Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

7 reviews

scmiller's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Pregnancy and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug use, Addiction, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Racism

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.5

I loved this book. As usual, I always recommend people go into Backman’s books totally blind. It makes his books so much more enjoyable and exciting in my opinion. The group of characters were all so unique and well developed and it was really fun to see them all interact and eventually bond. I loved the twists and turns of the plot as well. I would recommend this book as a fun read! As always please read the content warnings!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Cursing, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Death, Chronic illness, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

"This story is about a lot of thing but mostly about idiots.

I feel like the supreme idiot for punishing myself to finish this book.  I thought the characters were irredeemable from the start, regardless of any growth, explanation, or context given for their actions or reactions since they seem only to be annoying caricatures.

Reading this book feels like you are actively getting whiplash since it keeps tugging you in different directions, trying to keep the suspense/mystery.  Because of this it takes forever for anything to happen and it never feels like anything has a natural progression.  It's as if you take one step forward and then two steps back in a halting cadence.

Also, this book suffers from what I will henceforth call: Boomer-Humor.  To elaborate, any chance to make a disparaging remark about the youths (TM) it is taken.  This is all mixed in with the attempt to have meaningful personal stories about grief, loss, addiction, suicide (ideation/attempts) and tie it all up into one interconnected comedic bow, and in the end it is a jumbled repetitive mass of knots.

I thoroughly disliked this book.  I will never read anything else from this author.  I did not enjoy their prose, their humor, their character-building...  No redeeming qualities.  It was not for me.  I can see where there would be some people who would like it, but I was not one of them.

Also, because I was curious -
Number of times the word idiot is used in the book: 60
Number of times Stockholm is used in the book: 74

This book takes place in Sweden, but not Stockholm.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Classism, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Dementia, and Gaslighting

polpolpolulu's review against another edition

funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

This was such a unique read. I loved how the story line was met with the notes from the police interviews. I liked the amount of characters and how all of them had a story to share. This book touches on the hardships of life in many ways which makes this book relatable to a vast group of people. I think en everyone should read this book at least once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Chronic illness, and Gun violence

lorinew1's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

readerette's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. It jumps around between characters and to some extent time (sometimes a decade back and forth, but mostly over the course of this one particular day). If you are bothered by either literary device I'd still suggest giving this book a try. So many poignant moments, from laugh-out-loud to heart-wrenching. Follow closely and don't make too many assumptions--I made my fair share and was pleasantly surprised to be redirected (so maybe do make assumptions, haha). The writing is deft, the story relatable, the characters delightfully (almost maddeningly) quirky, and the way things turn out is just sweet (if a bumpy ride to get there). It's possible some of the characters' comments about homosexuality/homosexual people will not go over well--to me they felt well-meaning for the characters making the comments, and not flagrantly disrespectful, but I can see how the comments could be offensive, so fair warning.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

marsbar513's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Death

Minor: Kidnapping, Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness