A review by crazygoangirl
The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman

funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

Have read Backman after a couple of years. This one is a short story, but packs a punch! It’s a powerfully effective parody of modern society. Through Lucas and his neighbours in an apartment building and ‘a pile of garbage’, Backman provides an in-depth and incisive social commentary on the times we live in and the people we have turned into because of them. The situations are familiar, humorous, frustrating, annoying and oddly satisfying! They feel universal to the human condition, by which I mean, they could be set anywhere and probably in any time where & when humans exist.

As always in Backman’s books, there’s minimal judgment. Just a bunch of people trying to figure out how to navigate the world and find happiness or in Backman’s words, trying to be not-unhappy!