There’s so much in this book that is close to my heart. It’s a comforting read in a way, and not entirely either.

After all, it is about anxious people, and we are all anxious people, at some point in our lives, are we not?

The author, Fredrik Backman, sure knows how to tug at one’s heartstrings with consummate ease using characters that are both familiar and unfamiliar, stringing them along a narrative which poses as comic and quirky, while interspersing the chapters with at least one takeaway which makes you ponder deeply upon life’s vagaries; why we are alive and what makes us live on; with humour and inimitable style as is the way with Backman.

I don’t want to give away the narrative, but this is a story about people, their desires and failures and anxieties above all.

This is a story about a bank robber who’s not a bank robber and how this person holds people hostage without meaning to.

Funnily absurd? In parts yes.

To quote from the last chapter (74) : “The truth. The truth about all this? The truth is that this was a story about many different things, but most of all about idiots.”  He’s talking about us humans of course, isn’t he! I laugh, I cry and my heart beats harder when I read some of the stuff he says about me it would appear, as it might to you, if you choose to pick up this winner of a book, which isn’t all fun.

Although I’ll say that the interviews with Witness’ chapters are hilarious and made me laugh a lot.

I’d like to quote from some of the chapters.

Chapter 71, never truer words in my mind:

“They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isn’t true, at least not entirely, because if our past was all that defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows.” 

“Love is wanting you to exist” – isn’t that wonderful? Love pushes your boundaries; makes you feel alive and needed. Love does want you to exist and makes you want to exist, isn’t that right?

I’ll end with this from Chapter 17, which again, resonates with most of us adults (at least I believe it will):

“Because the terrible thing about becoming an adult is being forced to realize that absolutely nobody cares about us, we have to deal with everything ourselves now, find out how the whole world works.” And often we find out the hard way- mostly the hard way, stumbling along and discovering (too late) that there was an easier path, that of learning from our parents mistakes.

Bachman navigates between the character’s lives and the current circumstances where they find themselves, and this is what makes this book special. Each person’s life’s tapestry could be the next man’s; strangers we meet on the pages, and learn to love, or not. The connections, they engage the mind with a prowess that is unique and make us ponder upon how lives intersect and connect, often without our knowledge.

Backman possesses the genius of delving deep into a person’s psyche and putting it out there such that we begin to wish for a better life for the character, almost anxious to arrive at a positive outcome.

There is no extra character as each of them seems to fit right in the chamber created.

Another lovable Fredrik Backman book here, also made into a series on Netflix. Hope you love it as much as I have.

©kamalininatesanFeb2022