when you're a child you long to be an adult and decide everything for yourself, but when you're an adult you realize that's the worst part of it. that you have to have opinions all the time.
pages: 336
heard: 9/5-24/2029
book: 70 in 2020
"she liked a drink and could tell dirty jokes, no matter who she was with. if anyone even asked what God would think about that she always replied: "i don't think we agree about everything, but i have a feeling He knows im doing the best i can. and i think maybe He knows i work for Him, because i try to help people."
Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.
THOUGHTS
i did not write a post on this book as soon as i was done which means i also didnt do spoilers because honestly, to this day, i still really have no full idea as to what i read...erm, heard.
i mean, i have the basics but this book was something else that i still feel like i didn't really grasp the entirety of this read.
and it wasnt until a bookstagrammer that i follow said that she liked it but didnt like how this book made her feel lost, like they were trying to pull one out from under her that i understood what i felt when i was done with this.
what she said is what i didn't have the words to say at first.
i still stand by my thoughts in that there is no other writer that i have come across that writes like this man. the way he tells his stories is like none other and i will absolutely adore (i think) anything this man writes. but that doesn't mean that you wont get a little bit lost along the way.
i cant really tell you where (up here anyway) this book truly lost me because its a hella spoiler but it did and i dont really remember where even that twist could have came from. maybe its Backman's way of saying "see, bitch. dont assume."
either way, i liked this read.
to be honest, im not sure if i was ready to read this one and i think i just jumped on because of FOMO and I KNOW i always say this but i do think if i ever do a re-read, ill understand it better since i know.
but i will say, i love the way that this man writes and the way he takes you in and makes you fall in love with the characters, his story and his writing is just purely magical to me.
the upside to this one is that i actually also own the audio so chances are i maybe will sometime get to it once again! and if i do, ill be ready cus i really did like this one.
S P O I L E R S
S P O I L E R S
S P O I L E R S
S P O I L E R S
it turns out that the robber was not a man BUT a woman.
it was her husband that left her for her boss and took the kids and the house.
she was robbing the bank to have enough money to get a place so that she could have her kids for new years but she accidentally held up a cashless bank (are those really a thing? why would you need to go in then?)
she could have 100% gotten away but she went into a building after mistaking i think a security for an actual cop.
i did not write a character list down which i should have because this includes several people but i will try my best.
so the robber makes it inside the open house (it was an apartment) and she holds those people hostage.
Anna Lena & Roger are a married couple and are looking at places because they like to buy to flip. they have deeper issues in their marriage that they are not addressing by doing this whole flip and sale thing. in the end they work it out.
speak to your partners people!
Zara is there because she likes to go to open houses where she can get a clear view of the bridge. why? well, she is a banker. 10 years ago a man came to ask her for a loan after shit went belly flop and he was in over his head with money and loans. she said no. the man turned around and killed himself. and she received a letter from him after he jumped.
she's held on to that letter for 10 years, never having read it because she cant bear it. (no one knows because she hasnt told anyone and she doesnt open herself up) she is now going to therapy. except the therapist she chose was a calculated pick.
the therapist, Nadia, was also about to commit suicide off that same bridge. except she failed because Jack (i think thats his name. i mean the son cop!) stopped her.
and that is the reason why he became a cop even though his father was against it.
anyway, Zara is going to therapy to come to terms with her shit and she finally opens the letter from the dude and in it, we learn that he never blamed her for anything. i dont remember what the letter said word for word but it did not place single blame on her.
Nadia is starting or is in some charity thing that will receive a huge donation at the end of the book. its not out right said it was donated by Zara but we know.
she quits her job and starts living her life. (i should have mentioned that she's stupid rich).
jack ends up somehow going into Nadia's office (actually, i think it was Zara that sent him a letter instructing him what to do) and he realizes who she is.
its not outwardly stated that they end up dating buuuuuut im choosing to think that they do.
Anna Lena hired a dude to dress up as a bunny and he was supposed to be caught in the shitter so that it would turn off potential buyers and push them away. apparently, that's his job and she's hired him several times to help them get the place they want. Roger of course had no idea and gets mad but in the end, the bunny (forgot his name) ends up falling for Zara and its safe to say that they end up together.......
Jacks father, the other cop, he knew who the robber was and what happened to her in the end. Jack eventually ends up learning also but they do not arrest her or anything.
Ro & Julia - they are a lesbian couple looking for a new place now that Julia is pregnant. i have to say that Ro was my absolute favorite character.
i guess you could say Ro is a bit of a free spirit and it kinda drives Julia nuts now cus they have to "grow up" but in the end it works out and i think they are the ones that end up buying the place. Ro's "deal" is that she is worried about being a parent and how she doesn't feel like she will be able to father her child like her father fathered her but surprisingly, grumpy ass Roger pulls through for her.
Estelle - so, if i am correct, Estelle is the eldest of the bunch looking at the place. she says that her husband was parking the car but in reality, he had passed a while ago.
and in the end, the place they were all in was actually her place !!!!! (loved that twist) AND she tells them all a story about how she fell in love with the man who used to live across from her because of the way they would share books. long story short, he gave her a key to his place so they could consumate their relationship but she never took it, she just wanted to know that she could if she wanted to, i guess.
and thats how the robber gets away, Estelle gives her the key to neighbors place. the new couple that lived there moved out and broke up because they couldn't agree with the color of an appliance lol. and so yeah.
i think the robber (im only calling her that because i dont think we ever really learn her name) ends up moving into the other apt so she is now neighbors with R & J.
there is a butt load i left out but that's the gist of it!
if i ever do a re-read ill update the spoilers over there.
thanks!
I found your blog searching for a synopsis of "The Two Lives of Lydia Bird" (70 pages in I decided it was trash but still wanted to know what happened).
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about Backman's writing. I find myself re-reading passages because I want to experience them again. He's unbelievable.
thank you so much for coming back!
Deletehopefully i come back soon and share more.
TTLOLB was ....well, it was what it was. but 100% about Backman. To this day, he is still the only one i have come across that writes and shocks you in the way he does!
i still have a few books of his to catch up on but since i know how he writes, im still waitingto build the courage to get my heart broken. lol