Found family story! Found family during a hostage situation story!

I loved this book. It is the story about a hostage situation but not really, it's actually a story about all the different people involved in the hostage situation. If you are simply there for the hostage situation, you might end up thinking the buildup was too slow, as the real action doesn't start until around the half way point. But Backman does such a great job of building these individual characters into people that you really care about them outside of the one hostage situation.

The hostage situation itself is very fun- not laugh out loud fun, but you get to see these characters that you just spent 100 or so pages learning about interact with each other for the first time and it's a treat. The mystery of the whole thing is very well done as well, in my opinion. It's not until the last 30 or so pages that you really know everything that is going on- there are twists and turns along the way that keep you engaged.

Overall, an excellent read. The first half you think "oh this is relentlessly sad" and the second half, you think "awwww." So what a time.