up. Alright, I will be back soon. And I end up really did liking this book the more that I allowed myself to just kind of sink into it and to open myself up to the novel itself and what the novel wanted to speak to me, what the messages were, and not comparing it to the movie and learning more about Uva and his past and his relationship with his wife, and just how that meant everything to him. And that's why he didn't want to keep living without her, is because I think he didn't really feel like he had much purpose in the world without her. But as we see him going throughout the novel, there are people that come into his life, and he is part of a community with this housing area that he. Lives in, I think it's kind of like a townhouse complex or something. You can see how he does start to belong with the neighborhood people and they start to come into his life and he becomes part of the community, part of the neighborhood, they become friends. And even though he's still this cranky, curmudgedy, grumpy old man, he does have a soft heart. You can see how he enjoys helping people, even though he's pretty gruff about it and he's hard on the exterior. He does have a soft heart for people and he wants things done right. He wants to help people in his own way. And of course, we see the things that happened in his life that made him who he was and why he is the way that he is. But you can also see that people were starting to get underneath that hard exterior. And he did enjoy helping people and he did become part of this found family. And that is a huge trope of this story is found family, which I absolutely loved. There were people that, even though he was pretty rough with them or he was pretty brazen and hard, they still wanted to get to know him. They still liked being around him. There was something about him that kept bringing them back to him. And I know that he was very helpful and he was helping people in the neighborhood. And just the messages in the story really hit home. I think they're very relatable. I think they could resonate with most people. I think this is a very universal themed and messaged story. So I think pretty much anyone who would pick it up probably would enjoy this. I wasn't quite getting the five-star vibe, so I did give this four stars on Goodreads. I did really enjoy it. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook with J.K. Simmons. That's how I consumed it. And I really enjoyed his narration. He did a fantastic job. I always think it's fun to listen to Hollywood actors narrate stories. I just think they bring a little something extra, a little something special to the narration. And I thought he did a great job. So I highly recommend that. I do recommend reading this book. Again, for sensitive readers, you may want to check triggers because the whole story does revolve around death and dying, loss of a loved one, grief. I mean, Uva's trying to commit suicide multiple times. And there could be some triggers for certain people who read this. But I think for the most part, this is a very relatable story. And like I said, I really like the messages that it was portraying. Also, I will say I teared up towards the end because it was just making me think of my maternal grandfather. He was kind of like Uva, where he was really good with his hands. He liked to fix things, build things, but he was a hard, rough, cranky, kind of grumpy old man that you did have to peel those layers away. But he was a softy at the end of the day. I always thought I was his favorite granddaughter of the three of us. And probably because I lived very close to them. I basically grew up with my maternal grandparents as a second set of parents. So we were very, very close with my grandparents. And there were points where my grandfather helped me out. He would slip me money when I was in college and say, don't tell your grandmother because she was the frugal one. But he always wanted to help me out, give me a little bit of money. There was a point after graduation from college that both my grandparents gave me money towards my first car. And there were just little things here and there that he did. So you could see that he showed his love in different ways. I always felt like I was able to get underneath the surface of that hard exterior. And I just really enjoyed being around my grandfather. And we had this rival with each other when it came to dominoes. We played dominoes all the time. We also played cards, but there was this kind of underlying rivalry between us with dominoes that was always fun. And I knew how to handle him, I knew how to joke with him. And Uva just really reminded me so much of my maternal grandfather. He's been gone for quite a while, but I do miss my grandparents, and this just made me think of my grandpa and just made me tear up a little bit towards the end. But this was a really good story. And as far as the movie versus the book, I will say now that I'm done with the book, the movie is pretty spot on. It was adapted very well. There's not much difference, I would say, between the book and the movie. Obviously, the book goes more in depth and you're more in the mind of Uva. And then you also see more of that past timeline. You get a little glimpse of the past timeline in the movie, but you definitely go much deeper in the book. But I will say I was rather surprised that the movie was pretty spot on with the book because sometimes you'll watch a movie based on a book and you'll see glimpses of that story if you've read it first. But sometimes Hollywood will take its own creative ideas and put a spin and make it a little bit different. So it's not quite the same. But I don't feel like that was quite done here. But of course, the movie with Tom Hanks was set in the United States. And when Uva and his wife go on vacation, they go up to Niagara Falls. But in the book, the setting is in Sweden, and he and his wife take a trip to Spain. So there's some varying differences