We Get to the Nitty-Gritty of Anxious People

Thanks to Ken for suggesting this book to us and to Joyce for leading us through our discussion of Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman! First, we talked about the nonlinear style of writing. The author focused on the characters randomly. Some of us liked it, and some didn’t. For those who didn’t, Cindy T. suggested they might prefer the miniseries version on Netflix. I subscribe to Netflix, and I hope to get a chance to watch Anxious People. I think it would be interesting with the actors, putting faces to names that we’re familiar with from the book. You can see how good it looks by Googling “Netflix Miniseries Anxious People” and watching the “Teaser” and the “Trailer.”

Joyce then characterized the author as surprising the reader with insights after keeping the reader waiting a while. This might be part of Backman’s style for this book, where the story moves forward but then the author surprises the reader by shedding light on some aspect that has passed by. Ken noted that the connection between Nadia and Zara at the bridge isn’t explained until around page 100.

We talked about how people in Sweden stereotyped “Stockholmers” as, the way Joyce explained it, “People who look down on you” or make you feel like they do. Susan said that since Stockholm is the big city where the laws are made and the taxes are apportioned, the young people in the small towns aspire to live there someday, and those who live in the small towns think of Stockholm as where everything bad happens.

 Favorite Characters:

Susan chose Jim. He had lost his wife and was suffering from that grief. He used to be idealistic but had lost some of it as a police officer. In the story, Jim sees Jack, his son, trying to act on ideals, wanting to give the hostage-taker a second chance. This idealistic action could make Jim feel that he’s with his wife again for a little while.

Carla’s favorite was Estelle. Joyce remembered that the author kept it a secret that the apartment they were looking at was Estelle’s. Carla like the “ruse” Estelle had created by pretending to be a potential apartment buyer, when she was really checking to be sure the real buyer would be acceptable. Lydia noted that Estelle was also a useful character for the story because the bank robber was able to move in with her at the end without ever going outside, where she could have been arrested.

Zara was my favorite, because her sarcasm made me laugh, and she was troubled and working on it by going to a therapist. She made progress in the book, by getting a little more open to the therapy (with Nadia) and more tolerant of and kinder to other people.

Cindy’s favorite character was Anna Lena, because she was trying to help her husband by finding ways to make him feel needed and important.

Someone brought up Lennart, who wore the rabbit costume. I couldn’t tell whose favorite character he was (let me know if it was you, and I’ll fix this blog post), but his role was as “disruptor” to discourage anyone from buying the apartment, so that the person who hired him could get it. Anna-Lena had hired Lennart so that her husband, Roger, could buy the apartment and feel good about his successful purchase.

That’s just a taste, (or a “bite,” as Jimmy Fallon would say) of our wise and wonderful discussion! All of us except Patricia missed realizing that the person who jumped off the bridge had been Estelle’s son. It’s good to read with our Book Club!

Among us, we had a lot of insight into the characters and their motivations in this complex story! I’m sure you all would be proud of the transcript of our discussion! I’m always impressed by reviewing our discussions to summarize them. One of the truisms we all agreed on is that people tend to worry too much, especially about things they cannot control. And, I think we’d all agree that describing the characters as “idiots” came from a love of humanity.

Swedish Curmudgeon Has a Big Heart

Introducing A Man Called Ovë, by Fredrik Backman, Cindy listed themes from the story and gave each of us a quote to ponder. The themes included masculinity; change and technology; relationships; and “the whiteshirts,” i.e. authority and bureaucracy. The quotes gave us food for thought, and we expressed our ideas about them and chose which theme they related to.  

Ovë had a strong personality! Dennis spoke about the first quote, which was from Ovë. Ovë asked what the value of a man was in a world where everything could be bought. This brought discussion in the group about Ovë’s penchant for making things and fixing things, plus some discussion about more recent products that are not meant to be fixable. Ovë felt that people should be able to do things by themselves. His independence was strongly expressed by his life. Amy said that Ovë’s friend Rune didn’t make or fix things, but he was a valued person, particularly as a husband and friend.

The discussion went on to Ovë expressing feelings of lost masculinity when he lost his job. His firing also brought out the theme of change and technology, as Ovë was fired partly because he wasn’t keeping up with the new technology at work. Joanne said that what you do, not just what you say, should be important; as Ovë helped people by fixing things.

After Ovë had lost his job and his beloved wife, he attempted suicide a number of times; each time failing for some reason: the rope he was hanging himself from broke, the phone rang and he stopped to answer it, the doorbell rang and he stopped to answer that, or neighbors were gathered outside his picture window. These suicide attempts and interruptions were portrayed as humerous. Morna’s quote said that Ovë was not good at killing himself. Cindy observed that each of the failed suicide attempts brought something new into Ovë’s life.

Some of the quotes were about the importance of relationships. Carol’s quote said that sorrow not shared drives people apart. Ovë and his wife shared the sorrow of losing their pregnancy. Amy noted that though Ovë was not a father, children called him “grandfather.” Marilyn said that life happens to us all, and we each choose whether to become bitter or better

Frank gave us a final humorous quote, saying, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend; but inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."