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Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Contemporary fiction

Anxious People

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Each year thousands of members vote for our Book of the Year award—congrats to Anxious People!

by Fredrik Backman

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Quick Take

Of all the ways to botch a bank robbery, this one takes the cake. Cue the hilariously flawed hostages.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Emotional

    Emotional

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Quirky

    Quirky

  • Illustrated icon, Puzzle

    Puzzle

Synopsis

Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers slowly begin opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.

Why I love it

First, a confession: I am not one of the millions of people around the world who read A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman’s previous best-selling book. I picked up Anxious People because, well, it seemed like reading about other anxious people might make me feel better about my own anxiety. I had also heard from a friend that Backman has a good sense of humor, and as a TV comedy writer, I love to laugh. As soon as I started reading, I knew I had made the right choice.

What begins as an idiosyncratic book about a bank robbery-gone-terribly-awry unfolds into an astute and beautifully rendered character study of a random group of people who are thrown into a very stressful situation as a botched robbery suddenly turns into a hostage situation. Jumping to different points of view—from the Swedish police officers, a father and son team in charge of the case, to the hostages—we get a variety of glimpses into the cross-section of humanity affected by this incident, the bank robber included.

Typically, my favorite books are character-driven stories that offer a deep dive into the people involved in the story, and Anxious People was just that. This tragicomic tale of a really bad collective day resolves in the most unexpected and poignant ways. When I finished the book, I was moved to actual tears. It has been many years since a novel made me cry. My waterworks weren’t from the story being so sad, but because of the kindnesses shared within a group of strangers during one of the most anxiety-filled days of their lives. The bottom line is this book really touched me, and I was reminded that there can still be beauty and hope even in the most trying of circumstances.

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Contemporary fiction
View all
The Last Love Note
Anita de Monte Laughs Last
The Wedding People
The Leftover Woman
The Same Bright Stars
Interesting Facts about Space
The Villain Edit
Bye, Baby
Swan Song
The Days I Loved You Most
How to Read a Book
The Connellys of County Down
Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life
A Summer Affair
Adelaide
I Might Be in Trouble
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Evil Eye
Maame
Advika and the Hollywood Wives
Once There Were Wolves
We Are the Brennans
Olga Dies Dreaming
If Only I Could Tell You
How Lucky
My Dark Vanessa
Nine Perfect Strangers
Honey Girl
One Italian Summer
Eight Hundred Grapes
The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes
The Five-Star Weekend
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
The Nest
Rich and Pretty
Britt-Marie Was Here
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
Startup
The Identicals
The Dinner List
Goodbye, Paris
Winter in Paradise
A Woman Is No Man
Queenie
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Beyond the Point
What Happens in Paradise
Nothing to See Here
When We Were Vikings
Anxious People
A Good Neighborhood
Big Summer
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Troubles in Paradise
White Ivy
This Close to Okay
The Removed
The Kindest Lie
Good Company
Impostor Syndrome
The Other Black Girl
Apples Never Fall
A Quiet Life
We Are the Light
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
When We Were Bright and Beautiful
The Hotel Nantucket