Anxious People: The No. 1 New York Times bestseller, now a Netflix TV Series

♥️"Everyone inside the apartment had their own complexes, their own demons and anxieties" True for the book and for the real world too. ♥️There were several heartwrenching,heart touching moments, when your heart is in your throat. I did tear up in several places. ♥️There was a major twist that I did not see, so a tip to the reader is to read very carefully. ♥️The writer talks about many things including generation gap, adulting, parenting,('Parents are defined by their mistakes.')’ love, marriage, relationships, the epidemic of loneliness,('loneliness is like starvation, you don’t realize how hungry you are until you begin to eat.' ) etc and is a tongue in cheek commentary of the ironical times we live in. The author writes with scathing honesty about the human condition. ♥️There is humour, dark humour and sarcasm. ♥️Narration keeps the intrigue on how the characters are connected in in real life and also humanly. ♥️I found it very relatable, highlighted much in the book that spoke to me, "We don’t have a plan, we just do our best to get through the day", "restore life to its factory settings", empty bed and sleeping pills', love can make you do quite a lot of ridiculous things.., It just hurts so much at times, being human, ♥️A Thought-provoking read. ♥️I Found the relationship between Anna and Roger most touching My ♥️favourite excerpts from the book: ♥️We can all be idiots, but we’re still all human beings worthy of connection and love. ♥️Our hearts are bars of soap that we keep losing hold of; the moment we relax, they drift off and fall in love and get broken, all in the wink of an eye. ♥️Because you’ve probably been depressed yourself, you’ve had days when you’ve been in terrible pain in places that don’t show up in X-rays, when you can’t find the words to explain it even to the people who love you ♥️We lie to those we love. ♥️because sometimes it’s easier to live with your own anxieties if you know that no one else is happy, either. ♥️Life doesn’t always turn out the way you expect. ♥️you are loved in spite of everything that you are. ♥️We give those we love nicknames, because love requires a word that belongs to us alone. ♥️you should always be nice to other people, even idiots, because you never know how heavy their burden is. ♥️He was my echo ♥️humour is the soul’s last line of defence, and as long as we’re laughing we’re alive, so bad puns and fart jokes were their way of expressing their defiance against despair. ♥️That’s the power of literature, you know, it can act like little love letters between people who can only explain their feelings by pointing at other people’s. 📖I read the kindle edition ⚠️A Trigger warning for : suicide,suicidal ideations,depression, substance abuse/drugs, heroin, anxiety, panic attacks and heroin addiction,obsessions and addictions. ♥️A 4.9/5 star read for me.

