Anxious People: The No. 1 New York Times bestseller, now a Netflix TV Series

♥️"Everyone inside the apartment had their own complexes, their own demons and anxieties" True for the book and for the real world too. ♥️There were several heartwrenching,heart touching moments, when your heart is in your throat. I did tear up in several places. ♥️There was a major twist that I did not see, so a tip to the reader is to read very carefully. ♥️The writer talks about many things including generation gap, adulting, parenting,('Parents are defined by their mistakes.')’ love, marriage, relationships, the epidemic of loneliness,('loneliness is like starvation, you don’t realize how hungry you are until you begin to eat.' ) etc and is a tongue in cheek commentary of the ironical times we live in. The author writes with scathing honesty about the human condition. ♥️There is humour, dark humour and sarcasm. ♥️Narration keeps the intrigue on how the characters are connected in in real life and also humanly. ♥️I found it very relatable, highlighted much in the book that spoke to me, "We don’t have a plan, we just do our best to get through the day", "restore life to its factory settings", empty bed and sleeping pills', love can make you do quite a lot of ridiculous things.., It just hurts so much at times, being human, ♥️A Thought-provoking read. ♥️I Found the relationship between Anna and Roger most touching My ♥️favourite excerpts from the book: ♥️We can all be idiots, but we’re still all human beings worthy of connection and love. ♥️Our hearts are bars of soap that we keep losing hold of; the moment we relax, they drift off and fall in love and get broken, all in the wink of an eye. ♥️Because you’ve probably been depressed yourself, you’ve had days when you’ve been in terrible pain in places that don’t show up in X-rays, when you can’t find the words to explain it even to the people who love you ♥️We lie to those we love. ♥️because sometimes it’s easier to live with your own anxieties if you know that no one else is happy, either. ♥️Life doesn’t always turn out the way you expect. ♥️you are loved in spite of everything that you are. ♥️We give those we love nicknames, because love requires a word that belongs to us alone. ♥️you should always be nice to other people, even idiots, because you never know how heavy their burden is. ♥️He was my echo ♥️humour is the soul’s last line of defence, and as long as we’re laughing we’re alive, so bad puns and fart jokes were their way of expressing their defiance against despair. ♥️That’s the power of literature, you know, it can act like little love letters between people who can only explain their feelings by pointing at other people’s. 📖I read the kindle edition ⚠️A Trigger warning for : suicide,suicidal ideations,depression, substance abuse/drugs, heroin, anxiety, panic attacks and heroin addiction,obsessions and addictions. ♥️A 4.9/5 star read for me.

When we are children, most of us live our lives in a routine manner, from getting up in the morning to going to bed in the night but while growing up into adults,our lives become complicated as we get more engrossed in our daily lives - from finding a job, a home to live, taking care of our family, remembering to pay taxes,wifi passwords etc.The other factors that stops our becoming a normal adults are that, as a child if we had been through bad past or witnessed any shocking incidents, then in such case the nightmares of the past haunt us for long,when we enter into adulthood.Hence, these nightmares may act as a stumbling block for growing up into normal adults & may effect our serene & happy life. As an adult, we see the reflection of our scary past that was spent as a child & which influences the decisions that we make & that which may not only harm us but also that of those who are dependant on us.Thus, in genral we lead a life of confusion & then if you are driven by frustration & helplessness, it adds much fuel to our thoughtless actions,resulting in instinctive decisions.But later on hindsight,we may regret our actions & realize our absurdities.We may tend to cure our chaos with chaos,that lead us to an unhappy life filled with anxieties & worries."Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman is one such story. 10 years ago, Jack as a child,witnesses a man jumping from a bridge but couldn't convince the man from doing so & save him from jumping.A woman,Zara ,standing at the far end of the bridge also witnesses the incident.Earlier, the man who jumped, meets Zara at the bank for a loan as he was going through financial crisis but couldn't be able to secure a loan to overcome his debts as he had nothing to mortgage at the bank.Zara was able to recognize the man & also finds a letter in an envelope written to her by the man,at the other end of the bridge in water.She carries the envelope in her purse for 10 long years without opening it. A week later both, Jack & Zara witnesses a girl (Nadia) at the same spot ,also trying to jump from the bridge,under distress.Jack driven by guilt of not saving the man earlier,instinctively pushes the girl & runs away while the girl falls unconscious on the ground.Since then Jack & Zara couldn't quite get over from the incidents,they have witnessed at the bridge and their nightmares continued to haunt them even after 10 years.Jack becomes a police officer & Nadia chooses to be a psychalogist with the primary intention of helping the people in distress. Besides the book is also the story of another child(the bank robber)with a troubled past & whose divorced mother couldn't quite get out of her drinking habits & the impact that had on her as a child.The bank robber,when forced by financial crisis,a divorce notice,eviction of building premises,loosing a job & most importantly holding the custody of her two children decides to rob a bank,on an impulse thought.The bank turns out to be cashless bank & just as she decides to abort the plan of robbing & quietly walking away from the scene,the cashier at the bank mentions calling cops which makes the bank robber panicky.She runs into the street & into the building opposite,where an house was on for sale & where a few people gather for viewing the house.What originally was a bank robbery turns out into an hostage drama,just because of one bad idea & poor planning.When you are blinded by love,you take actions more out of instincts than by deep thought. The book is simple and funny, and the writer has got a unique writing skills.Use of the names like "London" for cashier @ bank is hilarious.The interrogation of cops with that of hijacked people is quite funny and makes you wonder as to who is interviewing whom? The bank robber actually turns out to be a woman, which we learn very late in the book.The humane side of the two police officers(father/son,duo) touches the heart of the readers. The revelations of the characters very subtly as we read along the book is quite intriguing.Above all an interesting book where we,as readers find ourselves in one or the other characters. Lastly ,the quote of Martin Luther,through Jack's mother -'Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my Apple Tree, 'Will go a long,long way with the readers.

