Funny, witty, heart warming with elements of surprise that pique your curiosity – Fredrik Backman has it all in this extremely enjoyable book that translates into many hours of happy reading. Anxious People is not just a light hearted fiction, it’s real win stands in teaching us some invaluable lessons of life, without actually preaching them.
The book is alternating between three stories – a suicide off a bridge, a prevented suicide off the same bridge & a failed robbery turning into a hostage drama. It is fascinating to read is how the three stories gradually turn out to be intertwined.
The setting of the book – an apartment viewing – where all the action is – it is an interesting & unusual premise, allowing the author to play around with so many different characters, each with unique defining traits – finding themselves locked together in this situation. The sequence of events that follow make for an enjoyable & light hearted read. The book was packed with some extremely funny situations & conversations that are sure to have you in splits. An irritating estate agent, an interfering father always causing unintentional trouble for his son or an irritated, rash, snobbish & blunt Zara – they all provide for some very enjoyable moments, sure thing. The book was full of small little secrets & surprises, the envelop that Zara hasn’t opened for years or the surprise identity of the robber.
Fredrik Backman’s wacky writing style is another thing working for this book. He uses a unique style of “contradiction” or “irony” at many places which is absolutely refreshing and funny all the same. The interviews of the witnesses were specially hilarious to say the least.
It actually is touching how an apartment viewing can be a way for an elderly person to spend their days and fight their loneliness. Anxious People shows in such a subtle manner how, just a little time together can culminate into friendship & relations for life. It probably is the situation that we find ourselves in with others which can translate into beautiful relations. It is just such a happy feeling to see all things falling into place perfectly, and everyone being happy at the end.
The takeaway from the book for me is “hope”. We all have our problems, we all have our worries. For an old lady, probably loneliness. For a parent, being with & providing for your children. For a person who unintentionally fell into wronging someone, the guilt. This book gives abundance of hope – you never know at which moment of life and in what form God comes to help you out of your worries. The most unexpected people could become your biggest assets in life. Who amongst these people would have thought an apartment viewing could bring them this? The old Estelle gets a family to spend her remaining life with. The distraught parent and the children get a home. Zara is relieved of the guilt she was carrying for years. What’s more, having alienated herself into this dry person over the years, even she finds someone she would be with in her days to come. So in the end, just hang in there – good times are always round the corner.
From amongst some beautiful quotes that this book was laced with – “What we do for the weakest amongst us, we also do for Him”.
Some more feel good books of interest that are worth a read A Town Called Solace (Mary Lawson), The Village Inn Of Secret Dreams, The Village Shop For Lonely Hearts