Fredrik Backman
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, translated by Neil Smith, is a character-driven mystery that slowly unfolds. It contains a suicide, an attempted suicide, a bank robbery gone wrong, a reluctant bank robber, a hostage situation, a home-viewing, a bridge, father and son police officers, a child’s drawing, and a motley crew of diverse characters.
An apartment is up for sale and several characters attend the viewing. Some are there with the intention of purchasing a home, while others have entirely different reasons for attending the viewing, reasons that are revealed later. Thrown together as hostages, this random collection of characters initially snap and snarl at each other. But as the day wears on, they reveal their different anxieties and discover they have more in common than originally thought. Empathy seeps in as well as a desire to help one another. Their efforts culminate in a scheme that initially baffles the father and son police officers tasked with rescuing the hostages and arresting the would-be bank robber who has, apparently, disappeared. The clues to solving the mystery of the disappearing bank-robber are revealed gradually.
The novel cuts back and forth in time, providing back stories on the characters and explaining their presence in the home viewing. Some of them are linked together because they witnessed, heard of, and are still haunted by the image of the bridge that had been the scene of a suicide ten years prior. It is no coincidence that some of the characters attend the home-viewing because that same bridge can be seen from the balcony. The mystery thickens.
Backman’s novel is a quick, easy read threaded with humor and improbable coincidences. The ending is, perhaps, a little too pat, a little too convenient, a little too “all’s well that ends well.” But Backman’s success lies in creating unique, well-developed characters with foibles and idiosyncrasies that are believable and relatable. He deftly orchestrates their gradual understanding and support of one another as each one strips away the outer veneer and reveals the vulnerable human being beneath.
Backman frequently interrupts the narrative to directly address the reader in ways that are engaging and humorous. The novel is replete with poignant insights on marriage, parenting, the banking industry, the fragility of the human spirit, divorce, daily struggles, economic hardships, grief over the death of a loved one, guilt, human connections, compassion, and forgiveness. And Backman does it all with humor and a whole lot of heart.