Scan barcode
A review by book_bound
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
2.0
I am surprised at how I felt about this book. I have read most of everything by Backman, and I usually devour them and cry my eyes out. However, there were a few story/writing pet peeves of mine in this story that I simply couldn't convince myself to continue. It is objectively a decent story, but the book and I didn't get along really. This is honestly a ME problem and not the book's problem. Here is everything that personally annoyed me:
1. The back and forth between past and present. I have ALWAYS detested books that structure the plot this way. It feels like the plot is slow, and I'm being dragged through the story at a snail's pace. Nothing seems to happen at the same time I'm still turning the pages. Not my favorite story structure to say the least.
2. The characters and dialogue - which are usually separate items but they worked in tandem here. They were simply just exhausting to read. The police officer would ask a simple question, "What's your name?", and the characters would be annoyingly insufferable and delay their response. I admire when an author can make me like an unlikable character, but I couldn't find any redeeming qualities of them in the time that I read.
3. Too many things happening - there was a bank robbery, a mystery, a police interview, a house viewing, flashbacks, a deep look into 8 characters (?), and social commentary. It was just overly complicated in my opinion even with not loving the execution of the plot.
1. The back and forth between past and present. I have ALWAYS detested books that structure the plot this way. It feels like the plot is slow, and I'm being dragged through the story at a snail's pace. Nothing seems to happen at the same time I'm still turning the pages. Not my favorite story structure to say the least.
2. The characters and dialogue - which are usually separate items but they worked in tandem here. They were simply just exhausting to read. The police officer would ask a simple question, "What's your name?", and the characters would be annoyingly insufferable and delay their response. I admire when an author can make me like an unlikable character, but I couldn't find any redeeming qualities of them in the time that I read.
3. Too many things happening - there was a bank robbery, a mystery, a police interview, a house viewing, flashbacks, a deep look into 8 characters (?), and social commentary. It was just overly complicated in my opinion even with not loving the execution of the plot.