From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

Anxious People

Fredrik Backman,

Neil Smith (Translator)

Start date: October 1, 2021

Finish date: October 31, 2021

Discussion: 2021 Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: October 2021 monthly group read for "locked room mystery"…more
[close] October 2021 monthly group read for "locked room mystery"

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2021 Monthly Group Reads

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* 2021 Monthly Group Reads - the Final List of Categories and Books
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What Members Thought

Aug 20, 2022 Cari rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-read, popsugar-2022

I really really really loved this novel. The story is funny and satiric and gripping and heart-wrenching. The narrator pushes the reader into empathy, cajoles you to reflect on your own anxieties and failings and crazy by telling you story of many very different people as they cope with life - both is an extraordinary circumstance and also in the mundane - which the narrator argues are really the same when you are just watching ordinary people. This novel deals in heavy truths - suicide, mental ...more

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Apr 26, 2021 Larissa rated it really liked it

This was such a fun read! I love the characters that Fredrik Backman creates and his storytelling. Even opening with the dark subject of suicide, this story is a story of humanity and hope and love and the goodness of people! I laughed out loud and cried (and that is rare for me in reading!) I LOVED IT!

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Jun 04, 2021 Kristin rated it really liked it

Shelves: popsugar-2021

I've loved Backman's other books, and this one was good, but not quite to the level of the others. I'd give it 3.5 if I could, so I rounded to 4. The premise is interesting, a bank robber who does a miserable job at robbing a bank than an equally bad job of taking an apartment full of people hostage, but it just started off rather slowly and choppily. Knowing Backman, I figured he'd bring all the loose threads around to weave a perfectly good story, but had this been the first book of his I read I've loved Backman's other books, and this one was good, but not quite to the level of the others. I'd give it 3.5 if I could, so I rounded to 4. The premise is interesting, a bank robber who does a miserable job at robbing a bank than an equally bad job of taking an apartment full of people hostage, but it just started off rather slowly and choppily. Knowing Backman, I figured he'd bring all the loose threads around to weave a perfectly good story, but had this been the first book of his I read, I might have DNF'd and wondered why so many people love his writing.
I picked it up and put it down a couple times because I hated the characters of the real estate agent, the bank teller, and the snooty rich woman in the chapters that involved the police interviews of them and what I usually love about these books is his character development. As the book went on, I found later characters more likeable and shifted my opinion a bit on at least one of the 3 earlier ones. There did seem to be a lot of things that would seem too unlikely to be coincidence, but Backman acknowledges that in a small town, these things happen, that the same people find themselves involved in seemingly unrelated events years apart. Yet at the same time, none of the people in the apartment, besides those who came to visit the apartment together, seemed to know each other, despite the fact that both couples had visited multiple apartments for sale besides this one.
Backman was also clever with his twists. I figured one out right away, but then thought there would be another twist related to that one that did not pan out. The main one, about how the bank robber/hostage taker escaped from what appeared to be a situation with no escape, I had the 2 ideas the cops came up with, but figured out the truth at about the same time as they did. I could see there being a spinoff/sequel to this book with any number of the characters, much as Backman did with both 'My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry' and 'Beartown', and I would certainly read it.
Overall, I recommend reading 'My Grandmother...', 'Britt Marie Was Here' or 'A Man Called Ove' first, to get a feel for Backman's writing and give yourself confidence that despite a slow start, this book will make sense and be worth the read in the end. ...more

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Jul 16, 2021 Joanna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pas-trim-2021, 2021-read, rws-2021-summer

I love the quirky characters that populate Fredrik Backman's books. I didn't love this quite as much as A Man Called Ove, but I still really enjoyed this book. These characters were less likeable, but I was rooting for them anyway.

The set up for this book--a bank robbery gone sideways, where the robber takes a few hostages who were at an apartment showing--was a little forced, but not enough to ruin the book. The humor is strong enough to carry off the absurdity of the setting, and there's enoug ...more

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Jan 03, 2022 Christine rated it really liked it

This was heartbreaking whimsy. It's my first Backman novel and I can tell it won't be my last. The story really highlights how people who don't know each other personally can still create lasting impact in each other's worlds. I think what Backman does best here is really paint a picture of what humanity looks like. There are a lot of characters and the time line flips back and forth between the hostage apartment showing and the investigation questioning of each hostage afterwards. Backman write ...more

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Jul 05, 2021 Melissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: goodreads2021

The last 50 pages made up for what was a 3 star slog. It was "charming" but I couldn't get into the writing style. But the last couple of chapters made me cry. So that's it. That's the review. ...more

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