A frying pan ruined Lucas’s life.
Fredrick Backman knows how to write genuine characters with witty dialogue that will have you laughing, interactions that will have you smiling and clapping at the sincerity and reality, a heartfelt message that leaves you feeling both lighthearted and heavy.

Lucas ‘s favourite word is no. He would rather keep to himself, play video games, and eat pad thai. His happiness and peace is shattered when the apartment’s board members inform him there is a stray frying pan abandoned next to the recycling room. Lucas does something he never does and makes a suggestion. Something that sets a mountain of rubbish, relationships, and revelations tumbling.

<b>Lucas opens the door with the defeated manner of a sausage that dressed itself up as a carrot to avoid being eaten by a bear, only to be found by a rabbit.
</b>
This was sweet.
Cynical, funny, with apt insights into humanity.

Audiobooks arc gifted by Brilliance Publishing.

Backman can do no wrong and this audio shirt story is no exception. His characters always feel so real. The narrator did a great job.

This was a silly, goofy little good time. I am not familiar enough with this author’s writing to know if this kind of humor is his usual writing style, but I’m not mad at it.

This is far fetched and ridiculous, but very self aware of those facts. The characters are all so extra, the things they say, do, and care about are extra (except our poor protagonist), and if you suspend your expectations of reality, this is an absolutely FUN time.

A man who just wants to be left alone finds himself directly in the center of a junk pile debacle in his apartment building. As things progress with this mysterious pile of discarded items, he is pushed further and further out of his comfort zone and closer to community…

One quote I will share was so silly and unhinged. It takes place while multiple characters are debating the necessity of peanuts in Pad Thai…

“I usually keep my peanuts next to a jar of peanut butter… so they understand what I’m capable of.”

This line had me in stitches, especially in the context. So silly. IYKYK!!

Not one of Backman's best, but I still enjoyed it.

It was still full of the absurdity and silliness that makes his books so joyful and memorable.

I liked the main character; I found him very relatable in his disdain for other people. Haha. I also loved the scene where he was talking with the city official and they kept going around and around about what was plausible versus reality. Haha. I've had many discussions with people that were very similar to this one (sadly).

This will never make the list of my favorite Backman books, and it missed the mark on the heartwarming and tear-jerking his books usually provide. But still. A quick, enjoyable little short story that lightens the mood and makes you smile.

the setup…
Lucas is a happy man. He lives alone, works from home and doesn’t have to consider anybody else’s opinions about dinner, plans for the evening or their feelings. Tonight his perfect evening will be video games, wine and pad Thai, all from his comfy chair. But then his doorbell rings and he opens it to three members from his HOA board who demand to see his frying pan. If he’d just said “no.”

the heart of the story…
Lucas decided to do something different…offer help…and he paid dearly for it. Here it is a homeowners association but what happens next could just as well occur in any office, work or social environment where people have to come together to solve a problem. It’s a brilliant parody of all that and is just as much an indictment on modern society’s need for pack mentality approaches to forming truths and opinions. It’s hilarious but you also want to cry as it’s clearly a hole we’re currently operating in.

the narration…
Stacy Gonzalez delivers a stellar performance in telling this story with a “straight face.” She adeptly embraces the absurdities as if they really makes sense, pulling me into the nonsense.

the bottom line…
I was shaking my head as Lucas stepped deeper into the quagmire of life outside his apartment door. So much of it rang true to life and being on the outside of it just made me feel more despair. I’ve been there and so have you. Yes, it’s really funny…it’s also a modern tragedy that I fear we may never dig out of thanks to social media’s dangerous influence. Backman effectively captures the human condition.

It's hard to believe this is my first time reading one of Fredrik Backman's books. His books have been collecting dust on my TBR shelf for as long as I can remember, and I've read many Backman-adjacent books, and saw the Tom Hanks film based on Ove, but I've never gotten around to reading Backman in his own words. This book, I think, was the perfect way to break the seal.

As a moderately reclusive and admittedly curmudgeonly millennial, I enjoyed Lucas's idiosyncrasies and his complete inability to understand the inane fixations of the social creatures around him. Backman's style, thick with wit and sarcasm, quick to point out the absurd, is easily recognizable-- even as someone who only knows of his work and has not, in fact, read his work previously. So often, these Amazon shorts feel like halfhearted money grabs, abandoned ideas writers have dredged up from their own slush piles and rushed off to make a buck, but this one feels professional and polished, and it's easily one of the best ones I've read.

