Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

118 reviews

ainavio's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Made me feel warm and fuzzy and like maybe things might be okay sometimes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Drug abuse and Infidelity

literatureandlattes2022's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolute chaos! This book was chaos! At times hard to keep up with, but either the chaos slows down halfway through or your brain finally gets with the program. Anxious People was also beautiful and heartwarming, I fell in love with so many of the characters, their stories and outcomes. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent

This may be triggering for some as there is some focus on anxieties from things, such as parenting, poverty, job loss, homelessness, death of a loved one etc these are not the main focuses but all of these are in there.

katstu1's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Self harm, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, and Suicide attempt

themadpage's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity

mahamsiddiqui's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Classism and Alcoholism

Minor: Infidelity

bluejay21's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book made me cry at work. Just a little. I also massively changed my mind on pretty much all the characters, going from being irritated and annoyed by them to geniunely loving them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Death, Death of parent, and Gun violence

margaretrose's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Achingly wonderful. I cried.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

Moderate: Addiction

kriti's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Religious bigotry, Animal death, Dementia, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

gmwells's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

TL;DR: THIS IS A TRULY AMAZING BOOK AND I BELIEVE EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT AT LEAST ONCE! This is one of those books that I wish I could read for the first time again. 

I bought this book on a whim because I happened to see it for sale online when I was searching for course books on Convergent Journalism. It had been in my TBR list for a short time as I saw many readers on BookTok (or whatever you want to call it) recommending it. 

When I started reading it, it was honestly because I couldn’t continue to read one of the five other books that I had started — I had to start a new book instead. I had no idea what this book was about, simply that it had something to do with “anxious people” as the title suggested.

After I began reading it, I will admit that I had a slow start. I made it through maybe five rather short chapters before needing to take a break. I had no idea where the story was going to take me, and I suppose my brain didn’t quite like that idea. 

As I continued reading (over a period of a few months packed with other things like birthday parties and black belt ceremonies), I had a greater appreciation for the book. I started finishing more and more chapters each time I picked it back up until I read the entire final half of the book in two days. 

I cried three times while reading this book: once a little less than halfway thought, once about 50 pages from the end, and once while reading the entirety of the last 15 or so chapters. 

Something that every author should strive for is having characters with relatable personalities. More importantly, every author should give their readers the ability to see the world through a new lens. Backman does both and more in this book. 

He tells a story of love (of all kinds), of loss, and of the ripple effect that people have on one another’s lives. The characters’ paths are carefully woven together, and new secrets continue to be revealed in practically every chapter. 

One thing that I will say about a certain relationship near the end is that they (not revealing who; no spoilers) were a bit forced. They had a mild amount of chemistry between them, but it seemed to carry the same message of amatonormativity that I have seen many books drenched in. Thankfully, because Backman also focuses on other kinds of love more strongly throughout the whole book, he did not have this message of amatonormativity as heavily thrust on the reader as many other books do; however, it was there nonetheless. 

This book has attachment, relatability, and simplicity, and that’s all you really need to write a great book. Besides the slow start and the one small bit that I mentioned in the above paragraph, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I loved that I was kept on my toes right until the end, and that by that point I had unknowingly fallen in love with the characters so much that I couldn’t help but cry during the final pages. Backman’s writing style is one that I will forever appreciate and enjoy, and I look forward to reading more of his books in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Death, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, Drug use, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infidelity

chrysanthxmum's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Suicide