[Book Review] Anxious People | by Fredrik Backman

[Book Review] Anxious People | by Fredrik Backman

5/5 Stars!

Much like all the books of Backman’s that I’ve read, I was immediately pulled into the rich tapestry of characters presented within this beautifully simple and wholly complex story; characters that had me laughing when I would have otherwise been crying; characters that left me spellbound in the unique and colorful ways they had of speaking and seeing the world around them; characters full of spite or competition or ugliness that shone so truthfully, but not so overwhelmingly, that I found myself smiling at them in support nonetheless, accepting them for their flaws and their beauties equally.

This is a novel about conversation, about the myriad stories of everyday people, and the routines and daily operations found within. (Well, except for the dramatic background of being held at gunpoint…but then, the author brilliantly leaves the reader wondering…is that really so unbelievable, even for everyday people anyway?) This is a story about the swapping back-and-forth, the comparison and competition of strangers talking to one another, and learning things about themselves along the way. The conversations aren’t tales of the exceptional. They’re the stories of the common, the ordinary and relatable: stories of falling in love and desperately trying to stay that way, confessions of deep well-shared kinds of pain, moments of quiet or even loud cries of desperation. They’re conversations about those facets which seem petty and mundane on the surface.

And yet, woven together, these stories become remarkable, poignant— for the romance living so subtly inside trips to a store, or the love threaded in the grumblings about a partner’s ever-revolving hobbies. They become beautiful in their discovery of sameness and bonding between seemingly conflicting personalities and goals. It’s a story of messy resentments, failures, quiet hopes, and un-squashable try.

This is a book about big moments in small statements. Big moves in quiet steps. People meeting, bonding, and continuing on, forever changed because of those interactions. Not necessarily different or better, just dimensional.

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