When we are children, most of us live our lives in a routine manner, from getting up in the morning to going to bed in the night but while growing up into adults,our lives become complicated as we get more engrossed in our daily lives - from finding a job, a home to live, taking care of our family, remembering to pay taxes,wifi passwords etc.The other factors that stops our becoming a normal adults are that, as a child if we had been through bad past or witnessed any shocking incidents, then in such case the nightmares of the past haunt us for long,when we enter into adulthood.Hence, these nightmares may act as a stumbling block for growing up into normal adults & may effect our serene & happy life. As an adult, we see the reflection of our scary past that was spent as a child & which influences the decisions that we make & that which may not only harm us but also that of those who are dependant on us.Thus, in genral we lead a life of confusion & then if you are driven by frustration & helplessness, it adds much fuel to our thoughtless actions,resulting in instinctive decisions.But later on hindsight,we may regret our actions & realize our absurdities.We may tend to cure our chaos with chaos,that lead us to an unhappy life filled with anxieties & worries."Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman is one such story. 10 years ago, Jack as a child,witnesses a man jumping from a bridge but couldn't convince the man from doing so & save him from jumping.A woman,Zara ,standing at the far end of the bridge also witnesses the incident.Earlier, the man who jumped, meets Zara at the bank for a loan as he was going through financial crisis but couldn't be able to secure a loan to overcome his debts as he had nothing to mortgage at the bank.Zara was able to recognize the man & also finds a letter in an envelope written to her by the man,at the other end of the bridge in water.She carries the envelope in her purse for 10 long years without opening it. A week later both, Jack & Zara witnesses a girl (Nadia) at the same spot ,also trying to jump from the bridge,under distress.Jack driven by guilt of not saving the man earlier,instinctively pushes the girl & runs away while the girl falls unconscious on the ground.Since then Jack & Zara couldn't quite get over from the incidents,they have witnessed at the bridge and their nightmares continued to haunt them even after 10 years.Jack becomes a police officer & Nadia chooses to be a psychalogist with the primary intention of helping the people in distress. Besides the book is also the story of another child(the bank robber)with a troubled past & whose divorced mother couldn't quite get out of her drinking habits & the impact that had on her as a child.The bank robber,when forced by financial crisis,a divorce notice,eviction of building premises,loosing a job & most importantly holding the custody of her two children decides to rob a bank,on an impulse thought.The bank turns out to be cashless bank & just as she decides to abort the plan of robbing & quietly walking away from the scene,the cashier at the bank mentions calling cops which makes the bank robber panicky.She runs into the street & into the building opposite,where an house was on for sale & where a few people gather for viewing the house.What originally was a bank robbery turns out into an hostage drama,just because of one bad idea & poor planning.When you are blinded by love,you take actions more out of instincts than by deep thought. The book is simple and funny, and the writer has got a unique writing skills.Use of the names like "London" for cashier @ bank is hilarious.The interrogation of cops with that of hijacked people is quite funny and makes you wonder as to who is interviewing whom? The bank robber actually turns out to be a woman, which we learn very late in the book.The humane side of the two police officers(father/son,duo) touches the heart of the readers. The revelations of the characters very subtly as we read along the book is quite intriguing.Above all an interesting book where we,as readers find ourselves in one or the other characters. Lastly ,the quote of Martin Luther,through Jack's mother -'Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my Apple Tree, 'Will go a long,long way with the readers.

“It was a long story. All stories are, when it comes down to it, if you tell them from start.” This line appears within Anxious People and quietly signals what Fredrik Backman is doing throughout the novel: asking us to slow down and look beyond first impressions. Lives, like stories, resist being understood in fragments. The novel begins with a failed bank robbery that leads to a group of strangers being held hostage during an apartment viewing. What unfolds is not a crime thriller but a tender, often funny exploration of fear, loneliness, regret, and the ways ordinary people carry extraordinary emotional weight. Backman populates the story with a small, carefully drawn cast: a sharp-edged banker living with grief and isolation; an elderly woman whose calm presence holds deep loss and wisdom; a young couple anxious about money, responsibility, and becoming parents; a relentlessly upbeat real-estate agent using cheerfulness as armour; and two police officers; a father and son navigating their own complicated bond. Each character is sketched lightly yet meaningfully, never overstaying their place in the narrative. Through interviews, digressions, and gentle humour, Backman lets misunderstandings slowly dissolve into empathy. The structure mirrors anxiety itself ; circular, restless, and unresolved yet the novel moves steadily toward warmth rather than chaos. Anxious People ultimately isn’t about a robbery at all. It’s about people trying, imperfectly, to understand one another. Backman’s compassion, restraint, and belief in human goodness make this a quietly moving and deeply satisfying read.

