The truth? The truth about all this? The truth is that this was a story about many different things, but most of all about idiots. Because we’re doing the best we can, we really are…
Fredrik Backman – An execrpt from Anxious People
Earlier, during my college days, I used to read a lot of books—mostly fiction. I was one of those people who would take a book and lose track of time, getting lost in the world of fiction. The idea of visualizing the characters in the books as real individuals was something I loved. I mean, having an image of how Hermione Granger looked before Emma Watson portrayed her—well, that may be a stretch, but you get the idea.
Over the years, life happened, and somehow I drifted away from the world of books. I changed countries, switched colleges, and moved places. Well, life happened. Getting back into the world of books was something I wanted to do.
Earlier this year, a close friend of mine had to leave the country, and as a parting gift, he gave me his entire collection of books. What better reason to dive back into the world of reading, right?
While organizing my newly acquired books at my house, I stumbled upon a book named “Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman. The name sounded familiar to me, and upon doing a bit of research, I found out that he was the same guy who wrote the book “A Man Called Ove,” which was brilliantly adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie starring Tom Hanks as the main protagonist.
Even though the book is titled “Anxious People,” it’s a work of fiction—a story about people. Perhaps this is the book I’ve been waiting for—the one that will reignite my reading superpowers and bring me back into the world of literature.
And so, I started reading it.
The book begins with a bank robbery—a hostage drama unfolding within a stairwell filled with police officers, all on their way to storm an apartment. And all it took was a single really bad idea to lead to this moment.
It’s about a bank robbery gone wrong, which forces the bank robber to break into an apartment, taking the potential buyers as hostages. Over time, these eight strangers start opening up to one another and share their long-kept secrets. Throughout the plot, I was trying to find out why the author chose to name the book “Anxious People”—and then it suddenly hit me. The book presents us with a variety of characters—a wealthy bank manager, a newlywed couple, an old lady, an actor, and many more—and their background or status doesn’t really matter. In the end, we are all just people who are trying our best to make the most out of the time we have.
They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isnt true, at least not entirely, because if our past defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourself that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows.
– An excerpt from Anxious People
Despite having flaws, we try our best each day to take care of ourselves and the people we care about. Most of the time, we fall short, but we all deserve another chance to evolve and become better. No matter how strong we may seem, deep down, we always yearn for someone to care for us.
I believe this book was the one for me, the one that reignited the spark to get back into reading. It’s now one of my favorite books which I highly recommend!
Whats next? Off to my next adventure with the next book called “The Midnight Library by Matt Haig“.
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