I made it through about 20% of this before setting it aside. The story just didn't hold my attention, and it was a bit confusing where it was trying to be clever.

As I read the first few pages of this book, I laughed out loud enough times to annoy my husband. And in the last few pages, I cried enough to wet the screen of my Kindle. And in between, I cycled between the two more times than I could count. This story, ostensibly about an ineffectual bank robber who becomes an incompetent hostage-taker, is as kind-hearted as any by Bachman, and just as deeply emotional.

Recounting the plot line or the characters cannot do this book justice. At its heart, it is about coping with the existential angst of modern life, about caring for others more than for oneself, about finding hope in the most hopeless of situations, and ultimately, about relationships and love and how they might provide a reason to live.

Beyond that, all I can say is, “read the book.” It is profound and something that we all need in this particular time of confusion and anxiety.

In Anxious People, Fredrik Backman tells the story of a failed bank robbery and a subsequent hostage situation with the worst hostages ever. At times, I found myself laughing out loud while reading, and at other teams I struggled to hold back tears. Backman’s beautiful writing and character development made me feel connected to each of the characters introduced throughout the story. In Anxious People, Backman created an elaborate puzzle with a unique story that was full of surprises. As the story came to an end the puzzle pieces all fell into place and resulted in a powerful commentary of human connectivity, kindness, and understanding. I immediately wanted to re-read it. I loved this novel, and it is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. I would highly recommend this book to any reader!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just LOVE everything Backman writes. I love his characters, his sense of humor, the way he tells a story. This was a very sweet, sad but also happy story that I just wanted to go on and on!

Best book I've read in 2020 so far. What a fantastic book that subverts everything you think you know from the title and the description blurb.

Thank you Atria books and NetGalley by one of my favorite authors. Put this on your TBR. Twists, humor and heart aches, Backman writes such special characters. Fathers and sons, husbands and wives, wives and wives, widows and single parents, hostages and a bank robbers, and of course police.

Backman has written a wonderful tongue in cheek story that pulls you in from the first page, where the reader is introduced to a bridge that is referred back to many times throughout the story. His writing will make you laugh out loud, feel sadness and despair, and it may even make you cry, but in the end it will give you hope.
A bank robbery gone awry, followed by an hijacked apartment viewing with several "interested" buyers and a bridge that somehow ties them together.
He is a fabulous story teller as demonstrated by his ability to create a story that you can visualize with characters that you feel connected to.

This book was very entertaining and made me laugh and cry in the same sitting. A great read and makes it feel okay for you to be human.

I love Fredrik Backman's writing and his newest novel, Anxious People, did not disappoint! He has such a unique voice for story telling and I want to keep reading, not because it's a thrilling page-turner, but because I just want to soak it all up. Anxious People is a story of a bank robbery, a hostage situation, idiots, and love... or is it?

Trigger Warning: Suicide, suicidal thoughts

Thank you to Negalley, Atria Books, and the Bookish Ladies Club for the advanced electronic copy.

I’ll admit I didn’t get this book in the beginning. However, I kept pushing through and by about 19% I was invested and started to get the humor.
It was very interesting reading a story with such heartfelt heartbreaking emotions and yet for there to be such humor in it. This book made me laugh and made my heart hurt. The part in which we read how the bank robber got into this situation to begin with is so raw and emotional and yet is real. That description of his situation was the first time in one of Backman’s books that I came to really appreciate his way with words and descriptions. There were so many pearls of wisdom and funny anecdotes in this story.
This is a real winner and I’m so happy to have had the chance to read an advanced copy of this book. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do you’ll be glad you read it!

I'm conflicted. A complicated roller-coaster of a book. Clever. Sitcom funny at times, sad and depressing at others. Quirky and, for the most part, unlikable characters. I didn't really like this book, but thought it was brilliantly executed. Thank you to Atria/Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.

One of the best books I have read this year! Fredrik Backman is an amazing storyteller with a great sense of humor. This is a story about a group of people who find themselves being held hostage by an unlikely bank robber. The characters are well developed and hilariously quirky. I really enjoyed the way the author demonstrated how one person’s actions can affect so many others,

Thank you to Fredrik Backman, Atria and Netgalley for this ARC.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman is an entertaining book with a great title! Who can’t relate? The author has a beautiful writing style that I so admire.

And the plot of this is nothing I would, in a million years, be able to come up with myself. I love the distinct personalities and everything that makes each person unique.

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix their own marriage. There’s a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met.

Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion, a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

This book will touch your heart on a deep level with all the feelings and emotions of the characters. Carve out an afternoon to sit and enjoy it.

Coming out very soon! On September 8 it will be available, pre-order here.

Even though the Beartown books made me a Fredrick Backman fan for life, this is only my third book from him. I was a little afraid that no other book could live up to my sky high expectations. And while the Beartown books are still my favorites, Anxious People did not disappoint.

