Review: Anxious People

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A witty tale of a bank robbery turning into a hostage situation with a motley crew of hostages.

I been doing quite a bit of Fredrik Backman and I think this one takes the cake in terms of wit and smart writing (smart translation I guess). A bumbling bank robber ends up taking an apartment viewing session into a hostage crisis and comes across a very interesting set of people. The bank robber then vanishes into thin air. The rest of the story follows the police investigation and interviews interspersed with back stories of each individual and also flashbacks into the hostage crisis.

Fredrik leverages a very unique structure to his writing in this novel, sort of prodding the mind to work harder as the structure isn't the linear storytelling narrative you'd expect. He captures such heavy subjects such as depression, loneliness, disappointment in a very thought provoking but light manner. This would make a perfect sitcom as he so wonderfully depicted the quirkiness of each of the characters involved adding flesh to all of them through the book whilst bordering at the edge of absurdity.

A nice fun feel good read with some twists and turns and a lot of quirkiness all packaged in a smartly written piece.

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