Best Backman yet. Original plot and such great layered characters. Starts out a bit quirky but ended with so much depth. Loved it!

My world, why have I not read Backman before. I am an idiot!
Words can not describe how much I absolutely adore this book. It touched my soul and made me cry (well, sob). I laughed, too, in that "omg, I totally relate" way. This was soulful, honest, meaningful. I've never had a book describe anxiety and panic attacks in such a perfectly accurate way.

This is a book about.. people. Life. Mistakes. Bridges, apartments, homes. Strangers, lovers, friends, people seemingly not connected and yet tangled together.

I love this book. Read it.

This book was fascinating! Fredrik Backman is a favorite, yet this was different than his other novels. But it worked! At the beginning I wasn't sure what was happening, but I became so invested. Sometimes when there are so many characters, it's easy to get lost. However, Backman wrote this in a way that each character had a unique voice and it wasn't difficult. I was honestly sad when this was over because I needed to keep following their lives. If the idea of a bank robbery doesn't interest you, please know, that's not really what this book is about. I would love to read a sequel!

I'm Fredrick Backman's biggest fan, and whenever I pick up another one of his books I don't think it could be better than the last, but I'm always stunned. He has such a beautiful way of telling a story and connecting characters in ways you wouldn't expect but always make the most sense in the end.

<i>Anxious People</i> is an incredible story of forgiveness, friendship, and people who are just doing the best they can (and all get caught up in a hostage situation -- kind of).

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this opportunity to review this book.

The title alone makes me anxious, haha!

Love the writing style of Fredrik Backman. Was enjoyable.

What a special story about human connection that made me think and most importantly it made me feel all of the feelings.

Backman does it again! This book was amazing! I love the real, down to earth characters. The plot has you feeling all of the emotions!

So disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this more. Could not appreciate the quirky writing style or storyline.

The bank robber isn't really evil. After being turned down for a loan, they just want enough money to make the rent so they don't lose their apartment and their daughters in the divorce settlement. But it doesn't go well. The bank they chose was a moneyless bank and had no cash. Fleeing, the robber ran into an apartment building next door and ended up in a top floor apartment where there was a real estate listing. Running in with a gun probably gave the wrong impression and before they knew it, they had an apartment full of hostages.
They are the worst hostages ever. There is a retired couple that spends their lives buying apartments, renovating them and reselling them. A gay couple is about to have a baby. There is a rich woman who thinks she is better than all of them. There is an older woman patiently waiting on her husband who is parking the car. There is even a man who is mostly nude with a rabbit head who takes jobs scaring off potential buyers. Each has their individual stories and problems which puts them at odds with the others.

Then there are the police. The pair that are handling the situation are father and son. The son is full of modern ideas and thinks his father is holding him back. The father loves his son and isn't sure what to do at work with him. As the situation develops, it may provide an avenue for the two to find some peace.

This novel got lots of buzz. It was a Book Of The Month Selection and chosen by various media outlets such as the Washington Post, CNN, the New York Post and others. The characters are well developed and the plot which at the beginning seems to be a lot of tangled threads ends up well-knit into a satisfying conclusion. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

this book was a pleasant surprise. it didn't initially grip me but it gets better as it goes. there was so much well thought out nonsense. i love how the characters grew to be their own family at the end. i can definitely see why this book gets so much love. so heartwarming.

This was a great book. It kept my attention. I look forward to stocking it in my classroom library. I love Backman's writing. He is skilled at developing characters so that readers grow to love them. Additionally, the beginning of the book was action-packed and piques the reader's interest, which is perfect for the classroom.

This was my first Backman novel and I definitely will be reading his other work.

It took me a little while to get into the groove of this novel - there were many characters and plot jumps that felt a little difficult to wrap my head around at first, but all made sense when they fell into place later on in the novel.

I greatly appreciated the writing style with so many brilliant quotes and nuggets of wisdom throughout the novel. I especially enjoyed the insights on parent-child relationships, particularly for children of divorce.

Overall, this was a lovely novel that is profound and hopeful but not in an excessively cheesy way. I think everyone could find something that they can relate to in this one, which for me made it even more of a special read.

This book was fantastic! the characters were lovable, human, and doing the best they could. It is about a bank robbery a bit but mostly about relationships, friendships, connection, love, and all how we treat others. Fredrik Backman is by far my favorite and this book kept him at the top for me. A must read!

It took me a while to get into this, but about a third of the way in, I couldn't put it down. This is classic Backman and a heartwarming, thoughtful read. Recommended!

It is the day before New Year's Eve and the perpetrator of a botched bank robbery has taken hostages at an apartment viewing in a small Swedish town. After police surround the building and hostages are released, law enforcement storms the apartment only to find it empty and covered in blood. What happened in the hours of the tense hostage situation? How did the bank robber vanish from an apartment under police surveillance?
In typical Fredrik Backman, the author creates a complex set of characters whose lives intertwine in many surprising twist. The story possesses the same humor that the author has brought to many of his other books. I enjoyed being repeatedly thwarted every time I thought I had the mystery figured out. Backman lover's will not be disappointed.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#AnxiousPeople #NetGalley

Backman's books normally touch my heart and I weep. Anxious People did not do that. My book group read it. It is different. than his other works which are fab.

Like all of his books, this one made you laugh and made you think. He's just a master of showing us the inner thinking of a person.

I've never been disappointed in Backman's books and never will be.

This book had me hooked immediately. I laughed, I cried, and I thought about what I was reading, even when I wasn’t reading it. Another superb book from an amazingly talented author!

A bank robbery gone wrong, a man jumping off a bridge years before, and a hostage situation. They don't seem like they all go together but in Anxious People they do. Anxious People is the newest release, well in the US, from Fredrick Backman. It follows a group of people going chaotically at times back and forth in time, but everything comes together by the end. Just like other other works of Backman it's touching but very character driven so you have to stay with it.

This was a pick for my latest book club and I know it didn't resonate with everyone. I personally was a fan of it. It helps to show the small ways we interact with each other can have big impacts on another's life, even without us knowing it. The cast of characters were loveable even if they didn't want to be, I'm looking at you Zara. It's a slow paced novel that devoured bit by bit over a few days. I hope if you decide to pick up Anxious People you'll enjoy it as much, if not more.

I received a digital e-galley from Atria and Netgalley but read my physical copy, which I purchased.

It only figures that one of loveliest, most thought-provoking books I read this year would not even have any kissing in it. A failed bank robbery turns into a comical hostage stalemate at an open house, but when the hostages are eventually released, the robber is nowhere to be found. Through police interviews and flashbacks, we get to know not only the quirky hostages, but also the two policemen trying to solve the case, and as more and more puzzle pieces curiously fit together, we realise that nothing is what it seems. We begin to piece together a breathtaking tale of life, love, death, marriage, parenthood, and compassion. Packed with both moments of laugh-out-loud humour and heart-piercing honesty, I found myself having to put this book down more than once, desperate to fully absorb each scene and process the sheer genius of it all. Fredrik Backman is a true wonder, a brilliant storyteller and a keen observer of human nature, and this book is the rarest of gems. And the audiobook is simply stellar.