Anxious People (Fredrik Backman)

Someone runs into a bank and attempts to rob it. They then take hostages in a nearby building. Sounds like all the makings of a blockbuster action novel, doesn't it? But Fredrik Backman's Anxious People is just the opposite -- you think you're getting one thing, but it turns out to be quite different.

You may know Backman as the author of a little book called A Man Called Ove. His books do not rely on plots so much as they do character studies -- Backman is a master of characterization. In Anxious People, a group of strangers are attending an open house for an apartment when they find themselves in the middle of a hostage situation. Only this isn't your normal crime scene. None of them is really who they appear to be, including the bank robber. Add to that two police officers who do things you would not expect them to, and you have a book that is nowhere near what I thought it would be.

I found a few parts of Anxious People bogged down with details, but that doesn't get in the way of what it is -- an unexpected tale of compassion, empathy, and forgiveness with characters you won't soon forget.

MY RATING - 3.5 

A Man Called Ove (Fredrik Backman)

I'm certainly late to the game reviewing Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove. For some reason, I never picked it up until now. But after finishing it last night, I can't believe it's taken this long for me to read about this lovable curmudgeon.

Let's just say that Ove is...particular...about how he wants things done (I identify!). He lives his life by rules, routine and tradition, and doesn't understand people who want to change things or move into the technological age. The first few pages will have you rolling on the floor as Ove tries to buy a computer. But the beauty of Ove is that after you laugh, you will cry, and then you will laugh again, and then you will sob. Backman takes you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions as Ove thinks that maybe this is a world he doesn't want to live in anymore.

The writing in A Man Called Ove is just beautiful. From the beginning, readers know that the ultimate goal is to get Ove to realize that life is worth living after all. It's the question of how (or if) he will eventually reach that point that makes A Man Called Ove such a rewarding read.

MY RATING - 4

Beartown (Fredrik Backman)

I'm not that much of a sports enthusiast, but author Fredrik Backman made me understand completely the passion that goes into a sport like hockey. Beartown is a small community and having a great hockey team is really the only thing it's known for. People "survive" in Beartown, but they take unbelievable hope from their teams.

When the book begins, the Beartown junior hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals. This burden to win is heavy on the shoulders of these teenage boys, who believe that hockey is in their blood, sweat, and tears. Most people in the community think that if the team wins in the semi-finals, Beartown will change forever, but what really changes it is a violent crime that occurs on that same night.

No member of the town will be unaffected by the crime, and it is in this moment that the book's pace really picks up. Backman has a way of making the reader feel that they are flies on the wall IN Beartown, and it is his writing and unforgettable characters that make it such a heart-pounding read.

MY RATING - 4