Anxious People

What a fantastic book. It's real life. It's fiction. It's wonderful.

It's a light read, the kind of book with a log of dialogue where pages flow easily. It's entertaining and keeps you engaged until the end.

At times it's funny. Some jokes are good, but some are the kind where you give a short laugh out of politeness, others the kinds where you feel embarrassed and pretend you didn't hear. Some jokes were good until they were repeated a few times too many.

The problem I have with Backman's writing—and that's my personal opinion—is that I find many of his characters unlikeable. Not in a villain sense, but like a Ben Stiller movie, where each new embarrassment makes you cringe, instead of rooting for the hero.

The book does offer depth (unlike Ben Stiller movies), as it covers important topics, such as mental health and depression, and digs several layers deep into complicated family relationship. I felt it offers quite a realistic view on human relationships—and anxieties, as the title implies.

This reminded me of a grown-up version of The Westing Game, with its quirky mystery, interlocking backstories, red herrings, and fragmented storytelling style that ultimately came together with a focus on relationships and human warmth. My first Backman book but I'm curious to read some others by him now. Thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy from the publisher for review consideration.

I enjoyed Anxious People overall.

It was just that the cast of characters was a little too quirky for my tastes. It annoyed me a time or two.

I still loved them all and it definitely tugged at my heartstrings, though.

I love love loved this!! The writing style was so intriguing, couldn't put this down!

What a unique book!

I'm always so torn on whether I like Fredrik Backman books or not. There's always a ton of hype around anything he authors. But I'm still on the fence. I loved the story here, it was quirky, cute, hopeful, sad, happy, all the things. I enjoyed getting to know the characters. I'm just not sure if I vibe with the writing style. I feel like sometimes he tries too hard to be quirky and it just makes me roll my eyes. All in all, I'm still on the fence on his books so I'll probably end up picking up another one if I'm being honest. A big shrug emoji is all I can conjure up anytime I read him.

This was such a funny, mysterious but heartfelt story. I didn't read the summary before starting the book because I wanted to be fully surprised and I really was!!
A full review will be up later!

Deixa só eu pegar o lencinho aqui pra secar as lágrimas...
Que livro meu deus, acho que as 5 estrelas já dizem o suficiente.
AMEI!!!
Já vou procurar os outros livros dele.

I enjoyed the structure and the story itself but I could have done without all the bloody philosophizing. I'm not reading any more Backman no matter how many people tell me to.

Loved this book, it was exactly what I needed to read.

Kept highlighting bits!

It's a beautiful story. An odd little story that doesn't tell you where it's going for most of its telling but coming along for the journey is a beautiful, funny, heartaching, worthwhile ride. Perhaps my favourite thing about this story is how human the love in it is. Love in so many ordinary forms, each extraordinary with how much just a couple of lines could touch my heart. Beautiful story. I really enjoyed this.

4.5
I kept expecting to reach a point in the book where I would stop enjoying it but it never came

THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD! I am not typically a fan of character studies, but this really hit the nail on the head. I need a map of how everybody is connected.

this is now a fredrik backman stan account.

4.25/5

Hilarious and well thought out book.
Fredrick Bachman has a way with words which just keeps you in its grip.
Onto his next works.

I just found another new favourite! I felt a lot of emotions while reading this. I laughed, I cried, I was curious, I was excited. I was putting off reading this books because I thought I would be bored, but I was wrong! I'm so sad that I borrowed this from my library and not bought my own copy as I would have enjoyed highlighting quotable quotes on this book! This was masterfully written, I was on the edge of my seat, not because the plot was particularly thrilling but because I was so invested in the lives of the characters! I wanted to know what would happen to each and every one of them! If there was one book I wish I could experience reading again for the first time, this would be it.

Delightfully interesting and distinctly unique, and absolutely never what I expected.

4.5

The story, the character build and the humor are all here. But - let's say this could've been one third less and still gotten to the same ending. Doesn't subtract from a beautiful story.

I found this book boring

As messy as it is. You'll love life after this one. Flaws and all.

I recognize Backman's writing talents so easily but I have a personal grievance against characters all clearly being stereotypical with no nuance. Bad guy was bad guy, selfish woman was the selfish woman, smart ass was the smart ass, on and on. I personally enjoy getting to know characters and figuring out what motivates them and what bothers them, etc. in their own time but in this book it was black and white only which was a shame to me.

wow why am i the only person who didn't like this book??? that plot twist was uh............... dumb