This was a fantastic book! It felt a little depressing in the beginning but I couldn’t keep it down after the first few chapters. And I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Especially the last few chapters really touch your heart and I have cried so much while reading this book. Everyone should read this!!!

WHAT I LIKED : This was basically my 2nd Backman book , following "A man called ove" and one thing this books makes me certain is the talented writing style of the author. His writing is crisp and it makes the story fast pace but out of nowhere he brings in emotional moments that makes your eyes filled with moistness . The benchmark of the book , beyond it's superb plot and it's execution are the characters all are unique and grow on you with each passing pages , at the beggining it felt like i didnt like any of the characters but by the end , i was rooting for everyone to get their respective happy ending This book is supposedly a humourous one and it definitely has it's many moments of absolute hilarity but it starts off with a lot of tragedy and it keeps delivering many similar tragic moment in the lives of it's most certain eccentric characters . There are quite a few twists and turns along the way as well , some are pretty obvious but for me the twists that are supposed to generate most emotions are ones that i didnt really see coming . Meanwhile the book also deals with issues that matter in these times , from Depression , anxiety , panic attacks , suicide to forgivemeness , family , Self doubt and economical impact on society . It's a multi-layered tale where friendships are made and it all simply starts with a bank robbery that soon transformed into a hostage crisis. WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE : Here's the thing , as much as i like Backman the storyteller and his writing at times , and mostly at the beggining few chapters of the book , the writing appeared to be a flight of ideas written by someone who is suffering from Mania . It was hard to get a grasp and hold my attention span . I also thought the book carried on a bit too long in the end dragging the ending with epilogue after epilogue . Granted none of these epilogue were very long. CONCLUSION: it's a book about lot of things but it's more than that and you should absolutely give it a read P.s : apparently there's a Netflix show about this , but I'd still say READ!

“It was a long story. All stories are, when it comes down to it, if you tell them from start.” This line appears within Anxious People and quietly signals what Fredrik Backman is doing throughout the novel: asking us to slow down and look beyond first impressions. Lives, like stories, resist being understood in fragments. The novel begins with a failed bank robbery that leads to a group of strangers being held hostage during an apartment viewing. What unfolds is not a crime thriller but a tender, often funny exploration of fear, loneliness, regret, and the ways ordinary people carry extraordinary emotional weight. Backman populates the story with a small, carefully drawn cast: a sharp-edged banker living with grief and isolation; an elderly woman whose calm presence holds deep loss and wisdom; a young couple anxious about money, responsibility, and becoming parents; a relentlessly upbeat real-estate agent using cheerfulness as armour; and two police officers; a father and son navigating their own complicated bond. Each character is sketched lightly yet meaningfully, never overstaying their place in the narrative. Through interviews, digressions, and gentle humour, Backman lets misunderstandings slowly dissolve into empathy. The structure mirrors anxiety itself ; circular, restless, and unresolved yet the novel moves steadily toward warmth rather than chaos. Anxious People ultimately isn’t about a robbery at all. It’s about people trying, imperfectly, to understand one another. Backman’s compassion, restraint, and belief in human goodness make this a quietly moving and deeply satisfying read.

