Early in 2021, I was recommended a book called Anxious People, published in 2020, by Fredrik Backman, a Swedish author. When I looked for it at the City Library, I had to put a hold on it, with a few people ahead of me. I also saw that there was an audiobook available. So I decided that I’d take out the audiobook, while I waited for the hard copy. That way, I could see if it was worth reading.
In the 1940s, when books were first being made into movies, often the commentary was around the idea of capturing the whole story or respecting the author’s intentions. Writing a screenplay involved scriptwriters (or screenwriters). To recreate the scenarios took a lot of time, especially, if they were stories of times gone by. Though parts of the story could be told in the visuals, the scriptwriter had to work with scene settings and dialogue, which took on a more important role. For example, Charles Dickens’ long-winded descriptions, in his long books, could become the backdrop to an important conversation or event. Still, some readers preferred the original book, to the movie.
Back to my audiobook experience, in February, I listened to Anxious People in my kitchen while I was cooking or preparing for the day. It was an alright story—a different kind of story, with an unusual premise of someone planning to rob a bank, who failed at that, and, running away from the police to the top floor of an apartment building, entered an open door to an apartment, containing a real estate agent and 7 prospective buyers. Then the bank robber took everyone hostage, at gunpoint—unintentionally, of course.
To my surprise, this week, the book was available for me to pick up. It’s only a 14-day loan, so I began to read it right away. W-e-l-l, the story took on a whole new colour. I started reading, remembering the story line, but, within the first few pages, I was CRACKING UP! It was so funny! (…and a translation from Swedish, at that!) The author’s deprecative language to describe the behaviour of some characters gave me the giggles. Some seemed to be on a different planet, marching to the beat of a different drum, so to speak. We can see the anxiety of some characters and laugh at the way they seem to be handling life’s unpredictable situations, but, as I was reading, I wanted to reread some funny sentences—only to crack-up again! As an anxious person, I loved it!
I felt that the audiobook had robbed me of those moments. The narrator kept going, with no time to stop and laugh—no time to appreciate the author’s sense of humour. That’s not to say that there weren’t serious, anxiety-causing moments in the book. Anxiety can grow over a long period of time and Backman handles that very well, too. But my belief in reading the author’s words, as initially written, has been renewed.
Fiona