If you plotted my enjoyment of this book over time, it would resemble a V shape. I really liked the beginning. I love Backman’s humor and I was interested in the setup of the book. However, the characters were both unlikable and zany, and by about 35-40%, that combination was starting to get a little too repetitive. But then the characters started to become more fleshed out, more human, less like caricatures, and I started to like the book again. Some (not all) of the zaniness eventually has a good explanation.
Based on the book description, I was expecting this to be a locked room kind of story. It’s about a (failed) bank robber who takes hostages at an apartment viewing, and much of the latter half of the book is set in the apartment, which is also when my enjoyment kicked in again. But a lot of the beginning is set before and, especially, after the events in the apartment. We also spend time with Jim and Jack, police officers who are working the case and have to deal with these quirky, uncooperative hostages.
The book is tonally interesting. It’s funny, but the humor is contrasted with serious topics and emotionally challenging moments for some of the characters, and this tonal disparity wasn’t always seamless. The end of the book delves deeper into some of these topics that are clearly important to Backman, but it gets perhaps a little bit too treacly and also goes on a bit long, almost feeling like multiple endings.
Overall, I had a pretty good time with this book, especially because of how funny parts of it are, and the beginning of the end brought a happy tear to my eye. The dip towards the middle and the lengthy and overly sentimental ending lowered my rating. I gave it 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4.
