A Man Called Ove

On the drive to the hospital, Ove must keep the windows of the Saab rolled down despite the cold weather because of the exhaust fumes leftover from his suicide attempt. Upon their arrival at the hospital, Ove immediately gets into an altercation with a parking attendant. He refuses to pay for hospital parking out of principle.

Once inside, Parvaneh goes to see Patrick, leaving Ove to watch the children, whom he regards as “the three-year-old” and “the seven-year-old.” Ove doesn’t know what to do: “[He] turns to the girls. And in the next second he looks as if he’s about to shine a desk lamp into their eyes and interrogate them on their whereabouts at the time of the murder” (106). Eventually a hospital clown, Beppo, stops by. He asks Ove for a five-crown piece: He wants to use it for a magic trick with the girls. When he tries to return a different five-crown piece to Ove, Ove punches him.

Parvaneh returns to find her daughters excited about this chain of events—and Ove grumpily sitting under surveillance of two hospital security guards. The 7-year-old almost defends Ove, saying of the clown, “He was no good at magic anyway” (109).