Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

 Hang on Fredrik Backman fans. This book is a full on carnival ride experience.  Never have I ever been more tempted to rush to the back of the book and find out exactly where this furious ride will take me, but I resisted. (Wish I could do the same with food, but that discussion's for another time, maybe). 

A common warm-up exercise in beginning acting classes has students, in turn, saying "No" in as many ways possible - happy, worried, incredulous, sassy. You get the picture.  The variations are endless, especially when you start adding accents, impressions, and body language.  For proof, all you need to do is watch the variants displayed by Oprah in her recent sleazy, one-sided, unprofessional, ratings grabber, inquiring-minds-want-to-know interview. (That ends the snarky, cultural comment portion of this post.)

In similar fashion, with each page turn of this book my reactions were...what? WHAT? Whaaaaaa? what? What!?!?!?!?

Full disclosure - I haven't finished the book yet, but I doubt that my opinion will change.  Every short chapter spins like a Tilt-A-Whirl and will leave you needing - not wanting - to grab one more ticket to ride. The premise? A inept bank robber slips into a real estate apartment showing and ends up  taking all of the prospective buyers hostage.  Note - the hostage taking skills are no better than the robbing skills.  Backman tells us from the beginning that this is tale about idiots.  Not sure I would choose that same word to describe the characters; their individual neediness makes them rather clownish, and I find myself shaking my head, laughing, getting teary at times.. because on some level, I know these people. 

Zara, the friendless bank officer makes me nervous.  What a testament to the author's skills that simply reading a character's chapter causes me to twitch.  Two couples, one old, and one lesbian  with a baby on the way, fight and fight and fight, and through their battles appear tender glimpses of why and how they stay committed. There's a man in a costume rabbit head; that's about all he's wearing, and a father-son police team who are straight out of an old Oliver and Hardy movie, a newby, nervous therapist, and a stuck in traffic Stockholmer.

The funky and fresh format might keep you a little on edge.  It flips between narrative of the hostage situation, and interrogation interviews.  Between those you will find insightful analysis of each character's back story, along with bits of universal wisdom about human nature.

So far, so good.  I hope to finish this weekend and since it is the weekend, I won't be late for work again because I have to read just one more chapter. (But, I know the boss so getting away with it is  pretty easy).

 What will happen, I wonder.  There have been some hints along the way; the narrator tells us where to look from time to time so we don't get lost.  I fear that there is a rain cloud hovering above all the fun, though.  All in good time...now back to "What? What? and more What?"

Thanks for stopping by.,

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay happy.