If you are interested in complex characters, author Fredrik Backman’s novels are always a worthwhile read. Ranging from heartwarming to heartbreaking, his books inspire a reader to think a little deeper about what it means to be human. Through his sometimes slow-moving but deeply engaging plots, he shows you over and over again that everyone and anyone is more than they appear.
The way he reveals the depth of the characters in his stories always feels just a little bit profound. Often their stories are revealed piece by piece, sometimes through lengthy dialogue or sometimes through one simple sentence that stands all on its own, in its attempt to surprise us and make us look at people with a little more compassion, curiosity, and empathy.
A Review of Anxious People
I found Anxious People to be one of the more predictable novels by author Fredrik Backman. However, I can’t tell you for sure if that is due more to the content of the story or to the way I’ve been slowly getting to know this author through his writing since I fell in love with the first book I read by him. (Though, to be fair, when I talk about predictability it’s only about certain key outcomes and “twists.” There are several details that come out over the course of the narrative no one would ever predict ever.)
Anxious People is the story of a group of people, some strangers and some family. Each person is, at first glance, totally different from the rest. However, the circumstances of a failed bank robbery, an accidental hostage situation, and the subsequent police investigation force those involved to face the commonalities between them.
This story is about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots. So it needs saying from the outset that it’s always very easy to declare that other people are idiots, but only if you forget how idiotically difficult being human is.
Fredrik Backman, Anxious People
This is a story for when you’re maybe feeling hopeless, and you need to be reminded that other people feel that way too sometimes. Not for when you’re feeling too much hopelessness though – trigger warning – this book mentions suicide frequently. (If you do end up picking up this book and that discussion of suicide proves to be a lot for you, please flip to the end, just after the last page of the story, and contact one of the help hotlines written there.)
This book is also a lot about love. The romantic kind of love features, both newly found and already lost, in couples young and old. It features the devoted love between a parent and child, a love that makes making sacrifices for the other easy. And, it’s about contemplating your life’s decisions and wondering if you’re good enough, or even a good person at all.
Go read it!
I would highly recommend reading Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, along with all his other books! I found it a very enjoyable read and found myself invested in the outcome for the characters. There are plenty of characters to root for as well as learn from and the plot itself is engaging and unique.