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lukekono 's review for:
Anxious People
by Fredrik Backman
✒︎3.5 stars
I was not a big fan of A Man Called Ove, so I was really hoping to connect to a different Backman book. While I enjoyed this, my feelings are not overwhelming positive like so many others.
Anxious People is a hostage story, a bank robbery gone wrong, a story about a bridge, and so many other things. Essentially, a man attempts to rob a bank without realizing that it is in fact a cashless bank. Upon realizing his mistake, the bank robber runs into an apartment viewing nearby to evade the police. Here is where the hostage drama starts, and the book really kicks off.
While this book does mostly follow the robbery and the hostage situation that takes place, Anxious People is really about mental health, suicide, and the basic complexities of our lives as people. All of the characters have interesting dynamics with each other that are carefully explored throughout the book. Each character has depth, and a story that is told within the foundation of the overarching hostage situation. This book explores how there's always more under the surface of the people we meet than we may realize, and that things may not always be as they seem.
Generally, I really enjoyed Backman's writing. It's just the right balance of funny, quirky, philosophical, and touching. The plot of this book was also (mostly) a lot of fun to read. There was a little mystery incorporated in the plot that helped keep things going. There were also timeline changes and some little twists here and there that made the book hard to put down. The story was very character driven, rather than plot, which I enjoyed, but at times I felt as though the dialogue dragged on, and I could feel myself becoming more bored than anything else. While I enjoyed Backman's writing and the characters connections with eachother, I also felt as though the dialogue was off at times- unrealistic, almost. I understand that the characters were meant to come across as "stupid" but I found some of them to be incredibly annoying. Backman attempted to make us connect to these characters, but I just couldn't get past my grievances with them. (I guess I missed the point of the book.) Not sure if there's a huge cultural difference between the U.S. and Sweden, or if something was lost in translation, but I couldn't get over how absurd some of the lines of dialogue were.
Although I have my critiques, I will say that the ending hit me really hard and I even teared up a bit. The messaging of this book is very heartwarming, and I can't deny that.
I was not a big fan of A Man Called Ove, so I was really hoping to connect to a different Backman book. While I enjoyed this, my feelings are not overwhelming positive like so many others.
Anxious People is a hostage story, a bank robbery gone wrong, a story about a bridge, and so many other things. Essentially, a man attempts to rob a bank without realizing that it is in fact a cashless bank. Upon realizing his mistake, the bank robber runs into an apartment viewing nearby to evade the police. Here is where the hostage drama starts, and the book really kicks off.
While this book does mostly follow the robbery and the hostage situation that takes place, Anxious People is really about mental health, suicide, and the basic complexities of our lives as people. All of the characters have interesting dynamics with each other that are carefully explored throughout the book. Each character has depth, and a story that is told within the foundation of the overarching hostage situation. This book explores how there's always more under the surface of the people we meet than we may realize, and that things may not always be as they seem.
Generally, I really enjoyed Backman's writing. It's just the right balance of funny, quirky, philosophical, and touching. The plot of this book was also (mostly) a lot of fun to read. There was a little mystery incorporated in the plot that helped keep things going. There were also timeline changes and some little twists here and there that made the book hard to put down. The story was very character driven, rather than plot, which I enjoyed, but at times I felt as though the dialogue dragged on, and I could feel myself becoming more bored than anything else. While I enjoyed Backman's writing and the characters connections with eachother, I also felt as though the dialogue was off at times- unrealistic, almost. I understand that the characters were meant to come across as "stupid" but I found some of them to be incredibly annoying. Backman attempted to make us connect to these characters, but I just couldn't get past my grievances with them. (I guess I missed the point of the book.) Not sure if there's a huge cultural difference between the U.S. and Sweden, or if something was lost in translation, but I couldn't get over how absurd some of the lines of dialogue were.
Although I have my critiques, I will say that the ending hit me really hard and I even teared up a bit. The messaging of this book is very heartwarming, and I can't deny that.