I love Frederik Backman’s writing, so I was excited to get this one from Net Galley. I will admit, I had some challenges sticking with it, so I also used an Audible credit for it. I’m so glad I did. I loved this book! Listening to it was the perfect way to get into it and enjoy the story. Marin Ireland was amazing as the narrator.

I have read a variety of responses to this novel in the blogosphere, with many people finding the beginning confusing and others saying to stick with it. I agree. And listening to it was the perfect way to connect with this story and these unforgettable characters.

Backman has an incredible gift of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. His characters are flawed but lovable. He believes in happy endings (or at least hopeful). And I loved how everyone in this story ended up connected.

Highly recommended!

Here’s the overview:

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix their own marriage. There’s a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world. 

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them — the bank robber included — desperately crave some sort of rescue. 

As the authorities and the media surround the premises these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next. Rich with Fredrik Backman’s “pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature” (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope — the things that save us, even in the most anxious times.