First off: the title seems a bit off. The cast of major characters in this story is rather large. Not epic, of course, but for such a short novel about a singular controlling event, it is surprisingly populous. The thing is, though, that few of these characters really seem to exhibit symptomatic behavior that would lead one immediately to the word “anxious” to describe them. Thomas Berger published what is—aside from Little Big Man, of course—arguably his masterpiece in 1975 and titled it Sneaky People. To a certain extent, that is a title almost as equally well-applied to this novel as to Berger’s. And yet, their behavior is not immediately identifiable as sneaky, either. Even so, it would be a more appropriate choice than the one which it bears.
The single most appropriate title and the one which the author really should have used is implicated in the opening paragraphs of the book. In fact, just two paragraphs in—and on the first line of the second paragraph at that—the author illuminates for the reader exactly what is the most identifiable aspect of his cast of characters as a collective whole: “This story is about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots.” While somewhat anxious and most definitely sneaky, ultimately the title best describing people populating it would be Idiotic People. And while the events between January 7, 2020 and January 6, 2021 certain revealed that idiotic people are not always fun to watch, in this case it is precisely the anxiety that is created by their sneaky desires colliding with their idiocy that makes them so endearing.
Anxious people are generally not a fun lot to be around, especially when behaving like idiots, but somehow Fredric Backman manages to make this combination imminently readable. Strangely enough, his story of sneaky people is filled with basically rather likable sorts whereas Berger’s sneaky characters a mostly contemptible lot with two or three notable exceptions. The story revolves around an attempted bank robbery, but this sneaky plan goes awry because of the idiocy of trying to rob a cashless bank. That singular event sets the stage for everything else that comes which manages to mix and match various levels of furtive desires with an inadequate supply of cleverness all in the name of, amazing, reaching a very moral conclusion that could, in theory, actually teach a lesson or two.
Although the wide aspects of the narrative add both failed and successful suicide attempts, broken relationships, untimely early deaths by natural causes and a host of economic miseries, the really amazing thing about Anxious People is that it does not engender anxiety in the reader. Certainly not most readers, anyway. While terrible things happen to not entirely terrible people, the light comic touch of an author full in touch with his ironic perspective on the world manages to keep the reader engaged and entertained without also managing to lose their sense of empathy. A truly majestic accomplishment.
