By Laura Gamio -
Anxious People is described as “One bank robber. Seven strangers. And a really bad idea”. It is a blunt introduction to our everyday survival and our responsibilities; the expectations of milestones and how what might have been initially a good idea can quickly turn around and make everything you have worked for disappear. Adulting is hard, and we can all relate to the painful reality of its existence. This light-hearted comedy will have you smiling and getting involved in each character’s life from an author hailed by The Washington Post as “a writer of astonishing depth”.
An amateur robber decides to rob a bank, holding a gun and a drawing of two children. A series of unfortunate events will determine a group of people’s future and how they form a far-from-normal relationship. The policemen involved in this robbery don’t know what has happened, and how the robber has managed to get from a bank robbery to a hostage situation in an apartment and then disappear. Someone is lying. There is a rabbit head, what seems like blood and no explanation. When the ‘victims’ are questioned, they seem to be more interested in their own lives, rather than the crime scene itself. Jules and Ro look for their forever home, Zara wants an apartment with a view.
There is a background voice that narrates the evolution of a crime scene that starts in a bank, and somehow ends up in an apartment with seven strangers who are somehow connected to each other. The overall layout of the book creates a pining atmosphere, where you find yourself cheering on the characters and wanting to know what happens on the next page and their previous stage; how they got to that point in life. It is a charming story about people, humanity and how anxiety triggers in different ways.
