Chapter 34 opens with Ove bringing a plastic deckchair to Sonja’s grave: He has so much to tell her that it’s going to take a while. He reflects on the changes in the neighborhood over the past years. Once a landlord rented a house to some young people who partied and were rude to the elderly residents. When Sonja tried to get them to be quiet, they insulted her condition, and when Anita shouted at them, they threw a brick through the living room window.

Ove acted by investigating the landlord, but then Rune delivered the ultimate revenge: He planted drugs in the shed belonging to the home of the young party people, called the cops on them, and got them arrested. This is one of the few moments, looking back, that Ove and Rune got along—but it didn't last. There was always a new altercation.

The chapter also tells how Jimmy came to live in the neighborhood as a child, along with his mother and her abusive boyfriend. The neighbors could all hear the man beating up the mother. One day, Ove and Rune went over and beat the man up. The boyfriend left soon after.