like that. Also, the ethnicity of some of these characters are different and the names are different. Of course, we'll have a little bit of differences in that way. And then as far as the movie, there is a youth who is a transgender person in the movie. And in the book, it's a straight teenage boy, and he has Uva help him with his bike, and he talks about wanting to save for a car. And the boy is straight, he has a girlfriend. The whole thing is he wants to fix up his bike for his girlfriend. But then Uva has this driving test with Parvana. He's teaching her to drive. That's a whole funny sequence. But they go to this bakery, and that's where he sees Adrian, who is the teenage boy. He's helping with the bike. At the bakery, there's another character who is gay. And it's kind of funny because he calls him bent. I'm like, I've never heard that term being used for gay people that you're bent. So that was a little weird. Maybe that's a European thing or a Swedish thing because I know this book was translated from Swedish. So maybe that's something they say, or maybe that's somebody an older person says. But I've personally never heard anyone refer to gay people as bent people. That seemed a little weird to me. But anyway, there's a gay character, and there's a point in the movie where the transgender character needed a place to stay because the dad kicked them out of the house and they needed to stay with Uva. And in this story, the baker threw his son out, and the son is the one that's gay. And so Adrian and the Baker's son, I can't remember his name, they show up on Uva's doorstep needing a place to stay because the baker's son came out and told his dad, and he wasn't very happy about that. So there was just a subtle difference there. And again, I mentioned the movie was made in 2022, so I could see why they changed it to a transgender person because of the political and cultural and social commentary that's going on right now. They just had to put a little bit of that woke stuff in there. But I will say for a book that's written in 2012, it did include a gay character. So just a slight difference there. But I would say the rest of the story, though, is pretty spot on. So overall, I enjoyed both the book and the movie. I would say if you've read the book and haven't watched the movie, I don't know if the movie would enhance anything, but I think it is a nice complement to the book. So I would recommend watching the movie. It was done well. And if you've watched the movie and haven't read the book, that's where I'm kind of a little on the fence. I mean, you're not really missing much at all just by watching the movie. So I feel like if you don't want to read the book and you've just watched the movie, you're probably fine just watching the movie and skipping the book. But if you do want to go deeper with Uva and you do want to learn more about his past, then definitely pick up the book. I mean, I recommend both the book and the movie. So as far as content other than the trigger warnings, there is a tiny bit of cursing. Aside from Uva saying bloody a lot, there is some other minor cursing later in the book from one of the characters, but it's not a lot. And it didn't ruin the experience for me. And there's no spice, so we didn't have any kind of romance going on or anything like that. So we don't have to worry about that. Again, overall, I really enjoyed both. So that's where I'm landing with this story. Surprise! I am back because I actually decided to read a short story by Frederin Bachman. So I have a bonus short story to talk about. This is a short story that was on Kindle Unlimited, and this was published back in December of 2024. I heard some people talking about this last year, but I knew I wanted to read a little bit more by this author, and I thought, what better way than to pick up a short story? So I picked up the answer is no. Because it was on Kindle Unlimited, it was also part of Audible. So I was able to download the audiobook. It's less than two hours, and how I speed it up, I think it took me maybe an hour or a little over an hour to listen to this, but I actually listened and read along. So the narrator for this short audiobook is Stacy Gonzales. And while she did a fine job performing this, I don't think she was the right choice of a narrator for this story. Because, first of all, this is in the perspective of Lucas, so it's in the perspective of a man, and we have a woman narrator. And then the way that she performed it, it just sounded really over the top. And I don't know, she just kind of sounded a little more enthusiastic or animated than she needed to be. She would probably be really good for middle grade stories or even YA stories. But for some reason, I was just kind of annoyed by this narrator. The story itself was fine, but the narrator was kind of sort of ruining it for me because the way she was just performing this just didn't make any sense to me. But overall, I did like this story, and I pulled up the Goodreads profile for this short story. It has a 3.91 rating. And the summary says, Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things video games, wine, and pad tie. Peanuts are a must. Other people, not so much. Why complicate things when he's happy alone? Then one day, the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell, and Lucas's solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires colossally. Told in Frederick Bachman's singular, witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, this is a laugh-out loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won't leave him alone. So this was a really funny story. It's about a 30-something year old man who lives alone in his apartment and he's happy alone. He's happy not being around other people. He doesn't like to be around other people. He's a loner. He just prefers things the way that he prefers them. But because he lives in this apartment complex, he's forced to become part of