Book Review- Fredrik Backman's The Winners

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of Fredrik Backman’s The Winners.

The Winners is the third installment in Backman’s Beartown trilogy, taking us back to the small, hockey obsessed, rival towns in Northern Sweden. This time, a severe snow storm has hit Beartown and Hed, destroying one of the hockey arenas. The rivalry between the two towns in alternatively suspended as they help save lives, but also restored when old wounds and biases resurface.

I absolutely love Backman. He is one of my favorite authors and I will read anything he writes, but that said, I’m not sure if I needed this to be a trilogy. The Winners was little long and slow-paced, yet I held on because of Backman’s wonderful characters. He also teased the death of a major character throughout the entire story, saving the reveal for near the end and writing as though any number of beloved characters could have been on the chopping block. This made me anxious, yet it kept me turning pages.

Without giving a spoiler, the death made me cry, but other aspects of the story made me cry even more. Backman excels at sentimental situations. He always manages to have his tough-as-nails characters be hit with a tender moment: cue the tears. I think this works so well, because Backman also infuses his stories with a fair bit of dark humor, allowing his readers to experience a range of emotions. It’s always complex.

The Winners is the weakest in the trilogy, but it is still excellent and absolutely a must-read if you are a Backman fan. Only Backman could make a non-sports fan like me, love a trilogy centered around hockey fanatics!

Book Review: Fredrik Backman's Anxious People

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of Fredrik Backman’s latest novel, Anxious People, in exchange for an honest review.

After a failing to rob a bank, a would-be thief enters a nearby apartment complex and takes a group of hostages. The hostages are an eclectic bunch of strangers who have come for an apartment viewing. The two police detectives on the case are a father/son pair who are struggling to communicate and their situation is further strained when they cannot figure out how all of the hostages were freed, yet no one has any idea what happened to the robber. After making no demands other than pizza to feed the hostages, she seems to have disappeared.

Anxious People is told via flashbacks to the hostage situation, flashbacks to important moments from the lives of the key characters, and police interviews following the release of the hostages. The suspense is high and Backman’s story unfolds in a way that allows readers to solve the mystery as they read.

More than a mystery, Anxious People is a drama, a story about how failure to communicate with others leaves us feeling isolated and anxious. It’s a story about being human. It’s about the flaws and needs of every human. Backman often breaks the forth wall and speaks directly to the reader, pulling us into the emotional core of the story. We are the hostages, we are the robber, and we are the police. Their story is our story.

In 2020 we need hope more than ever and Backman provides hope. His characters choose kindness and compassion. It isn’t trite, it is human. Yes, I cried buckets.

I’m loath to use the phrase “trigger warning,” but I feel that I must mention that part of the story involves suicide. My father committed suicide when I was four and it is certainly a sensitive subject, but not one that I shy away from. I’m not sure how it might affect others. The suicide aspect of Anxious People has more to do with the people left behind, the people who feel they could have prevented the suicide.

Anxious People is an entertaining mix of genres. It’s surprising, humorous, and has a big heart. I’ve been a fan of all of Backman’s previous novels and I look forward to reading his next one.

Book Review- Fredrik Backman's Things My Son Needs to Know About the World

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of Fredrik Backman’s memoir, Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a huge fan of Fredrik Backman and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review his latest book. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, is Backman’s first memoir, a departure from the novels for which he has garnered world-wide acclaim. He last few novels (Us Against You and Bear Town) were exceedingly bleak and dark. I loved them, but they left me with a heavy feeling. Generally, the tone of Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, is humorous and light-hearted. Backman has a hilarious style of self-deprecating humor and I often found myself giggling while reading.

The memoir comprised of short chapters, some less than a page, all written within the frame work of advice that Backman wishes to impart to his young son. There is one sweet chapter where he speak directly to his wife, whom he clearly adores and references throughout his book.

Although mostly humorous, there is a running current of Backman’s serious fears and dreams for his son. For example, in one chapter he mentions the importance of finding a sports team. It’s not that he cares that his son plays or watches sports, but Backman sees the way that sports has created bonds in his own life. He wants his child to be able to bond with friends and he sees sports as an easy entry point, but he also fears that his son might develop interests in which he does not know how to relate. He wants his son to know that he will be a supportive father, no matter what, but that he also fears that they won’t have things to bond over. The bonding is vital.

Backman writes about a time when he was shot during a robbery in a convenience store and how just a matter of inches could have left him dead or paralyzed. He speaks to the importance of those inches in everything in life, how something so small can change everything. This chapter was exceptionally poignant and along with the rest of the memoir, made me understand more of why Backman chooses certain subjects for his fiction works.

My step-children are Swedish and live with their mom in Stockholm, so I was interested in the tidbits on parenting in Sweden. I probably shouldn’t be surprised, but most of Backman’s concerns and dealings with other parents, are similar to sentiments that are echoed by my parent friends in the United States.

There is a hilarious chapter on navigating Ikea, which also rings true for the Ikea shopping experience in the United States. Follow those arrows!

Whether writing fiction or non-fiction, Backman is a fabulous writer and someone whom I am always thrilled when he publishes a new work. I highly recommend all of Backman’s books!