Read by the Made in Grimsby book club in July 2024.
Synopsis of Anxious People
From the 18 million copy internationally bestselling author of A Man Called Ove
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It’s New Year’s Eve and House Tricks estate agents are hosting an open viewing in an up-market apartment when an incompetent bank robber rushes in and politely takes everyone hostage.
For Anna-Lena and Roger, busy buying-up apartments to fill the hole in their marriage, it’s something else to talk about.
For Julia and Ro, panicky parents-to-be, it’s yet another worry.
Lonely bank manager Zara only came here for the view.
While 87-year-old grandmother Estelle seems rather pleased by the company . . .
As the police gather outside, the anxious strangers huddled within try to make the best of a very sticky situation – but could it be that they have a whole lot more in common than meets the eye?
Audiobook vs Book
I [Kat] actually listened to the audiobook of Anxious People when it first came out back in 2020. I added this book as a recommendation back in May because after reading If I Survive You, I was feeling a need to read something lighter and I really wanted to re-read this book, and when it came a close second I decided to throw it in again for July.
I’m very aware that I’m not a good listener of audiobooks; I cannot just sit and listen, I have to be doing something (during lockdown, I often used audiobooks to help motivate me to do stuff around my flat). For that reason, I was keen to read the actual book this time, and I very quickly realised that this was the right decision to make.
There was so much of this book that I just did not remember. I couldn’t remember any of the big twists, such as who the bank robber was.
As such, I found myself enjoying it a great deal more reading it from the actual book, because I was paying more attention to what was going in, rather than listening in a very distracted way.
Divided Opinions and Being Human
Whilst most book club members enjoyed Anxious People, there were a couple who were more on the fence about it, and I do kind of see where they were coming from with that.
I personally really enjoyed the book, however there is definitely a feeling that everything finishes too neatly, and too nicely, almost wrapped in a pretty little bow. There were times when it did feel a little too-good-to-true. But then, I think that was the whole point of the book.
For me, this was a book about being human. As humans, we all make choices (some bigger than others) and those choices often have a knock-on effect to other people, sometimes completely changing the direction of their life.
Writing Style and Plot
One of our members described the idea that she needed a whiteboard and post-it notes to work out what was going on, in Anxious People. Ultimately, the plot was engaging and there were a lot of twists, however, Backman has written the book in such a zig-zag kind of way, that meanders forwards and then sends us backwards again to explain something that has been revealed. At times this was very confusing.
Although it was confusing, we all understood that this was clearly an intentional ploy by Backman, to ensure that we didn’t work things out too quickly, and I do think he did this incredibly well.
We Laughed and We Cried
We all agreed that there have been a number of books we have read for book club (Lessons in Chemistry being one of them), that have been pegged as “hilarious” on the cover, but have been anything but. However, we all felt that Anxious People had some genuinely laugh out loud moments, particularly Estelle’s obsession with “Stockholmers”.
But then, on the other hand, there were some really poignant moments, that hit us in the feels or surprised us.
