Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

You know what they say -- Laughter is the best medicine. I've found there's some truth to that, especially in these challenging times. If you're of a like mind, I've got just what the doctor ordered -- "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman. 

From the first page, Backman had me simultaneously laughing and shaking my head at the truths about human nature he builds into the story. Take, for instance, the opening passage. "A bank robbery. A hostage drama. A stairwell full of police officers on their way to storm an apartment. ... This story is about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots. So it needs saying from the outset that it's always very easy to declare that other people are idiots, but only if you forget how idiotically difficult being a human is."  Well, when you put it that way...

The interviews the police conduct while trying to solve the crime are particularly hilarious. The first interviewee is the bank teller who was confronted by the bank robber. 

Jack (detective):  Do you remember anything about his appearance?

London (teller): God, that's such a superficial question! You've got a really sick binary view of gender, yeah?  

Jack: I'm sorry. Can you tell me anything else about 'the person'?

London: You don't have to use perverted commas for that. 

Jack: I really think I do. Can you tell me anything about the bank robber's appearance. For instance, was the bank robber a short bank robber or a tall bank robber?

London: Look, I don't describe people by their height. That's really excluding. I mean, I'm short, and I know that can give a lot of tall people a complex.  

Jack:  Excuse me? 

And so it goes.  Each witness seems less helpful than the previous one. These cops definitely have their job cut out for them. 

Fredrik Backman

It doesn't take long before you learn the bank robber has unwittingly escaped into an apartment showing, arriving "out of breath and sweating, with the traditional bank robber's ski mask askew so that only one eye could see anything." And so the story expands to include a wacky -- but quite engaging -- cast of characters who are taken hostage while looking for a new home. There's a gay couple, one of whom is so pregnant she's bursting at the seams, and an older couple who've been married so long they need no words to fight. There's an extraordinarily bitchy woman who clearly is too wealthy to be looking at this particular apartment and an old woman who discovers a case of wine in the closet and keeps nipping into the bottles. There's a mystery attendee whom you have to meet for yourself to believe. Last but not least there's the annoying real estate agent who has "cleverly" named her company "House Tricks." (The "how's tricks" v. "House Tricks" banter goes on painfully long. I would have pulled my hair out had I been the cop interviewing this woman.)  

While Backman's humor is often laugh-out-loud funny, it's his insights into people that make the book something special. Sometimes he digs into a relationship or a character's motivation in a way that made me shake my head in appreciation. Take, for instance, the chapter about two cops -- father and son -- who are working the case together.  (I threw out my flags for this chapter in lieu of a full-sized post-it on which I wrote, "This whole chapter is great.") I'm willing to bet that you too could find things you can relate to in the story, like the two men's quite different relationships with computers.  

Backman writes: "Jim was born in a generation that regarded computers as magic; Jack in one that has always taken them for granted..... It isn't really the fact that [Jack's] dad doesn't understand how to use technology that drives his son mad, but the fact that he almost understands. For instance, Jim still doesn't know how to take a screenshot, so when he wants to take a picture of something on his computer screen, he takes a photograph of the screen with his mobile phone...."  For the record, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that approach.

Other times a wonderful note about a relationship or character trait is slipped in in a way you could miss if you weren't paying attention. Like when the somewhat unlikeable older gentleman looking at the apartment with his wife has a revelation that she provides the same support to him as a load-bearing wall. Call me crazy, but that's one of the most romantic things I've ever heard.  

"Anxious People" is full of surprises and quirky characters who will find their way into your hearts. But be forewarned: There are some tragic elements to the story as well, including a suicide. Nonetheless, I finished the last page of the book with a smile on my face and even some hope for the ability of wildly different people to get along. A huge thanks to my favorite indie bookstore, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, for putting "Anxious People" in my hands.  

Postscript: To read an interview with Backman about his inspiration for the book and his approach to writing, click here.