This is a story about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots. So it needs saying from the outset that it's always very easy to declare that other people are idiots, but only if you forget how idiotically difficult human being is." You know we all have those books which when you finish them you feel satisfied, a feeling that you read something good, a book that makes you smile after reading it, Anxious People is one such book, it's not about hostage drama, it's not about a bank robbery, it's about bridge, it's about idiots, it's the story about us. On New Year's Eve, a bunch of people were stuck in an apartment during an apartment viewing, and a failed bank robber who tried to rob the cashless bank unknowingly took the hostage of these people. As the story moved on, we got to know about these people's stories, and how these people have more in common with them than it seems. Backman doesn't write stories, he writes about people and that's what I like most about him, and the way he beautifully portrayed each story, their past life, you feel like you're going through this, his characters are damn relatable. This book is humorous, loving, emotional, and deeply moving, I recommend it to everyone, this is a good book. Thank you! Happy Reading❤️

🌻 They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isn’t true, at least not entirely, because if our past was all that defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows 🌻 This book was a birthday gift from a friend i love very much. It came to me at a time when i hopeless and was looking for something to smile about. It was the first book picked up after a long long time and happy to report it was worth it. I'm not going to lie and say this is an easy book to read. Because Backman has a point, "no one and nothing is as they seem " and he drives it home repeatedly with every incomplete reveal. The first half will test your patience, because the narrative has no set time-line, it's non-linear and it waves back and forth between the past and the present. Frankly, i found the characters quite annoying. But once i got to the second half, the speed picked up and timelines became crystal clear. After that i didn't even want to put the book down and drink water. The characters became people i see on the streets daily, like friends, like people i love. It was charming, sad, hilarious and had me right where it wanted. Entranced. For me, Backman is a magician. Because weaving sensitive topics such as sui**de, love, loss, parenthood and grief in such a way that the reader ends up laughing and crying at the same time seems like quite an impossible task. But this book for me has struck that fine balance. It's a beautiful reflection of humanity. I feel like this is going to one of those books that's going to stay in my heart for years. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

This has me floored, it made me cry, it made me laugh, it was everything. You start by disliking the characters and eventually end up falling in love with them. Fredrick is a genius writer, it's amazing how the story connects in the end. Highly recommend.

This book is set in Sweden and a person is about to rob a bank, but instead the bungled robbery ends up being a hostage situation. As the story continues, the hostages realise the criminal holding them captive may actually be in more need of rescuing then they are. Something I didn't expect from this book was such fabulous humour. Yes, it definitely involves sadness and depression but overall, it was just so uplifting and I loved it! I started out in this one with certain perceptions and assumptions about the characters and the situation and was completely surprised. The characters were fantastic and I think the investigating officers in this one, Jim and Jack, were outstanding. The strangers taken hostage, along with the bank robber each had fascinating elements to their stories. Backman is just so incredibly clever in the way he writes, the way he weaves together each of the aspects of the novel sneaking in some fabulous twists. I laughed and I cried. It was truly memorable and this will definitely be one of my favourite books this year. 5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

My first Fredrick Backman book. After reading this, I bought two more books of the same writer.

It’s such an amazing book takes you through different emotions one second you’re feeling deep for the character the next unexpectedly laugh out loud. Love it from start to finish. must read

It’s not often you accidentally find a treasure of a book. What story telling, what character building, what plot. Tears in my eyes from laughter … and suddenly not. One of the toughest but warmest stories I’ve encountered.

É sem dúvidas um dos livros mais diferentes que já li, a narração é muito singular e genial! É um suspense que te prende e te faz de bobo, mas acima de tudo é uma imersão verdadeira e crua sobre nosso ser e nossos anseios. Encontramos nos personagens tudo aquilo que sentimos, mas não temos a coragem de refletir sobre, tanto no emocional quanto nos fatores externos que os causam. Ele te enubria com críticas pertinentes sobre o mundo financeiro e como este pode arruinar a vida de tantas pessoas, assim como também dar de tudo para uma minoria, que mesmo com o MUITO não tem nada. É uma história que te aventura na ficção de um bom drama e no mais emocionante caminho do humano, da empatia e da compreensão. É impossível terminar e não colocar todos os outros trabalhos do autor na lista de compras.