Review: Anxious People

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is very good, but it is very difficult to describe and to review.  It has a very cryptic start, with some funny observations about people and everyday life, but with a story full of twists and turns - not plot twists, it's just that the book is all over the place. It's very non-linear, from beginning to end, jumping back and forth in time and between points of view.  It's not just a case of unreliable narrator, it's a case of unreliable everything.

As the blurbs say and the book itself keeps repeating, it's a story about a failed bank robbery turned hostage situation. I am happy that this is not an American story.  The robbery and hostage situation setup is very American-movie-like - which felt a little concerning, I am not sure how that would play up, since to have a story about bank robbery and hostage situation and just have the police be the good guys would be an incredible overlooking of serious issues; and if they properly delved into the serious issues, then I couldn't see how that would be a funny story.  So I am glad it takes place in Sweden (the author and the book are Swedish).  The policemen are very polite people in the book, something that is believable in a Scandinavian country. 

It quickly became clear that this is not a crime story - this is a story about parenthood.  It's about parents and about the anxieties of being a parent.  The cover illustration and the blurbs (that seemed to highlight the couples that were hostages) made me think that this was about the anxieties in relationships, about the fights couples have, about anxiety at work; but no, it's all about parenthood.  Of being married with kids, of having a failed marriage and having kids, about having kids but not grandkids, about never having kids.  It's a story about a father-and-son police team, about the parent of two small kids turned bank robber, about a couple expecting a baby, and another couple in which one parent sacrificed their career to spend more time with the kids and now doesn't feel like they are "good enough" for their family. It also became clear to me at about 10% of the book that the "anxious people" of the title are actually the readers.  The author/narrator is speaking through a dialogue (monologue?) with the reader, and clearly referring to the readers anxieties and fears.  That we are just like his characters, that we are all the same - he draws the parallels of the characters' state of mind to the readers' state of mind - they understand them because they are also feeling a lot of pressure, anxiety, depression, loneliness, insecurity, etc...  Everyone is struggling.

The book is full of reference to the real-world events and issues - like the financial crisis of the 2000's (which at this point, it's history).  It is not shy about talking about its messages - about social justice, about being kind to each other, about how everyone is doing the best they can.  That's the point of the "anxious people" - that they (we?) are all doing the best they can, and are struggling all the same.   In this context, there is one character that feels out of place. Zara is a rich bank analyst. Her story feels like a cop out - like the author is saying  "See?  the rich are also struggling!" and "why can't we all get along?"  The book spent a lot of time talking about the market crash of the 2000's, about the banks being greedy, and then the one bank person in the story is a sympathetic character?  We are all the same?  That smells of both-sideism, and it stinks.  Still, the character herself is well-written, and works well in the story.

Beyond all the  anxieties and real-life parallels, the plot itself is full of ridiculous events and ridiculous people behaving in ridiculous ways.  In that sense, it doesn't feel realistic at all.  The bank robber is constantly referred as the worst bank robber ever, and the hostages as the worst hostages ever, because they behave like children, bickering and being sarcastic and obtuse in the most preposterous ways.  It's really a lot of nonsense.  But that's ok, I think that's there to break all the anxiety and depressions that this story should have.  Sometimes it felt absurd, sometimes it felt welcome - it's what keeps the story light and funny.  

It was difficult to settle on a score - I was considering either 3 or 4 out of 5 (3 being good, 4 being very good). In the end I decided to give it a 4, mainly because of the constant breaking of expectations. I was specially surprised with the story of the older couple, when we got the full story it was not what I expected, and I thought it was touching.

Curiously, the denouement is super-long.  There are at least 10 chapters that I thought were the last chapter when they ended, and then the book continues to a new chapter!  Mind you, each of the new chapters has something new to say, but it was surprising each time that it was still going.  Each chapter is closing some subplot, but there are so many open points that a few more closed up don't really make a difference - this is not a "and they all lived happily ever after story", it's more of a "and life went on" story!

View all my reviews

Review: The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Midnight Library is a book about what life could have been, about regrets that we carry, and how they weigh us down. The protagonist, Nora, just had a terrible day - her cat dies, she gets fired, then fired again, then let people down, is estranged from her remaining family - and this is on top of a pretty difficult and depressing life. It's too much, so she attempts suicide. In her near-death state, she arrives at the Midnight Library - a magical place in which each book is a different version of her life, and can pick a book and visit that life. If she finds one that she likes, she can leave hers behind and stay in this new life!

But this is not a story about possibilities - this is a story about depression.  Contrary to what it might seem from the blurbs and covers, it's not sci-fi, it's not fantasy, it's not fantastical realism - it's about depression.  The protagonist, Nora, is incredibly self-destructive - everything she does in life goes towards destroying her own happiness, every choice she makes is self-sabotage.  Whenever something is going well, she decides to stop it to favor something else, which she then will drop in order to favor something else, and so on.  She starts as an olympic-level swimmer in high school, but feels anxious about it, it's too much pressure - she drops it, and wants to study to be a glaciologist - that's her new dream.  She goes to Uni, then drops glaciology to do philosophy.  Then drops that to be in a band.  Then drops that to get married.  Then drops that because of anxiety.  She makes plans to move to another country, then drops that too.  Every time she drops something, it's for no good reason.

Then she finds the Midnight Library, which allows her to explore each possible choice she could have made in her life.  Right at the beginning of the book, you can feel that it is predictable predictable - you can guess that she is going to try to unravel the sequence of choices she made one by one, and find out that each one had its own challenges, so that the best choice is her original life in the end. But it starts poorly - she is so picky!  She starts trying out the life in which she was married, but she complains about how the guys laughs, his sense of humor, how much he was drinking tonight, even how loud he is washing his mouth - she picks him apart before even trying!  By the time we have a revelation (and find out that she has an actual good reason not to like her husband), it's already a moot point - she was already unhappy for all sorts of little details.  Remember "don't sweat the small stuff"?  She sweats all the small stuff all the time! There is always some reason why she can't be happy. And that's exactly how depression works. Interestingly, the protagonist mentions that she has been diagnosed with "situational depression" late in life, but we see from snippets of her past that she has struggled with depression and anxiety her entire life.

So yeah, it's about depression, from beginning to end.  However, perhaps strangely, that doesn't make the book depressive!  In fact, the writing is fantastic!  The visits to each one of her lives is very varied, with lots of slice-of-life glimpses, with a tiny bit of fantasy and sci-fi thrown in. Also, the final message might be cliched, but it is well delivered and powerful.

Finally, the narration is sooo good! Carey Mulligan was perfect, her voice, tone and accent were really nice to hear, and made the audiobook really enjoyable.

View all my reviews