Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
This is a book about idiots, some of whom are just trying to work out “how the hell to connect USB leads.” Stockholmers come into it too, a few different kinds. There are the city slicker Stockholmers, who think they know everything but really are idiots. There are geographical Stockholmers, those born in the city — not their fault, and they can learn to be less idiotic. And then there are “Stockholmers.” Used by a very polite and kind ninety-year-old woman, this is an oblique reference to gay people.
But as the author says at the outset, this story is also about an attempted bank robbery, an apartment viewing, and a hostage situation. The characters are ordinary people, some of whom have given serious consideration to committing suicide, and one who succeeded. But that death occurred ten years ago, and acts only as a hinge for this story, which involves some of its long-term consequences, good and bad, predictable and unpredictable.
After listening to the rather repetitive opening of this unusual tale, I thought — as no doubt the author intended — these characters are a bunch of idiots.
As I drove through torrential rain past flooded Fraser Valley fields in pursuit of farm eggs, I thought of throwing in the towel on this book. But I reached my destination well and truly hooked into the twistings and turnings of the story. I listened to it compulsively for the next couple of days, enjoying the well-timed sequence of surprises the writer has crafted, right to the end.
Early on, Backman warns us that stories often end up being about other things than we expect. And this is true in spades. Throughout this tragicomic tale, we are treated to delightful bits of philosophy, along with poetic expressions from Shakespeare, Gibran and Bodil Malmsten.
Through the motley cast of characters, we are also shown some common human flaws: our knee-jerk assumptions, our judgments and stereotypes, our inability to say what we feel, and our habit of combativeness, even in our closest relationships. We’re also shown the power of love, faith and kindness, and the ability of things to work out in the most astounding ways, when we allow that to happen.
In spite of the literal blood on the floor, there is hope for all these souls, and by the end, the reader is rooting for them all the way. As one character says, “People need fairy tales as well as narrative,” and this book may be seen as a fairy tale for our times.
Yes, this is a story about idiots, but “We’re doing the best we can. We really are…We’re looking for something to cling onto, to fight for, to look forward to.” Yet though life is ultimately mysterious, we all have this in common: “We never know what we do to each other, how your life is affected by mine.“
Swedish writer Fredrick Backman is the author of A Man Called Ove, which was made into a wonderful movie. He was born in Stockholm, but has evidently been working on becoming less idiotic than your standard homegrown Stockholmer.