WHAT I LIKED : This was basically my 2nd Backman book , following "A man called ove" and one thing this books makes me certain is the talented writing style of the author. His writing is crisp and it makes the story fast pace but out of nowhere he brings in emotional moments that makes your eyes filled with moistness . The benchmark of the book , beyond it's superb plot and it's execution are the characters all are unique and grow on you with each passing pages , at the beggining it felt like i didnt like any of the characters but by the end , i was rooting for everyone to get their respective happy ending This book is supposedly a humourous one and it definitely has it's many moments of absolute hilarity but it starts off with a lot of tragedy and it keeps delivering many similar tragic moment in the lives of it's most certain eccentric characters . There are quite a few twists and turns along the way as well , some are pretty obvious but for me the twists that are supposed to generate most emotions are ones that i didnt really see coming . Meanwhile the book also deals with issues that matter in these times , from Depression , anxiety , panic attacks , suicide to forgivemeness , family , Self doubt and economical impact on society . It's a multi-layered tale where friendships are made and it all simply starts with a bank robbery that soon transformed into a hostage crisis. WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE : Here's the thing , as much as i like Backman the storyteller and his writing at times , and mostly at the beggining few chapters of the book , the writing appeared to be a flight of ideas written by someone who is suffering from Mania . It was hard to get a grasp and hold my attention span . I also thought the book carried on a bit too long in the end dragging the ending with epilogue after epilogue . Granted none of these epilogue were very long. CONCLUSION: it's a book about lot of things but it's more than that and you should absolutely give it a read P.s : apparently there's a Netflix show about this , but I'd still say READ!

We all need a fairytale to cling to... One which can nurture hope that we will make it through this day and another and another one for a decent number of years. You might not want to call it a fairytale because you are afraid it will be unreal in the end. Like watching a motivational talk on a sucky day in the hope that you will feel inspired. Unreal expectations achieving the highest points there. But what if I tell you that there is a 'story about a bridge, and idiots, and a hostage drama and an apartment viewing' that will brighten up your life in a not-forceful-motivation-sort of way? Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. You will want to go to your happy place when the book ends. Whenever I think of this story or happen to gaze at the book chilling on my shelf, I instantly have a big smile on my face and I go to my happy place in my head. My happy place is a cute and quaint little cottage in the mountains. A cup of coffee and this book snuggled up in a blanket with a heavenly view of the ranges, covered in the occasional fog, from the window near the bed. You will get a more positive perspective to view the topic of love. Ro and Jules quarrelling about Jules’ hidden expensive chocolates vanishing and Ro justifying that she ate the sugar-free chocolates just to teach Jules a lesson is anything but hilarious and adorable (what is the point of sugar-free chocolates any way?). The lengths Anna-Lena goes to keep Roger happy and Roger’s non-expressive expressive emotions when Anna-Lena, after a misunderstanding, says in reply to what pizza she will have: "Same as you, Roger”, is just heartwarming. Estelle's and Knut’s relationship is described not as a fairytale but like a child finding its playmate… My heart just melted there. If you are the kind of person who overthinks about being good enough or generous enough and constantly tends to stress yourself over it, you’ll find this book coming to comfort you with its kind and acknowledging words. “We can’t change the world, and a lot of the time we can’t even change people. No more than one bit at a time. So we do what we can to help whenever we get the chance, sweetheart. We save those we can. We do our best. Then we try to find a way to convince ourselves that that will just have to … be enough. So we can live with our failures without drowning.” Every drop counts, right? . This book tests you and your prejudices and approximations you make about characters and people. If I say any more about this, I’ll end up giving spoilers. But yes, the craft of Backman should get a “Shashtang Dandvat pranam”. The plot changes just as you seem to get okay with it and begin to think, “Okay I know what will happen next.” What you think never happens. (At least in my case.) And then there’s classic mocking of the readers by Backman towards the end: “The truth? It’s hardly ever as complicated as we think. We just hope it is because then we’ll feel smarter if we can work it out in advance.” . Like the author says midway through the book, this story isn’t about idiots. It’s just a story about normal people with genuine struggles. Emotional baggage mostly. It’s about you and me. It’s about trying to find a common ground for strangers to have an opportunity to be friends. It has a utopian ending, yes, but don’t we all deserve one? . If you loved Schitt's Creek, you'll love this book. If you loved A Man Called Ove, you'll feel content towards the end (through Anna-Lena and Roger you can live the lives of Ove and Sonja!) It is a story of compassion that always should be remembered. It is a story where everyone would find something in some character as relatable.

