Anxious People Book Club Questions & Discussion Guide

About this book

On the day before New Year's Eve, a failed bank robber flees into an apartment open house and accidentally takes a group of strangers hostage. What unfolds is a comedy of anxious, flawed people, a bewildered father-and-son pair of police officers, and a mystery about how the robber vanished. Warm, funny, and quietly profound, it is a novel about how hard it is to be a person, and how much we misjudge one another before we understand.

Discussion questions

1. The whole thing kicks off with a failed bank robbery that turns into a hostage situation at an apartment viewing. What was your first impression of that premise, and did the chaos win you over?
2. The story jumps among many characters and hops around in time. If the structure ever confused you, what kept you reading, the humor, the mystery, or the people?
3. The hostages are all anxious, flawed, and hiding something. Which of them did you connect with most, and did your feelings about them change as their stories came out?
4. The book is full of people judging each other before they understand each other. Where did you see that snap judgment give way to empathy, and did it change how you saw a character?
5. Anxious People argues that almost everyone is quietly struggling and doing their best. What did it ultimately say about anxiety, forgiveness, and being kind to one another?
6. Backman withholds key information and doles out the truth in pieces, including the real story behind the robbery. How did that slow reveal shape your reading, and how did you feel when it clicked?
7. Nearly the whole book unfolds in one apartment on one anxious afternoon. How did that pressure-cooker setting help the story do its work?
8. Did this remind you of another story that finds warmth and comedy in a tense situation, or another tale about strangers thrown together, in a book, a film, or life?
9. The book is gentle about how hard it is to be a person, and a parent, and to just get through the day. Did that land for anyone at the table?
10. Who would you hand this to next, the reader who wants something funny and warm-hearted or someone who loves an interlocking ensemble, and who might it not be for?

Themes to listen for

• Anxiety and the quiet struggle of being human
• Empathy over snap judgment
• Forgiveness and second chances
• Parents, children, and getting through the day
• Strangers connecting under pressure

If your club liked this, try…

• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer
• The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Where to get it

• Check availability at your local library
• Find it on Bookshop.org
• Listen on Libro.fm

Practical notes

Best for clubs that want warmth and comedy alongside real feeling, and a fast, rewarding read.

Content notes: References to suicide and mental-health struggles; a sensitive topic to be aware of.