Backman has such a way with words. I am continually blown away by his honest – and humorous and sometimes heart wrenching – description of the human condition. There is no other author that can make me want to laugh and cry in equal measure. This story is about depression, anxiety, and desperation. But it’s also about hope, love, and forgiveness. It’s about idiots. It’s about the thoughts we have in our lowest moments and the reassurance that we are not alone. There was one passage that described my teenage self so accurately, that I really wish there were more books like this back then.

“She isn’t traumatized, she isn’t weighed down by any obvious grief. She’s just sad, all the time. An evil little creature that wouldn’t have shown up on any X-rays was living in her chest, rushing through her blood and filling her head with whispers, saying she wasn’t good enough, that she was weak and ugly and would never be anything but broken…In the end you get exhausted from always tensing the skin around your ribs, never letting your shoulders sink, brushing along walls all your life with white knuckles, always afraid that someone will notice you, because no one’s supposed to do that.”
(Quote taken from ARC, may be different in final version.)

The story is very character driven, and there is quite the quirky cast to get to know. I loved how we learned things about each of them, bit by bit. Characters who might come across a little unlikable at first are given context and background that will make you grow to love them instead. There’s even a twist or two that will keep you on your toes. I will say there were a few times where it felt like things dragged just a little and I wanted to get on with the story, but the character development was still definitely worth it. The story is told in a non-linear way, which could have gotten confusing, but I think Backman handled it really well. I loved the excerpts of the witness interviews most of all.

Overall, I loved Anxious People. Backman’s writing was just as wonderful as I hoped it would be. It was honest and relatable and filled with emotion. It was also laugh out loud funny at times. I definitely recommend this one and am looking forward to going back and reading more of Backman’s backlist.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars

Fredrik Backman writes in a way that charms you and makes you so emotionally attached to the story. This story of a bank robber/hostage drama makes you laugh out loud, while also crying from the sweetest moments. The characters are relatable, making you feel hopeful for their stories. I love the way Fredrik writes with humour, amazing descriptions, and shorter chapters that just make you keep reading. I would recommend this book to any of my friends as it really allows the reader to escape (especially right now with 2020 craziness).

This book was provided by the publisher Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A heartwarming hostage situation seems impossible, and yet Anxious People provides just that. It's funny, earnest, at times touching, and oh so Scandinavian. Great read!

I was really excited to read Backman's new book, since I've loved his other titles. However, this one didn't quite live up to expectation. There was wonderful potential with the plot, but it was never quite realized. There were also some great setups for characters, but the women in particular fall flat and are simply nagging one another. It is still a solid entry from Backman, but far from his best, and unlikely to have the staying power of his other novels.

I can never tire of Backman's books. He always has a way of taking what is current and putting it on paper in a way that is open minded, truthful, and yet humorous.

This book is one of his best in how it helps us to look at all walks of life and dealing with money, family, and our mental health.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give my honest review.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

Fredrik Backman has done it again and I think this will end up being one of my favorite books in 2020. A story about a bank robbery, a hostage situation, a bridge, and so much more. I laughed, I cried and was surprised at a couple twists. Backman devleops the characters so well and connects their stories in a way that makes you stop and reflect on the impact you can have on the people you interact with daily. This quote from Martin Luther in the book, "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree," really makes me think about the choices I make each day.

Will definitely be ordering a copy for the Sweden section of my home library!

Thank you Atria Books for providing me with an ARC of this book. Once again Mr. Backman blows you out of the water touching every part of yourself. This is about a non-bank heist that turns into a non-hostage situation because we are humans that make choices like idiots and how our lives touch so many others without our knowledge with every idiotic choice.
A young boys sees a man getting ready to jump off the bridge and runs to stop it. A couple is getting a divorce and one is asked to leave the apartment, then tries to sue for sole custody of the two kids based on the inability to pay for rent on a new apartment. In desperation, idiotic choices are made and thus we have the book.
I can't say it any better than Fredrik Backman himself, "This was a story about many different things, but most of all about idiots. Because we're doing the best we can, we really are. We're trying to be grown up and love each other and understand how the hell you're supposed to insert USB -leads. We're looking for something to cling onto, something to fight for, something to look forward to. We're doing all we can to teach our children how to swim.. We have all of this in common, yet most of us remain strangers, we never know what we do to each other, how your life is affected by mine. I think this has become my new best book along with all of this others. ...Because when you get home this evening, when this day is over and the night takes us, allow yourself a deep breath. Because we made it through this day as well....There'll be another one along tomorrow."
If this book doesn't show each of us the differences in each personality and that's what makes us wonderful. That we need to make each other laugh so hard we spit food onto the wall. That we need to care about what is happening to each person out there and whether it is the "system" that is causing it our ourselves, we need to make sure it changes.
What a perfect book to read right now during this time of unrest whether health, political or social unrest. You as an individual can make a difference.
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