TRIGGER WARNINGS- Suicide, death, depression, cheating, hostage situation, suicidal ideation and panic attacks. Anxious People is a majorly loved book on bookstagram and I usually don't pick the booksta favourites, as sometimes it ends up falling short of its hype. But I would say I wasn't disappointed here. A book driven by strong characters, that brilliantly addresses the topic of mental health and it's importance. We cross paths with hundreds of people daily, some we talk to, some we don't. Some or I should say almost everyone of them is fighting some silent battles that we know nothing about. It's easy to say things to people, like why are you like this, why you behave like this, why you behave like this, stop being like that etc..but it's something that we don't know why they're actually being that way. As easy it is to judge people for how they seem to another, it is as difficult to understand why they're how they are. This is my first book by Backman and I'm sure I'll read more by him. I liked the book alot. The characters are so well thought and well crafted that I could imagine how they look. Each character has a story of their own which is well narrated while going on with the main story. If one gets into this book looking out for an exceptional storyline might get a bit disappointed because it's characters are the ones that make it an amazing read. The book is not only about mental health but also relationships, friendships and life too. I like how at places the author has said big things with a pinch of humour. Being written in multiple voices helps to connect with different characters at same time. Half of my book is flagged and hughlited, that's how much I liked the book and found some relatable lines. While this book might touch some wounds but heal some too and provides comfort and warmth.

🌻 They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isn’t true, at least not entirely, because if our past was all that defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows 🌻 This book was a birthday gift from a friend i love very much. It came to me at a time when i hopeless and was looking for something to smile about. It was the first book picked up after a long long time and happy to report it was worth it. I'm not going to lie and say this is an easy book to read. Because Backman has a point, "no one and nothing is as they seem " and he drives it home repeatedly with every incomplete reveal. The first half will test your patience, because the narrative has no set time-line, it's non-linear and it waves back and forth between the past and the present. Frankly, i found the characters quite annoying. But once i got to the second half, the speed picked up and timelines became crystal clear. After that i didn't even want to put the book down and drink water. The characters became people i see on the streets daily, like friends, like people i love. It was charming, sad, hilarious and had me right where it wanted. Entranced. For me, Backman is a magician. Because weaving sensitive topics such as sui**de, love, loss, parenthood and grief in such a way that the reader ends up laughing and crying at the same time seems like quite an impossible task. But this book for me has struck that fine balance. It's a beautiful reflection of humanity. I feel like this is going to one of those books that's going to stay in my heart for years. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thoroughly enjoyed, creatively written, captures so many stories and emotions wonderfully, doesn't make it complicated or lengthy

My first Fredrick Backman book. After reading this, I bought two more books of the same writer.

It’s such an amazing book takes you through different emotions one second you’re feeling deep for the character the next unexpectedly laugh out loud. Love it from start to finish. must read

One thing you can guarantee with Frederik Backman is that you cannot expect his next book to be anything like his others. This is the third book of his I have read and they are all so different from each other. This could be expected to be a heavy rather emotional read with the title " Anxious People" but it is really quite humorous. Not laugh out loud but certainly very droll. The characters are totally brilliant and initially, because of the writing style, I found it hard to build up each character. However, the writing style fits the story perfectly as the reader gets to gradually piece together the story, the different character's parts in the back story and how they connect. The event the story is built around is far from humorous - it touches on the horror of losing all your money through bank crashes and the fact the banks then say it is your fault for borrowing the money or investing it with them! They then bounce back even stronger while real people fall by the wayside. So I would say this is very clever story, dark humour, great characters and well written ( and indeed well translated). This would make a great film I think.

It’s not often you accidentally find a treasure of a book. What story telling, what character building, what plot. Tears in my eyes from laughter … and suddenly not. One of the toughest but warmest stories I’ve encountered.

Good read! Well written and touching Easy to read and makes you think a while It’s a story about life itself