She Treads Softly: The Answer Is No

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

The Answer Is No

The Answer Is No: A Short Story by Fredrik Backman
12/1/24; 68 pages
Amazon Original stories

The Answer Is No: A Short Story by Fredrik Backman is an absurd, hilarious, and very highly recommended short story about a man who simply wants to be left alone. I have loved everything single thing Fredrik Bachman writes.

Lucas understands that people complicate things so he is happy to be left alone and do what makes him happy. This is all fine until the three members of the apartment board ring his doorbell and ask to see his frying pan. Apparently, against the rules, a frying pan left was left next to the recycling. This interaction pulls him into an ever expanding drama and he is now in contact with more people than he ever wanted.

This is a well-written, wonderfully witty tale involving the absurdities of modern life. Many introverts will relate to the woes Lucas experiences while just trying to quietly live his life while the outside world insists on constantly intruding on his peace and happiness. This is a great choice for everyone who loved Backman's novels.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.