The Answer Is No

A Short Story

By: Fredrik Backman

Narrators: Stacy Gonzalez,

Translator: Elizabeth DeNoma

ASIN: Elizabeth DeNoma

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

Publication Date: 12/01/2024

Format: e-book

My Rating: 5 Stars

DEC 2024 MUST-READ BOOKS

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.

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From the Publisher

Staying home and enjoying life’s simple pleasures should not come with strings attached. But in New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman’s delightful short story of one man’s yearning to be left alone, a mysteriously discarded frying pan kicks off a laugh-out-loud funny and relatable parody of the ways in which happiness eludes us.

In the same vein as Backman’s international bestseller A Man Called Ove, Lucas is an exciting new character who’s happy to keep to himself. Backman captures the hilarity in the everyday with characters whose unexpected moments of real emotion will stay with you. “The Answer Is No” is both a reminder to take care of yourself and to see the humor and humanity in all of life’s moments.

—Selena James, Editor

About the Author

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, The Winners, and Anxious People, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. Fredrik lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Instagram (@Backmansk) or find him on Facebook and X (@Backmanland). WEBSITE