Stephanie Sullivan: Review

TITLE: Anxious People

RATING: ★★★★★

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Summary (from Goodreads): 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 begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

First is Zara, a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else until tragedy changed her life. Now, she’s obsessed with visiting open houses to see how ordinary people live—and, perhaps, to set an old wrong to right. Then there’s Roger and Anna-Lena, an Ikea-addicted retired couple who are on a never-ending hunt for fixer-uppers to hide the fact that they don’t know how to fix their own failing marriage. Julia and Ro are a young lesbian couple and soon-to-be parents who are nervous about their chances for a successful life together since they can’t agree on anything. And there’s Estelle, an eighty-year-old woman who has lived long enough to be unimpressed by a masked bank robber waving a gun in her face. And despite the story she tells them all, Estelle hasn’t really come to the apartment to view it for her daughter, and her husband really isn’t outside parking the car.

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.

Rich with Fredrik Backman’s “pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature” (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People’s whimsical plot serves up unforgettable insights into the human condition and a gentle reminder to be compassionate to all the anxious people we encounter every day.

REVIEW: This is most definitely one of my FAVORITE books of 2020! Wow...just WOW! I honestly don’t know what to say or where to even begin. I read this book in one day because I couldn’t put it down, and I haven’t done that with any book in a very long time. Mr. Backman’s writing style is incredible, and I believe I went through every possible emotion while reading this book. There were countless times I literally laughed out loud, and when I turned the last page I was in tears. (I mean, seriously...like crying so hard I was hiccupping.) I highly commend Mr. Backman for addressing mental illness and suicide as poignantly and beautifully as he did with this story. I would happily recommend Anxious People to everyone, and I look forward to reading more of Mr. Backman’s work in the near future.