Book Summary
A fictional story about an array of characters finding themselves in an accidental hostage situation during an apartment viewing. Each character is handling their own life situations; grievances, stress, and secrets, causing inevitable anxiety we, as readers, can all relate to. As these hostages get to know each other personally, long and behold, they are also slowly getting to know the person who is holding them hostage in the first place. This story represents many important themes of friendship, mental health, and hope.
Book Review
Another book to give me a hug and warm up my soul 🥺 . Fredrik wrote a beautiful story connecting all of the characters and the plot extremely well. On the surface, it does highlight suicide and mental health so I recommend researching any trigger warnings for this book as it can be heavy for some readers, however, Fredrik did a phenomenal job discussing this sensitive subject openly to understand the importance of never feeling alone and to ask for help 🫶🏼.
This story is written as a third-person narrative. Its tonality reminded me of a play narration, someone observing from the outside and telling the story. Another element that was similar to a play, in my opinion, is the interview structure written as some chapters between different characters. The short and quick chapters were a breeze to read through and provided the page-turning component I love! It makes me never want to put the book down and when I have to, I cannot stop thinking about it! The story has a good flow and pace where there was never a slow, dull moment - it hooked me right from the beginning and I took my time reading this book only because I did not want it to end! Fredrik provided the perfect amount of emotional writing. It tugged on my heartstrings and made me feel content once I finished reading. It left me speechless, and perhaps I am being overdramatic about it, but this beautiful story truly touches on mental health in such an important way, highlighting that no one knows what anybody is going through. I loved so many quotes and I cannot wait to eventually open this book again to tab them so I can look back on the wonderful words Fredrik shared with the world. Lastly, the memorable ending and the effortless way Fredrik tied everything together; it was done so well, I had some happy tears as I closed the book. What an alluring, relatable story overall, and a job well done by the author!
"The truth of course is that if people really were as happy as they look on the Internet, they wouldn't spend so much damn time on the Internet, because no one who's having a really good day spends half of it taking pictures of themselves. Anyone can nurture a myth about their life if they have enough manure, so if the grass looks greener on the side of the fence, that's probably because it's full of shit. Not that that really makes much difference, because now we've learned that every day needs to be special. Every day."
- Fredrik Backman, Anxious People
Please add this book to your TBR immediately and thank me later! I highly recommend reading this book if you want to get into reading. It's also a great book to be introduced to the author as this was the first book I read by him and I need more of his books ASAP!
Rating: 5/5 stars
Enjoy and happy reading!
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