Anxious People and Fredrik Backman: How a book in the back of my cupboard broke my reading slump
To be human is to be messy, and to be Messi is superhuman! is a quote I’ve had written in my little notebook ever since the start of the World Cup. To be Messi, is to really be performing at a level that isn’t human. But World Cup trivia aside, the first part of the quote is also what has been in my head ever since I began to read Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman.
Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve taken on the role of a professional book hoarder and this little book found its way into the back of my closet just about a year back. My reasons were buying it, were different than my reasons for reading it, but lets not get into that now. There’s a research paper waiting to be written by me on why places of business such as bookstores and supermarkets often place their most attractive sellers right at the checkout counter, but thats a story for another day. All you have to know about this little detour is that this book was a ‘checkout purchase”
About a month back, when I started to organise my library, I found this book again. What started as an effort to put off doing any more cleaning became much more in no time. I guess thats the beauty of great stories.
Anxious People in a nutshell, is a fantastic beautiful painful portrayal of the experience of being human. (To not be confused by Salman Khan’s brand of the same name)
Its a story of people, and one singularly complicated day for each and every character in the book. Its a story about a hostage drama, broken relationships, anxiety, depression and much more. The beauty of the book is not just Backman’s ability to put together a story that’s a real page turner, but the characters. Every single one of them feel like people you’ve seen before in some capacity or the other.
There is Zara, a 50 year old banker dealing with loneliness and a dark secret. There’s Estelle a 87 year old woman trying to buy an apartment for her daughter, theres Roger and Anna Lena, a retired couple and Ro and Julia, a younger couple. And a bank robber, who’s not really a bank robber but a man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When the bank robber, who’s not really a bank robber attempts to rob a cashless bank, he leaves in panic and stumbles onto a apartment showing where he finds the people mentioned above. In his panic, and their panic, a hostage situation is created.
The case is being handled by a cop duo named Jim and Jack, father and son who both have unique ways of going about a case. Jim, who’s been a cop for many years never wanted for this son, but for Jack being a cop is all that has mattered to him ever since he was little kid.
Backman cuts back from past to present, with delving into each character’s back story. What starts off as a muddling situation, does take its own twist and turns, but. he strikes a brilliant balance between funny and serious giving the book a fantastic flow.
There’s laugh out loud moments, combined with some hard hitting truths. There were times when the book hit too close to home, and I had to put the book down. Anxious People is in no way an easy read, but it’s an important one. Unlike most books, the characters are not ‘investable’ at first sight. In fact it seems like they’re roadblocks to the investigation for the cops.
What follows is truly a heartwarming story, about compassion and the need to be kind to ourselves and the people around us. There’s philosophy, combined with moments of empathy. As Backman puts it, to be human is to be an idiot, and experience difficulty that goes beyond your wildest imaginations.
As far as 2022 goes, people have had their own records of the books they’ve completed this year. Some have lists as high as 52, which is the the equivalent of reading a book a week, while some have just about one or two. My list stands at four, all spread across the year.
They were
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
- 2. A Place in my Heart by Anupama Chopra
- 3. Everyone you Hate will die and other comforting Thoughts by Daniel Sloss
And finally Anxious People by Fredrick Backman. A book that feels like comfort and a wake up call all at the same time. A book that stopped me from hoarding more books, and got me pumped up to finish the rest.
As I venture on this path to finish the unfinished books in my cupboard, I hold solace in this quote from the book.
“We don’t have a plan, we just do our best to get through the day, because there’ll be another one coming along tomorrow.”
Onwards and upwards, here we go.
