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A review by nothingforpomegranted
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
4.75
Perhaps more than any other author, I trust Fredrik Backman to play with my emotions in the most profound, moving, heartbreaking, wonderful way. Without fail, I fall in love with his characters from the first ten pages, and I rush to keep turning the pages to stay immersed in their world.
Anxious People is rife with sarcasm and fourth-wall breaking, a characteristic Backman style that makes me laugh as often as it makes me cry.
This is a story about a bank robbery or a hostage crisis or the love between a father and son or trauma or idiocy or grief or falling in love or a simple Swedish bridge. In reality, it is a story about all of the above and more, beginning with a nameless bank robber who didn't intend to be a bank robber and certainly didn't intend to crash an apartment viewing and hold eight people hostage. As the narrative goes on, Backman intersperses memories from ten years ago, inhabiting the perspectives of the bank robber, the hostages, and the father-and-son police team investigating the case, and it's just clean and meaningful and beautiful.
Anxious People is rife with sarcasm and fourth-wall breaking, a characteristic Backman style that makes me laugh as often as it makes me cry.
This is a story about a bank robbery or a hostage crisis or the love between a father and son or trauma or idiocy or grief or falling in love or a simple Swedish bridge. In reality, it is a story about all of the above and more, beginning with a nameless bank robber who didn't intend to be a bank robber and certainly didn't intend to crash an apartment viewing and hold eight people hostage. As the narrative goes on, Backman intersperses memories from ten years ago, inhabiting the perspectives of the bank robber, the hostages, and the father-and-son police team investigating the case, and it's just clean and meaningful and beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy