A review by mmccombs
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

This is my first non-Beartown Backman and now I know to always expect sweet, often corny, detailed, and moving accounts of how we belong to and owe each other, even if we are complete strangers. Though I feel like the title of this book makes no sense given the content so I didn’t anticipate what this would be about, I found this to be equally propulsive (ooh a mystery!) and cozy (ooh people hanging out and talking about their stories!). I love Backman’s style of talking about “us” while also talking specifically about a character, stretching the POV into the past, present, and future all at once, I think he is an expert at making a unique experience (and a very strange one at that in this case!) into something that captures universal truths. Everyone we meet has a life full of problems and joys and history, and when we brush up against each other we may be lucky enough to find the little connections that make our lives just a bit fuller, too. Just a pleasure to read!
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