Anxious People

 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Fiction

2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

Read by Marin Ireland

Finished on August 11, 2021

Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.

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 up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. 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 that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

 Humorous, compassionate, and wise, Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious of times.

I loved A Man Called Ove, Beartown and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, so I was really looking forward to another gem by Fredrik Backman. I decided to listen to the audiobook since it's narrated by the wonderful Marin Ireland. (I loved listening to her narrating Kevin Wilson's novel Nothing To See Here.) I know I'm in the minority, but I was pretty disappointed with this novel. Several characters (and their conversations with one another, particularly the police interviews) were very annoying and it wasn't until the last quarter of the book that I warmed up to any of them. There's a bit of a mystery, which Backman slowly reveals, peeling away at the layers like an onion. Those final chapters are touching and reminiscent of his previous books, but I remain unimpressed with this novel. I still have Britt-Marie Was Here and Us Against You in my stacks and I hope they don't disappoint.

I received a complimentary copy from Libro.fm. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Beartown

 

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Fiction

2018 Washington Square Press (first published in 2016)

Finished on March 7, 2021

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

Publisher's Blurb:

The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

A Gentleman in Moscow. All the Light We Cannot See. State of Wonder. City of Thieves. Cutting for Stone. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. The Help. The Sparrow. The Book Thief. A Prayer for Owen Meany. Beach Music. Plainsong. What do all of these books have in common with Beartown? They are simply a few of my all-time favorite literary novels, most of which took several chapters before I became fully invested in their stories. They are the sort of books that are filled with memorable characters and plots that do more than just entertain. I was not expecting to add Beartown to this collection of favorites, but I have!

I was born in Ontario, Canada and yet I have never been to a hockey game, nor have I watched it on TV. Even when the U.S. team beat the Soviet Union, winning the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics, I only saw the highlights. So when I first heard that Beartown was about a hockey team, I wasn't in the least bit interested, even though I had read and loved A Man Called Ove. I also read and enjoyed My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, but I wasn't convinced I would feel the same about Beartown. 

When I found out about the HBO series based on this book, I decided it was time to give it a try so I could read it before watching the show. Reading other reviews and comments, I knew it would take a while to get interested in the story, so I was pleased that it only took me a few chapters before I got a handle on all the characters (and there are A LOT!) and their relationships with one another. Thankfully, I wasn't required to suffer through pages of detailed explanations of the rules and regulations of hockey. Quite honestly, Beartown could be about a small town football, basketball or baseball team (although I would have eagerly jumped on a book about baseball), since the focus is less on the game and more on the dynamics of the team and coaching staff, as well as the members of the community. 

In any case, I loved the book and I'm so glad I stuck with it through those early chapters. There are so many great characters, many of whom I came to love (and worry about), especially Maya, Ana, Amat, Benji and Bobo. Backman's narrative is linear with numerous points of view and some readers might find this constant shifting of perspectives jarring or clunky, but I appreciated getting to follow each of the main characters' feelings and reactions, which gives the book a more intimate experience than it might have with just one or two points of view. 

So there you go. I have my second 5-star rating for 2021. I love to read and enjoy light and humorous books, as well as spellbinding thrillers and mysteries, but it is such a joy to read a provocative work of contemporary fiction. 

Highly recommend!

Kirkus Reviews says it best:

Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic.... There are scenes that bring tears, scenes of gut-wrenching despair, and moments of sly humor.... This is about more than youth sports; it's part coming-of-age novel, part study of moral failure, and finally a chronicle of groupthink in which an unlikely hero steps forward to save more than one person from self-destruction. A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman's latest will resonate a long time. 

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
Fiction
2015 Simon & Schuster Audio
Read by Joan Walker
Finished on March 19, 2019
Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy, standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus-crazy. She is also Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa's greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother's letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and totally ordinary old crones, but also to the truth about fairytales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

It's been almost four years since I read A Man Called Ove (reviewed here), which I adored and will read again. I wasn't as enamored of Backman's novella, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, so I was somewhat hesitant to try this novel. It took me several chapters (and I almost gave up) before I finally became engrossed in Elsa's story, but once hooked, I found every opportunity to continue listening, even going out of my way to take longer walks in order to hear one more chapter. I'm so glad I didn't quit, because this turned out to be quite a gem! And, I'm glad to have a copy of the book in print, so I can read it again. Now that I know the story, I think reading the print edition will be less of a challenge. It all felt so confusing at the beginning, but once the pieces fell together, it all made sense. 

