Anxious People: The No. 1 New York Times bestseller, now a Netflix TV Series Paperback – 19 Aug. 2021

The unusual narrative style of this story was arresting from the start – with characters deliberately obfuscated and obfuscating – and it was a little startling for the first few pages as I was trying to get a feel for who everyone was and what was happening, but it didn’t take long for the rambling, conversational style of the narration to become one of my favourite things about this book.Other favourite things included the humour, the pathos, the initially ridiculous but eventually incredibly relatable character, the riddle-in-a-mystery-in-an-enigma plot that felt so intricate and interconnected and yet was somehow very easy to read… everything really. One minute I was laughing at the silly police interview dialogue and the next I was nodding enthusiastically at a description of the difficulties of adulthood and its many responsibilities.The coincidences in the plot are not meant to be believable or realistic, but they make for a very satisfyingly neat finale and are balanced by the realism of the pain, worries and fears of the small cast of characters. The story hangs around a banking system and a bridge, but its heart is the despair and kindness of ordinary, everyday people.This is one of those books that made me immediately seek out everything else the author has written to add them to my wish-list and also create a mental list of people in my life that I need to buy copies for as soon as possible (three so far, and counting!)I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a unique, people-centred locked-room mystery that really gets how hard modern life can be for all sorts of different people and reasons.

Really enjoyed this unusual book. Lots of layers unpeel, lots of truths and untruths, lots of insights into people’s characters. Comical in some ways but quite sad in others. Worth a read

Another amazingly insightful novel by Fredrik Backman covering so many emotions. At times hilarious at others irritating and everything in between. A story of a failed bank robbery and hostage situation which looks deeply at the lives of the hostages and what binds them together other than being hostages. A very sensitively written but hugely entertaining tale.

I often love reading the work of Frederick Backman, first encountering his world in Grandmother sends her regards. The best thing about this book is the plot, which I think is quite a new venture for Backman but still manages to convey his usual messages and style. Kudos to that! The theme of mental illness and the consequences of that are also quite powerfully conveyed. However, despite some of the heart-rending and heart-warming moments and issues that really hit home for me, I have a couple of issues with this book. Firstly, the storylines and ultimate ending or endings are quite predictable, if you have read enough book by this author. It’s always about dysfunctional family, love and always always death and grief. I wish he would consider writing a book without any mention of death for once in the future, so it wouldn’t get so tedious over the time. Secondly, it gets so bogged down with all the political and ‘diversity’ statement to the point of being an overkill. Sure the author is most probably a fierce advocate for these people, but a story shouldn’t always be about what the author thinks, but how it might reflect the society and what other people actually think. Maybe for once he could leave immigration and stuff like that alone. Or maybe it’s just a Swedish thing, I don’t know. It just feels like everything he says, he is trying to make some sort of statement somehow, and regardless of my views on those issues, I find them to interfere too much with the story. Overall, I would still say that this book, like many of Backman’s books, is worth a read.

I loved this book, the characters came alive to me, as Fredriks characters consistently do. A pleasurable read. Thank you.

Book 6 of 2023 finished 14/1/24 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️A bank robbery goes wrong and in the process of escaping the bank robber runs into an apartment which is being viewed by prospective buyers. The bank robber now has a hostage situation and isn’t sure how to get out of this.Now the police are interviewing the hostages to try to discover where the vanishing bank robber has gone.Each of the hostages have their own stories to tell and we learn that even strangers can have an impact on other people’s lives.My thoughts: The book talks about anxiety and depression in an honest and relatable way. The heavy topics are written with such a balance of light hearted moments that this doesn’t feel like a ‘heavy’ read.My favourite element of this book was the discussion surrounding how far parents would go for their children. The backstory of the bank robber and Jim as parents made me really think about what I would do in their situation.I’m not a huge fan of timeline jumps and that is reflected in my rating. However, I was completely hooked to this story and desperately needed to know how the story ended.

All the characters are so beautifully written, each with their own flaws and quirks.The story is surprising, very funny at times and deeply poignant at others and the way they are brought together and how they affect each other is so skillfully done.This author is new to me and I am delighted that he has written other books for me to explore. I wonder if I will love them as much as this one?

Took a little while to get into but there were some really beautiful phrases that will stick with me for a long time.