Anxious People

I really thought this book would be a new favorite and it just...wasn't. 

Firstly, the good things about this book. Frederik Backman is clearly a skilled writer; this man knows how to put a feeling into a words, a fleeting moment captured in a way that seems to hold all of the meaning in the world. So many of these passages about parenting, love and loneliness were so beautiful and really moving. However, the actual story and characters is where this whole book went wrong for me. Everything was just far too outlandish all the time, from the way all of the characters interacted with the police to people reacting to a hostage situation. It wasn't outlandish in a fun way either; I was always irritated with how over the top every character had to be at all times. The tone was constantly switching from deeply emotional to campy and it made it hard to be invested in the characters. The characters are really the main problem I had with this book; I know that they're all mostly supposed to be unlikable, but I never got attached or invested in a single person in this book. They were written in such a way that they were so much of one character trait that they didn't feel like people, rather caricatures. The themes of this book and the general point the author was trying to make felt so heavy handed at times that it grated on my nerves. Also, there was a lot of attempts at humor that felt so distinctly boomer-y (cough the entire character of London cough) Overall, this book had so much potential but it never took off for me.