This was actually pretty funny! It's so short, but it honestly felt like a whole story.
When it started, I didn't think I was going to like it, but I really got caught up in the drama of the "pile."
Lucas lives in a building where a junk pile starts. He doesn't care, he just wants to live his life by himself and have everyone leave him alone. The board of the building (3 individuals who are hilariously insane) get involved and after Lucas suggests they just throw the initial item (a pan) away (to which the board members say no, the individual needs to be held accountable), and then suggests that the culprit may be someone who has a new pan, the board appoints him the leader of finding out who keeps adding to this junk pile because of his good ideas.
Lucas is so relatable. He just wants to be left alone to his job, his food, and his video games. You can tell the interactions with the board and his neighbors are so stressful. The neighbors are funny and the board is ridiculous. The board keeps coming to Lucas with the craziest things (at one point they are upset with him because he has unknowingly started a cult around this junk pile) and I just could never guess what they were going to come up with next.
The audiobook narrator was great. It was a female despite the main character being a male, but she had a pleasant and believable "man voice" and she just made me so invested.
Overall, I think this is one of the most enjoyable short stories I have read. It felt whole and wrapped up well.

I actually got the ebook version of this book for First Reads but I saw netgalley had the audiobook version so I went for it! I absolutely love Fredrik Backman’s books! I read Beartown for the first time last month and I was completely hooked. His writing captivated me. This one was good but a different vibe for sure!

The narrator did a good job making this story come to life. This book is actually really funny. It had me laughing several times throughout. It’s a short story so it’s really quick and easy. It’s definitely thought provoking which seems to be Fredrik Backman’s vibe. I found myself relating to how annoyed the MC was feeling throughout the book. He just wants peace in his life and I felt that. 😂Give it a try if you want to read something that doesn’t take much commitment to finish!

Thank you so much to @netgalley , @brilliancepublishing and @backmansk for the opportunity to do this ALC!

At just under 2 hours, this is a quick, but ridiculous (in a good way) read.

Our protagonist just wants to be left alone in his apartment so he can play a video game and eat pad thai (with extra peanuts) and yet he keeps getting roped into nonsense from other people who live in the building.

It made me chuckle… and crave pad thai.

Stacy Gonzalez does a great job with the audiobook narration.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Brilliance Publishing, Brilliance Audio, and Amazon Original Stories in exchange for an honest review.

“If you ask people what they think, they start thinking and that’s how war starts.”

Backman does such a good job of developing personalities within his characters. You will feel like you personally know them. In fact I’m betting you’ll definitely know at least one person who reminds you of each of his characters (that goes for pretty much all of his books).

The narrator selected for this book wa sa perfect fit.

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗙...

🙅You want a better understanding of what traditional pad thai is
🚫You have an aversion to HOA types
🙅You’d rather be playing video games
🚫You like differentiation between a pile, a hill and a mountain
🙅People exhaust you
🚫If you like heated debates about whether or not angels are real

If you liked A Man Called Ove, you’ll like this one. It gave me similar vibes.

Thank you Brilliance Publishing and Amazon Original Stories for my new favorite read from Fredrik Backman, The Answer is No. With hints of Ove and Anxious People, and the expected warmth of sneakily charismatic and endearing characters, The Answer is No is a big Yes!

The audiobook narration is excellent, capturing the tone of Lucas and his inner thoughts about other people versus the joys of a quiet life with a fridge always full of food he wants to eat, and a preference for pad Thai (rather relatable vibes if you ask me!). and the story of Lucas, the mystery of the frying pan, and the girl in the green is filled with the usual Backman warm fuzzies, self-growth, and insight into humanity and human relationships.

Fredrik Backman is the best at creating a grouchy loner character and adding delicious chaos to their life. I laughed out loud listening to this one, it's quick and fun and it really helped me get through a very long line in the post office. I went into the audiobook expecting a male narrator but Stacy Gonzalez's narration ended up being really fun and easy to follow. Seriously, let this one brighten a boring chore for you.

Something I have always enjoyed about Backman's books is the way they tackle such relatable and important themes, but still be completely non-fiction.

This short story follows a man who is so content to live on his own with just his video games, wine, and pad thai. The less interaction with other humans, the better. Afterall, he says that the reason so many humans end up in therapy is because of other humans. He even says (direct quote from the book): "Absolutely zero people go to therapy because yesterday they were sitting in a comfortable chair, eating a perfect pizza, drinking a good glass of wine and watching a really funny movie.” Lucas has mastered the art of as minimal contact with others as necessary to live a stress free life, balanced with enough communication to not raise suspicion from others... that is until a frying pan ruins his life.

I don't want to say much because this story is short (only 68 pages), so I will let you see for yourself what the frying pan is all about! However I will say, this book, while short, was full of emotion and relatability. My anxiety spiked along with Lucas. I started to feel frustrated for him. I have been in a similar position as the girl in the green dress (IYKYK...) and it was just everything I needed. As stress inducing as it was at times, it was also full of heart and humor and wit. I loved it and already want to read it again.

Overall, this is a short story that just captures what its like to be human in todays society, in a fun and entertaining way. If you are looking to add a quick read to your reading goal for 2024, look no further!