Anxious People

“He was my echo. Everything I do is quieter now,”

It's line like this one that make Frederick Backman a true artist. He is a master of words. Every time I read a book by him, I am impressed by his literary skill. Anxious People is brilliantly written with many other insightful lines that ring so true.

While this is not going to be my favorite Backman book, it still ranks as one of the better books I have read this year. It took me about a third of the book to adjust to the narrative technique. Backman goes back and forth in time and often writes in a second person point of view that takes some getting used to. Once I acclimated to it, it did not impede my enjoyment of the story. The characters also take some time to grow on you. They all seem quite unlikable at the start of the book, to the point of being annoying. I found myself wondering if any of them were going to have redeeming qualities. However, in true Backman style, he develops the characters slowly and exposes their true qualities gradually. In the end, I had changed my mind about most of them.

The plot is very intricate and sometimes to hard to follow, but it seems that is done on purpose. The author wants the reader to be confused along with the police officers. While it frustrated me at time, I appreciated it in the end when everything came together. Backman has a real talent for weaving his story elements together in a complex pattern that somehow, in the end, seems so simple when you look back on it.

Backman does not disappoint. I will continue to read anything he writes, and I feel that other readers should do the same.