Final Thoughts:

I wiped away my tears as I listened to the final chapters, remembering a similar feeling when I completed the audio book of The Elegance of the Hedgehog (reviewed here). Backman's poignant tale and lovable characters (particularly, Elsa, who is wise beyond her years) will remain with me for years to come. I look forward to reading his more recent books; next up, Britt-Marie Was Here.

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
Fiction
2016 Atria Books
Finished on January 16, 2019
Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day. The square is strange but also familiar, full of the sweet scent of the hyacinths that Grandma loved to grow in her garden.

As they wait together, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife--and what it was like to lose her. She's as real to him now as the first day he met her, but he dreads the day when he won't remember her.

This peculiar space that is growing dimmer and more confusing all the time is where they will learn to say good-bye, the scent of hyacinths in the air, nothing to fear.

Fredrik Backman has rendered an exquisitely moving portrait of an elderly man's struggle to hold onto his most precious memories and his family's efforts to care for him even as they must find a way to let go.

This little book with a big message is sure to be treasured for generations to come.

It's been over four years since I first read A Man Called Ove. I loved that novel, but haven't gotten around to reading anything else by Backman's until this week when I spotted this slim book on the shelf at the library. Unlike many of my friends who have read the novella, I didn't fall in love with the story, nor did I shed any tears when I was finished. It's a tender tale about an older man dealing with Alzheimer's and I was just as confused as he, spending too much time trying to sort out whose point of view was being shared. At times it was obviously Grandpa's, but there were other moments when I wasn't sure if I was reading about Noah (the grandson) or Noah's father Ted (as a young boy). I may have to read it again.

A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Fiction
2015 Washington Square Press
Finished on May 25, 2015
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)

 



Publisher’s Blurb:

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet, a curmudgeon with staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People think him bitter, and he thinks himself surrounded by idiots.

Ove's well-ordered, solitary world gets a shake-up one November morning with the appearance of new neighbors, a chatty young couple and their two boisterous daughters, who announce their arrival by accidentally flattening Ove's mailbox with their U-Haul. What follows is a heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unlikely friendships, and a community's unexpected reassessment of the one person they thought they had all figured out.

A word-of-mouth bestseller that has caused a sensation across Europe, Fredrik Backman's irresistible novel about the angry old man next door is an uplifting exploration of the unreliability of first impressions, and a gentle reminder that life is sweet when it is shared with other people. 

A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Fredrik Backman's novel is a thoughtful and charming exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others.

This delightful novel could easily be read in a day or two. It took me an entire month, though, mainly because I was on vacation and busy with other things earlier in the month. However, reading for just 10-15 minutes each night was a nice way to savor this gem of a story. I fell in love with Ove, whose struggles with grief tugged at my heartstrings, while his stubborn inflexibility made me laugh out loud. This is one to own and read again!

Favorite Passages: 

She just smiled, said that she loved books more than anything, and started telling him excitedly what each of the ones in her lap was about. And Ove realised that he wanted to hear her talking about the things she loved for the rest of his life.

and

“Now you listen to me," says Ove calmly while he carefully closes the door. "You've given birth to two children and quite soon will be squeezing out a third. You've come here from a land far away and most likely you fled war and persecution and all sorts of other nonsense. You've learned a new language and got yourself an education and you're holding together a family of obvious incompetents. And I'll be damned if I've seen you afraid of a single bloody thing in this world before now....I'm not asking for brain surgery. I'm asking you to drive a car. It's got an accelerator, a brake and a clutch. Some of the greatest twits in world history have sorted out how it works. And you will as well." And then he utters seven words, which Parvaneh will always remember as the loveliest compliment he'll ever give her. "Because you are not a complete twit.”

Final Thoughts:

While this feel-good novel may make you laugh, it will also touch you on a deeper level. Ove is an unforgettable character and I look forward to reading this charming book again in the coming years. Highly recommend!