the community. And the whole thing is this frying pan ruins his life because it's left outside and it starts to collect, and more people start throwing things away. And all of a sudden, now there's this pile of trash outside of his apartment. And this apartment board is really upset about it, and things just spiral. It is hilarious. It is thought-provoking because you can tell it's a satire about just humanity and bureaucracy and living in a community. I found it really fun and funny. I was laughing out loud. It's absolutely absurd and ridiculous. And it's one of those kind of stories where I'm like, oh my gosh, do people really live like that? Because I've lived in an apartment complex for a couple years in my 20s, but it's been a really, really long time since I've lived in a community complex like that. So I never lived that way. I never even spoke to my neighbors. I never even knew who my neighbors were. But now he's meeting all these people and he just wants to be left alone. He just wants to play video games and eat his pad thai with peanuts. That's a thing in the story, and drink his wine and play his video games, and just wants to be left alone. And it is hilarious. It's just absurd and ridiculous. It had me thinking, are people really like that? Is it really like that living in an apartment complex? So I had a really good time with the story. Highly recommend it. I gave it four stars on Goodreads. And I just wanted to pop in and say that I checked out the short story. And after reading the short story along with a man called Uva, I am definitely a fan of Frederick Bachman now. So I'm really glad that I took a chance and checked out his stories. So there you have it. Those are my thoughts about a man called Uva and a man called Otto. I had a few little problems with each, but for the most part, I really enjoyed both of them. And then I really did enjoy the short story. So that was four stars as well. So we have four stars across the board. So I recommend all of these. And yeah, I'm definitely interested to pick up more by this author. I think his stories are gonna be the kind of stories that I need to be in the mood to read. I don't know if I would just randomly want to pick up a Frederim Bachman book because I think they are really heartfelt and emotional. I think they go a little bit deeper and I need to be in the mood for those kinds of stories. So while I am a new fan of this author and I do want to check out more of his works, I do think I'm gonna have to also be in the mindset to want to pick those up. I'm just not gonna randomly pick it up. So I do want to check out more. I don't know if I will check out any more this year, but I think this is someone that I could slowly chip away at his backlist whenever I'm in the mood to read an emotional contemporary fiction. Then he will definitely be the first author that I think of and my go-to right now. But I had a good time with this episode. I'm glad that I checked this out. And again, if you want to hear my thoughts about stories with older characters, go check out my real-time reaction episode. It's episode 143. And those were three very, very popular contemporary fiction books that all happen to have older characters. And you can find out what I thought about those books. All right, if you're here to the very end, thank you so much for sticking around and hearing my thoughts about this author and his works. If you enjoy this type of episode, definitely stick around or subscribe to the podcast because I have a lot more pages to popcorn episodes planned for the rest of this year. And I definitely want to get back to reading the book first and then watching the movie because I kind of think watching the movie before reading the book kind of sort of ruined the experience a little bit for me, but it wasn't terrible. And I definitely was able to push through and still enjoy both formats, but I do prefer to read the book first. So I'm gonna continue with that way with these episodes. So I have many more planned, so I'm excited about that. Again, if you missed anything in the episode, you can check out more information on the companion blog. You can also follow me on Goodreads and social media. Give me a comment of what you think about this author or any of his books or anything that you're reading right now that I should have on my radar. If you have a suggestion for a Pages to Popcorn episode, if there is a book that you want me to read and then watch the movie, I would love to get your suggestions. So you can hop over to social media and comment on the post and let me know if there's something I should have on my radar. Like I said, I have a lot more planned. I have some big, big movies that have either come out or are coming out that I have planned. I think some of the big ones I'm gonna have to rent because I don't think they're on any of the streaming platforms that I subscribe to yet, but I'm okay with that because there are some big blockbusters that I'm really excited to watch. So again, if there's anything that you want me to make an episode on, I would love your suggestions. Okay, I think that's it. Until next time, my sweet friends, happy reading and happy watching. Well, that's all I have for this episode. If you missed anything, you can find the companion blog on my website at bookmarksandblankets.com. That's bookmarksthelternblankets.com. If you enjoyed today's discussion, please consider subscribing to the podcast so you don't miss any episodes. Also, if you feel called to do so, please share this podcast with others who you think may be interested in this type of show. Or if you have a few minutes, I'd love for you to write a quick review. This helps me reach more people, and I would greatly appreciate it. If you would like to support the show even more, you can join my Patreon community at patreon.com slash bookmarks and blankets. Until next time, my friends, please remember to take care of yourself and always stay cozy.