The Answer Is No cover art

The Answer Is No

A Short Story

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The Answer Is No

By: Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth DeNoma - translator
Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
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About this listen

In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.

©2024 by Vecka 16 AB (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2024 by Elizabeth DeNoma. City Life Editors Select Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Urban Witty Funny

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All stars
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Personally I ve loved each and everyone of Bachmnns novels , and this story leaves me wondering what does it add? It’s a story where lots af general grievances out of normal life, mainly about rules and herd behavior, but it does him no justice.

If you’re a fan

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I could feel myself getting annoyed listening to this, so I stopped before the end. The characters were almost idiotic. Not for me, not the narration.

irritating

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Absolutely loved this story, made me giggle and frown and wonder. This is exactly what I needed to listen to.

And we all need is a prescription for a break

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Highly enjoyable. Good, silly fun to pass an hour or two. Made me laugh out loud

Good fun

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Quirky little short story with the wit and wisdom I’ve come to know and love from Fredrick Backman.

Loved it!

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Great writing and an easy read in less than a couple of hours. Makes you think about how we live our lives and how happiness is achievable. Recommend this book to anyone who wants a short read that leaves you smiling and uplifted.

Simple storyline and characters that draw you in.

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This little novella is a typical Backman book thankfully. Small yet powerful as it reflects today's society and obsession with the Internet.

Great little novella

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One of my favourite authors still can’t disappoint! You get to feel the irritation and frustrations until you feeling the empathy and change with the character. He has such a way of helping us become more accepting of others.

Always relatable

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it was quirky and very relatable, good narrative and and funny characters. 4 stars from me

nice easy short listen

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Fredrik Backman is my writing hero, the writer I would like to be if there was any chance of my growing up. It's patently obvious that, aside from his intense compassion and empathy for ordinary people as well as his usual range of misfits he is not a big fan of stupidity and I'm not sure that his characters could be any more stupid - cringeworthily stupid in fact. This is a story that, at it's heart, features the degree to which people's stupidity can undermine rational thought and behaviour at every turn. It all made me feel so uncomfortable that, at one point, I had to stop listening and I'm not sure whether that was to do with the whole storyline feeling ridiculously farcical or ridiculously plausible. Maybe, the truth is, it's a bit of both. I've always said that "you can't legislate for human stupidity' and, after Brexit in the UK and the recent American elections, it's not too much of a stretch to believe that, while this is undoubtedly a work of fiction, someone, somewhere could well be saying or doing something very similar to everything you hear in this story.

The narrator, Stacy Gonzalez was excellent but I've given her three, not because she was not excellent but because I think she ramped up the crazy a little bit too much when toning it down might not have been better. That's a matter of taste though and, as with all books Fredrik Backman, I'll be returning to it again.

A little bit too farcical perhaps?

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