Anxious People is a standalone novel by Fredrik Backman.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about this book, people love it or hate it. They are either on board the Backman train or they aren’t.
I can honestly say I don’t fall into either group. It took me a long time to get hooked, but the chapters are short enough and the premise is interesting enough to keep you turning the pages. It’s not bad.
There were a couple things I didn’t like about the book in the beginning; one, none of the characters were likeable, and two, hardly anyone had any names.
That second thing is intentional, no names are provided because you’re not supposed to know who the bank robber is. It can get a little confusing at who is telling the story, because it’s narrated by someone outside of the book. Most of the time, the chapters are told from the perspective of one of the characters, but there is a little bit of head-hopping which is a pet peeve of mine.
Having said that, the head-hopping is almost passable because of the underlying narration – since we know the story is being told to us by someone outside of the story itself, the author gets away with this writing fail.
Moving on to the likes…
There’s Actually a Lot to Like About Anxious People
The characters grow on you. They start off unlikeable, but by the end of the story you are rooting for all of them.
The novel revolves around two cops, two couples, two single women, a bank robber, a realtor, a psychiatrist, and a rabbit. There are also small characters: a bank teller and a negotiator that deserve mentioning as well.
I might have to go back to read the beginning again because otherwise there’s a part at the end that doesn’t make sense to me. Without giving away spoilers, I will just say that I don’t understand the bank teller in the end. I feel like there’s a plot hole. The timeline doesn’t make sense because there’s no way the bank teller could be in the beginning of the novel, and again at the end.
Confusing? Well, read the book and you’ll see what I mean.
Aside from that one plot hole – which I’m only calling a hole because I feel like I missed something… maybe it’s an issue with the reader only, that can happen… anyway, aside from that, I liked how the majority of characters were connected.
I also loved the use of “Stockholmers” and how this term meant different things to different people… and one character uses the word to mean different things in the same conversation… and you have to figure out what she means. It’s entertaining.
I recommend this read, if you’re looking for something fast and light. Keep in mind that the characters are all obnoxious and overly difficult in the beginning, but if you can stay with the book, they do turn around.
If you’ve read Anxious People, or any other novel by Fredrik Backman, let me know what you think over in the Facebook group.
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