Tag Archives: Fredrik Backman

Review: The Answer Is No

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The Answer Is No by Fredrik Backman
Publisher: Amazon
Pub Date: 12/1/2024

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lucas enjoys his quiet and solitary life, but everything changes when his apartment board insists on investigating a misplaced frying pan. Their relentless meddling turns his peaceful existence upside down in this witty, laugh-out-loud short story.

Overall, I really liked The Answer Is No! It’s a bit silly, but I love how Backman weaves heartfelt and resonant quotes about finding happiness, the importance of community, and protecting your inner peace. I truly felt for Lucas as he was dragged into a situation he never asked for and that had nothing to do with him. That said, I loved his interactions with everyone. I was amazed at how Backman managed to infuse so much depth into his characters in such a short story.

Review: Anxious People

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Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Publication: Atria Books
Publication Date: 9/8/2020

Disclaimer: I received an advanced digital copy of this book from Atria Books in exchange for my honest opinion. This has no effect on my opinion, review, or rating.

GoodReads Synopsis: A bank robber on the run locks himself in with an over-enthusiastic estate agent, two bitter IKEA-addicts, a pregnant woman, a suicidal multi-millionaire and a rabbit. In the end the robber gives up and lets everyone go, but when the police storm the apartment it is . . . empty.

In a series of dysfunctional testimonies after the event, the witnesses all tell their version of what really happened and it’s clear we have a classic locked-room mystery on our hands: How did the robber manage to escape? Why is everyone so angry? And: What is WRONG with people these days?

Review: I’ve read all of Backman’s novels and his latest book keeps up with the stride of his previous work! Backman has such an eloquent writing style bringing up important themes such as empathy, community, feeling ‘enough’, and mental health, in a way that resonates with you and really makes you think about them even after you’re done with the book. Honestly, it took me a while to figure how I wanted to rate Anxious People. At first, it took me a while to get into the book. There were some instances where I felt the author was rambling a bit and deriving from the story, however, everything ended up making sense at the end. I highly recommend picking up Anxious People. Be forewarned that I took my time reading Anxious People as you need to be in a certain headspace to read this one.

Rating: 4/5