Anxious People by Fredrick Backman (Translated by Neil Smith)

 

Book: Anxious People
Author: Fredrick Backman
Translated to English from Swedish by: Neil Smith
Genre: Humour and Domestic Fiction
Published in English by: Penguin on 10th October 2021
Pages: 416
Adapted into: A Series on Netflix with the same name
Recommended for: Age group above 15-16

No. 1 New York Times bestseller.

Other books by the Author: A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Sends Her Apologies and Regards, Beartown, Us Against You, The Winners, Britt-Marie was Here, and Things My Son Needs to Know About the World. 

Book Review:
In these times of violence and cruelty, reading this book paves my way back to humanity. I have read quite a good number of Backman books to date, and in each of my reviews I have mentioned how he brings out the mundane lives, how he knit his stories around common people, and this one was no different, it’s just contrasting to previous ones because here he bought out the big struggles of human race placed on top of a peak formed by million little endeavors.

The book is funny, perceptive, compassionate, humorous, and yet deep, intense, messy, saddening, thus the name- Anxious People. An attempt to end one’s life, a bridge, an apartment, a bank robber, several hostages, and two policemen; this is the story of this book and as easily as I have placed these terms here when reading, you might find yourself getting trapped under a net, until with each page you read, unable to put it down and find every string of that net broken or cut by the end of the book.

Characters: The hostages are Julia (Pregnant) and Ro, Anna-Lena and Roger, Zara, Estelle, A person with a rabbit’s headwear, and a real estate agent. They all are panicking and stressing about being hostage when the bank robber raises a pistol in front of them. Well, don’t empathize with them so soon, they were the ‘worst hostages ever.’ When it was all over, and the policeman (Jack and Jim) started questioning them, these so-called strangers, who spent a good amount of time being hostages in an apartment, strangely had so much in common in their hearts that even reading a fictional story about this was unbelievable. Yet, I know this is the truest thing about being human, that we all have somewhat similar hearts, that get happy and sad on somewhat similar events, and act as saviors and defendants in somewhat similar situations.

Plot Summary: Due to a Financial Crash, a man died by suicide and before taking his life he went to the bank and frantically complained to the Bank Manager, named Zara about how all of his money was gone, upon which Zara's answer was- it was his fault that he put all his money in mortgages and loans. Ten years later, a chaotic divorce and a selfish dominating spouse lead the other partner to commit a bank robbery to show to the court that he lives in an apartment and can share custody of the children. But the bank robber chose a cashless bank, and from there it led to more chaos, being chased by policemen and ending up in an open apartment viewing, where the bank robber got acquainted with the worst hostages ever. 
The story at times spikes the annoyance about what characters are doing and wants to hug them the tightest at other times. Backman has a way of delivering both wit and depth in one sentence, and oh! how beautifully he did that. This book screams about the fact that Humans at the core are kind and empathetic, and each one of us is dealing with our own shit. 
As much as the characters maintain the humor throughout the story, I can't deny the subtle, actually not-so-subtle mention of capitalism, financial control, and the idea of constantly trying to make it better. 
The end might not be justified for some torch-bearers of society, who are blindly devoted to the system. But it was the end most of us were expecting and took a long sigh when it happened. More than that, the end was what all the characters of the story and all the readers who managed to walk through the other fading side of humanity through this story deserved. 

Comparison to other works: Fredrick Backman never disappoints, that's for sure, but if we compare his last few books with this one, there aren't any striking changes; at the core, his writings are about mundane lives, little things, humans, small towns, and this books also revolves around the same category. But if we place Beartown and Anxious People next to one another then it is quite significant how deep and intense Beartown is, where he delves into the tragedies of small towns, instead of how his humor highlights in Anxious People, where he talks about those little arguments & bickering between couples. In A Man Called Ove, he talks about loss and grief and how that eventually turns into freezing anger, until love & kindness melt you back into the person you were, here in this book he talks about how the idea of loss would push humans to do some unexpected things, and how guilt will hold you in chains for years before you cut them loose by sharing. 

Conclusion: And that’s how Backman’s writing brings us closer, we humans, this is how he ignites that flame of humanity in our hearts, by curating fictional stories about Anxious people, who might be some characters in books, but while reading, it might feel like someone has invaded your soul and created a character out of it. It’s so affecting to read how much humor and sorrow is there in marriages, parenthood, relationships, love, life, and death. Only a few can make you laugh and cry equally reading one page of a book, and Backman strangely always manages to do that.  

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