Anxious People

"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."

Anxious people was a quick & an easy read. The story doesn't revolve around one person, rather it revolves around one situation where several people find themselves stuck with each other in a crisis that turns out to be a blessing in disguise for all of them. 

The book, teetering on the edge of a self-help drama, makes for a soothing read. The characters are well-meaning, good-intentioned human beings who have been dealing with life one day at a time until that one day when all their realisations and epiphanies in life come crashing down on them.

I think the author's heart is at the right place and the book even manages to find some depth here & there and if you're a sucker for good quotes like me, you'd find plenty gems worth remembering. For me, however, the book was way too sappy and unrealistic. After a point, I had to shush the cynic in me for at least the length of this book to allow myself to read it without any judgement.

That said, I did have more than just a few takeaways from the many pearls of wisdom the book bestows on the reader. For that and for a pleasant reading experience, I'd give this book 3 glittering stars! It certainly is a great contender for those light reads you yearn for once in a while, ones which leave you with a feel-good emotion and which make you believe that the world is still a harmless, cheerful place full of people trying to find happiness and hope amidst all the disappointments, all the while trying to do right by each other. It's a utopian world, really. 

Now, time for some confessions. I've been slacking big time on hitting my 2021 reading target and even more on posting the reviews. I'm late by almost a month for this review cause I couldn't wait to start reading my next book before giving myself the time to write the review. After wrapping up 'Anxious People', I read Pachinko (quite a catchy title, right?) by Min Jin Lee after. It's been 2 weeks I've finished reading it and I'm still gathering my thoughts on how best to write its review. 

Meanwhile, I'm onto my next read called The Tea Rose. I think I've finally figured out a pattern in my book-selection strategy. It's the titles! I see a catchy title of a book somewhere and that's all it takes for a book to adorn my already swelling book-shelf. 

The Tea Rose is turning out to be a slow read, but I promise to be back real soon with my thoughts on Pachinko. 

Till then, Happy reading! :)

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