Anxious People: A Novel

This book club read caught me during a busy time in my life, and I had trouble concentrating on the story the first 1/3 of the book. Finally, i had a whole Sunday to myself and was able to devote myself to reading the book and I whipped through it quickly. I had multiple laughs with the interviews, dialog and writing style which was both engaging and slow to get to the point at times. "A bank robbery. A hostage drama. A stairwell full of police officers on their way to storm and apartment. It was easy to get to this point, much easier than you might think. All it took was one single really bad idea." So goes the opening line of this amusing, sometimes frustrating, but oh my once everything comes together book about "idiots". Having dealt with the public in a service capacity my whole life, while I could chuckle about the dialog I also felt the frustration of the officers dealing with these "idiots". But the story is so much more than idiots, or a bank robbery or a hostage situation and I enjoyed how most of the characters ended up becoming real people I cared about, with good and bad parts that define them all. This is a book that will stay with me for a while. https://readinggroupguides.com/re... 1. The man on the bridge tells the boy, “Do you know what the worst thing about being a parent is? That you’re always judged by your worst moments.... Parents are defined by their mistakes.” Do you think this statement is true? Does social media make it more likely to be the case these days? In what ways are people critical of other’s parenting choices? Is the bank robber a bad parent? 2. In ANXIOUS PEOPLE, the author writes, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans” and “The worst thing a divorce does to a person isn’t that it makes all the time you devoted to the relationship feel wasted, but that it steals all the plans you had for the future.” Do you make plans for your life, or do you let life guide you? Even if our plans often don’t turn out as we’d hoped, is there a benefit to our making them? Discuss these questions with your group. 3. Zara tells her psychologist, “your generation don’t want to study a subject, they want to study themselves.” Is she speaking of millennials? Why are boomers and millennials so critical of each other? How do they see the world differently? 4. Nadia (the psychologist), James (the police officer), Zara and Estelle all have stories tied in some way to the bridge. What does the bridge represent to each of them? Has the bridge’s meaning changed for them by the end of the book? If so, how? 5. Anna-Lena compares her and Roger’s marriage to a shark that can’t breathe unless it is moving the whole time: “People need a project...if we didn’t keep moving, our marriage wouldn’t get any oxygen. So we buy and renovate and sell.” Why does Anna-Lena think that a project is the one thing keeping their marriage from falling apart? What surprised you about their history as individuals and as a couple? How have they underestimated each other, despite having been together for so many years? 6. How did you feel when the identity of the bank robber was revealed? Were your assumptions challenged? How does the author manage to keep this a surprise? 7. Zara appears to be very cold and distant to other people. Is Zara’s attitude toward people a defense mechanism? Do you agree with the psychologist that Zara isn’t depressed, just lonely? What is it that Zara can’t forgive herself for? 8. Estelle says her book-swapping moments with her neighbor were “an affair.” Do you agree? What counts as an affair if there’s no physical relationship involved? What book would you give as a present to a crush? 9. While on the apartment balcony, Zara starts to open up to Lennart. Why is he the person to whom she is able to open up? 10. At the start of ANXIOUS PEOPLE, the author tells us, “This story is about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots.” In what ways are these characters acting like idiots? At the end of the book, do you think that’s still a fair description of them? Are we all, by virtue of being human, inclined to act like idiots from time to time? 11. Jim and Jack, the father and son policemen, have a difficult relationship that is made worse by their working so closely together. What is it that annoys them about each other? What did you make of Jim’s role in resolving the bank robber’s predicament? Should he have told Jack what he was doing sooner? Why didn’t he? 12. ANXIOUS PEOPLE is very much a character study. How did your feelings about these characters change over the course of the book? Who is your favorite character and why? Which character surprised you the most and why?

Even if you can guess the ending (unlikely) this is an amazing read. I loved the character development across the board and the perspectives and police interviews were done artfully. There is nothing I want more than to be able to forget this book and read it again - definitely one of my top picks I’ve read this year. Unique premise, not overworked at all, the right amount of complexity while still possible to read casually. Loved it. Five stars.

i found myself grappling with its distorted timeline and non-linear plot, almost considering adding it to the DNF list. However, as i pushed through, i discovered a captivating layer of foreshadowing that kept me intrigued until the very end. What truly made the experience worthwhile were the rich connections between the characters. Their interactions were not only enjoyable but also sprinkled with life lessons I’ll definitely carry with me. While the central plot revolves around a botched bank robbery, Backman has a unique way of infusing humility and warmth into the story. Despite tackling some heavy topics, the discussions between characters were often framed with humor—a clever reminder that sometimes we laugh to keep from crying. Overall, I’d say this was a decent read. While I appreciated it, I’m not sure I’ll be diving into another book by this author anytime soon. Still, I’m glad I took the journey with these characters!

A Funny murder mystery with a deeper look at interpersonal relationships and bringing people together from different walks of life

Such a beautiful small world story, the author does such a great job of making you like every character, even when you initially think they could possibly be one of the worst people you've ever encountered