Anxious People by Fredrik Backman – 352 pages

ARC from Atria for an honest review.

Book Blurb:

A bank robber on the run locks himself in with an over-enthusiastic estate agent, two bitter IKEA-addicts, a pregnant woman, a suicidal multi-millionaire and a rabbit. In the end the robber gives up and lets everyone go, but when the police storm the apartment it is . . . empty.
In a series of dysfunctional testimonies after the event, the witnesses all tell their version of what really happened and it’s clear we have a classic locked-room mystery on our hands: How did the robber manage to escape? Why is everyone so angry? And: What is WRONG with people these days?

My Review: 4.5 stars

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Anxious People has had book clubs all atwitter simply because they knew a new Fredrik Backman was coming out. This one, like his many of his others, has the author’s signature charm and feel good finishes.

The premise of this story focuses around a group of people visiting a realtor’s open house, when a “bank robber” arrives and turns the open house into a “hostage situation.” Had I not known the who the author was I would most likely skipped this one. What makes this book special is how Backman creates thought-provoking drama, develops interesting and flawed characters and somehow knits them into the perfect blanket. He’s a gifted storyteller.

The themes in this book touch on communication, misunderstandings, old ways of doing things versus new ways, father/son relationships, suicide, marriage, parenting, acceptance, LBGTQ, and more. It’s chock-full of tenderness and acceptance, something we can all use right now.

One commonality I noticed across all of Backman’s books is the rhythmic cadence to his writing style. It’s very unique and I wonder if it reads the same in its original Swedish, or if it’s something the translator brings to the page.

Full disclosure, the first twenty to forty pages were slow for me, so if that happens to you, please continue. I’m so glad I did.

Quotes I liked:

They may not have had much in common, but they all knew what it was like to make a mistake.”

“Some of us never manage to get the chaos under control, so our lives simply carry on, the world spinning through space at two million miles an hour while we bounce about on its surface like so many lost socks.”

“The truth of course is that if people really were as happy as they look on the Internet, they wouldn’t spend so much damn time on the Internet, because no one who’s having a really good day spends half of it taking pictures of themselves.”

“Everyone inside the apartment had their own complexes, their own demons and anxieties: Roger was wounded, Anna-Lenna wanted to go home, Julia was tired, Ro was worried, Zara was in pain, and Estelle . . .well . . .no one really knew what Estelle was yet. Possibly not even Estelle”