#CBR15 Passport Challenge: Books from different countries (set in and written by a Swedish author, read in Swedish)
CBR15 Bingo: Europe (see description for Passport Challenge)
Official book description (translated by me):
Folk med ångest (literally translated as People with anxiety, official English title Anxious People) is an unusually messy comedy about a hostage drama during an apartment showing, where a failed bank robber locks themselves in with an overly enthusiastic realtor, two bitter IKEA-addicts, a mean multimillionaire, a sad lady, a very pregnant woman, an infuriating git, and a rabbit’s head. Eventually, the robber gives up and releases all the hostages, but when the police storm the apartment it is…empty. In a series of dysfunctional witness statements afterwards we get to hear everyone’s versions of what happened, whereupon a classic puzzle mystery unfolds around the questions: How did the robber escape? Why is everyone so angry? And what is really WRONG with people nowadays?
This book is incredibly funny, whimsical, and uplifting. It also made me genuinely cry more than once because it’s also about depression and desperation and sometimes feeling so bad and/or helpless that you just want to jump off a bridge. It’s about loss, grief and loneliness. It’s a work of fiction about made-up people, but based on the acknowledgments at the back of the book, it’s absolutely grounded in personal experience, so the various characters feel real, with flaws and foibles. The book is about the importance of having someone in your life, be it friends, family members, or a good neighbour.
The official book description doesn’t give too much away, except for the rather unusual premise. Like others who have already reviewed this book, I really don’t want to go into too much detail about the plot, because some of the joy of reading this book is discovering its twists and turns and having the story unfold before your eyes. The plot is non-linear, with seemingly unrelated little vignettes interspersed with police interrogations, the occasional flashback, and the omniscient author giving us necessary background information about the characters when it becomes pertinent to the reader. There is a mystery element to the book, but anyone expecting a mystery novel is probably going to be disappointed.
Full review on my blog.
Bingo #8: Sex (Kushiel’s Dart), On the Air (Hana Khan Carries On), Nostalgia (Men at Arms/Feet of Clay), Picture This (Gender Queer), Europe (this)
Bingo #9: History (Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries), Bodies Bodies (Three Little Words), Adulthood (Happy Place), Edibles (Arsenic and Adobo), Europe (this)
Bingo #10 (Corners): Getaway (Love, Theoretically), Sex (Kushiel’s Dart), North America (Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow), History (Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries), Europe (this)